Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Good morning! We start today with some implications for Georgia’s voting system in a suddenly tighter U.S. presidential race. With many schools opening across Coastal Georgia this week, we then look at a controversial move by the state’s school superintendent. Finally, we note the importance of a sorority in this year’s elections and some news you may have missed. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com
NEWS: ELECTIONS
Election system controversy
What was beginning to look like a decisive victory for Donald Trump in Georgia has now — with the ascent of Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket — again become a nail biter.
That means there’s more attention than ever on the state’s voting system. Before Harris’ rise, the main question that loomed for mainly Republican critics of the state’s election system — namely, why should Georgia voters accept a Trump victory in 2024 produced by a system they’ve derided since 2020?
Now, that question has been pushed aside by the prospect of a messy, contested election, despite recent efforts by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to boost confidence in the system in Savannah and elsewhere in south Georgia.
Raffensperger, a Republican, Monday announced a web portal for voters to cancel their voter registration online, describing it as yet another instance of his office’s commitment to simplifying the voting process maintaining clean voter rolls.
All that’s required in the portal to register the cancellation of someone else’s vote, however, is their county and a birth date.
Within hours, Democratic lawmakers in the state Senate demanded the portal be taken down, saying it “empowers conspiracy theorists and other bad actors to deny Georgians the right to vote.”
Meanwhile, the state election board is in turmoil. It meets today amid controversy over last month’s emergency meeting of the board during which three members of the panel, in the absence of the panel’s two other members, pressed ahead with changes over how election results are certified.
The three members, all Republicans, have either rejected the results of Georgia’s presidential voting in 2020 or say they’re uncertain about them. A Washington, D.C-based government watchdog group, American Oversight, has sued the three, claiming they violated the state’s Open Meetings Act.
Early in-person voting in Georgia begins in 78 days.
NEWS: EDUCATION
‘Making this operational’
Two years ago, Georgia’s legislature passed a ban on teaching divisive racial concepts in schools, prohibiting claims that the U.S. is “fundamentally or systematically racist,” and mandating that no student “should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of his or her race.”
Within days of the ban’s passage, on a campaign swing through Savannah, Georgia’s school superintendent, Richard Woods, said that once Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill into law, “we’ll be looking at making this operational.”
Last week, Woods seemed to make the controversial law “operational,” saying the state would no longer pay districts to teach a new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies. A day later, however, he backtracked, saying the state would pay districts to teach the course.
A letter from Kemp appeared to prompt his reconsideration. State Sen. Derek Mallow (Savannah) and 20 other Democratic lawmakers also condemned the move.
Savannah’s Sol C. Johnson High School said in a statement on its website that it would teach the course. But with many schools across Coastal Georgia opening their doors on Thursday, some teachers are still confused over what was approved, what could be taught, and how much, in fact, Woods had “reversed” himself.
In a speech Friday, Donald Trump said that if elected, he would sign an executive order cutting federal funding for “any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto the lives of our children.”
NEWS: POLITICS
Hard to overstate
The likely Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, is set to travel to Houston later this week and deliver the eulogy for the late U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas).
Harris’ attendance is notable not only because the two served in U.S. Congress; it’s also significant — and politically relevant — because both were members Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nation’s first Black collegiate sorority. The sorority has more than 360,000 members in 12 countries. The Savannah State chapter was chartered in 1949.
The importance of Black women to Harris’ campaign is hard to overstate. Black women are the most loyal voting bloc of the Democratic Party, with 90% supporting Biden in 2020.
And last week, “Win with Black Women” organized a call with 44,000 participants, followed by “White Women: Answer the Call,” who raised reportedly raised $8.5 million by Friday afternoon and featured lawmakers and celebrities.
A rally this evening in Atlanta will be the latest barometer of Harris’ support among Black women. Rap star Megan Thee Stallion said yesterday she’ll be joining Harris at the rally, which is expected to be attended by up to 15,000 people.
ICYMI
- “It took a 16-year-old’s death in Jackson Park to bring Savannah’s police chief to the neighborhood association meeting,” The Current’s Jake Shore writes, following the two shootings — one deadly — in two of midtown’s historic Black neighborhoods.
- Gov. Brian Kemp announces $1.5 billion funding for transportation infrastructure, with nearly 12 million for road work in Chatham, Effingham, Bryan and Bulloch counties, most of it — $11 million — for widening SR 21 and I-16 (“Phase One”).
- The Current’s Catherine Goodman delves into the Georgia Historical Marker Program and telling the stories about African American history and women “that the state didn’t.”
- Convenience store magnate & philanthropist Greg Parker hosts a fundraiser for Chatham County District Attorney candidate Andre Pretorius this Thursday at his downtown Savannah home. Reed Dulany III, Tracy Young, Cynthia & Don Waters, Roger Moss, Kim & Mark Smith, Charles Hill Morris, Jr. are among the hosts, for whom the ask is $3,300. Pretorius, a Republican, is challenging the incumbent Shalena Cook Jones, a Democrat.
- The Glynn County Board of Elections has hired a lawyer to determine the validity of more than 1,000 signatures on a petition to qualify Laura Khurana to run as an independent candidate for the At-large Post 2 Glynn County Commission seat in the November general election.
- U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff hears from doctors about the impact of Georgia’s six-week abortion ban on medical care for pregnant women.
- Georgia Democrats sue Gov. Brian Kemp over the constitutionality of a 2021 state law that allows him and other top state officials to raise and spend unlimited campaign funds.
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Georgia election board sets online meeting after state attorney general flagged last vote
By Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder
Three state elections board members who say they are unsure of 2020 results met to rush through more changes to vote counts, certifications.
State superintendent backtracks, says AP African American History class can be funded
By Amanda Andrews/GPB News
The existing Intro to African American studies class has been in the catalogue of state-funded courses since 2020. In a statement, State School Superintendent Richard Woods said in a statement he has concerns about endorsing the entire AP course.
Gun violence shocked a Savannah neighborhood. Blame, conversations followed
By Jake Shore
Shootings over three days in Cann Park and Jackson Park, midtown Black neighborhoods in Savannah, shocked residents, who sought answers from the police department and among each other in a recent neighborhood association meeting.
Coastal Georgia hidden history: African-American resistance
By Catherine Goodman
Georgia Historical Society markers designed to educate travelers on the complex historical narrative of African Americans in Coastal Georgia — an ongoing story that spans from slavery to emancipation to the Civil Rights Era.
Bill banning stock trading for presidents, vice presidents, Congress members advances
By Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder
Members of Congress would be immediately banned from buying stocks and other covered investments, and they would be prohibited from selling stocks 90 days after the bill is enacted.
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