Time: The Appeal of Early Voting

Sunday Solutions – Nov. 27, 2022

You may think you are finished with Thanksgiving leftovers, but we’ve all got one large, foil-covered container warming on the stove: The runoff for Georgia’s US Senate seat. Early voting is now open, so get a ballot and let’s stick a fork in this election. We’ve also got a few new side dishes for you. Grab a plate.

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The appeal of voting early

As we all know, the quickest way to get someone motivated to do almost anything is to tell them they can’t do it. By late Saturday, 1,808 Chatham County citizens had voted in advance for the US runoff election. Nearly 50 people were in line at the 5 p.m. closing time. They were allowed to vote, but a couple who arrived at 5:02 p.m. will have to come back today. The doors were open on Saturday because the Georgia Supreme Court stopped the train of lawsuits and appeals from the past week that challenged opening the polls on Saturday, despite a shortened window for the runoff election.

While the Secretary of State bowed out after the Court of Appeals affirmed the state court ruling that Georgians should be able to vote as soon as possible in a runoff, the Georgia Republican Party, the Republican National Senate Committee and the Republican National Committee stayed in the fight and appealed early Tuesday to the state Supreme Court. By lunchtime that day, nearly 700 people had already voted in Douglas County where the elections board opened for early voting. For some, public perception of the process shifted from seeing officials who were trying to enforce one reading of state law to watching political operatives who were trying to stop people from voting at a more convenient time. But people weren’t having any of it. More than a dozen counties had announced Saturday and/or Sunday voting plans and by Saturday night, 81,000 had voted early. At least two counties had matched more than 16% of their November early voting totals; 11 counties had reached more than 10%. (You can look at all the activity here at Georgiavotes.com.) Nearly 2 dozen counties allowed Saturday voting and some are open today, including 2 locations in Chatham. One note: Not all counties have made it easy to find out when or where they are open for voting. Be sure to call and check with your county. Here’s a list of Coastal Georgia county information schedules, posts, phone numbers.

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Considerable

• Georgia Supreme Court reinstates state abortion law: But, it’s not finished yet. Abortion providers are in limbo as they wait for the court to look at the complaints, briefs and how the earlier ruling stacks up to the state constitution. The main question: If the legislature passes a bill that it knows, at the time, is literally unconstitutional under federal law, can it still be a law?
• Georgia’s on-again, off-again abortion restrictions create doubt for future of fertility treatments: Does the wording in the law protect the in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments for couples who want children but have to go the extra miles? No one’s really sure, so doctors and families are in a very tough spot. Georgia Recorder has a look at how differing perspectives view IVF under the law and the problems that arise in applying it.
• Can anyone bring home the Libertarian spoiler vote? It’s a toss-up, say experts. More than 81,000 voted for US Senate candidate Chase Oliver, who force a runoff by keeping either Herschel Walker or Raphael Warnock from getting more than 50% of the vote. The former candidates for Libertarian offices say they’d like to have more specifics before they can decide to vote at all in the runoff.

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What’s Tuesday?

While you may know it as Giving Tuesday, we call it Giving Newsday because your donation to The Current means you’re giving your neighbors more fundamental data and explanations to inform decisions where we all live, work and play. And, every dollar you invest at The Current stays here in Coastal Georgia. We thank you for your consideration as you weigh many options for support.

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Your second cup: Influencer Christmas

Social media is where 58% of us found Christmas gift-buying ideas last year, and the number is bigger this year. And if you are younger than 25, 87% of you are likely relying on “influencers” — people paid to recommend or demonstrate a product online — to help you select and purchase. Influencers and product placement have been around in some form forever, but online they are everywhere and it’s not always obvious who gets paid to push a product. Cultivating good reviews and recommendations from influencers is a solid retail strategy now, so make sure you know who’s touting a product and why. And the same goes for your news: Here’s another Pew survey that breaks down where and how younger Americans get their news — and which ones they trust.

Enjoy.

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