Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026
Good Morning! In the news today: Early, in-person voting gets underway in midterm elections; hundreds of detainees at the sprawling ICE facility in Folkston go on a hunger strike; a Savannah-area GOP state lawmaker puts on a ‘party in the pines’; and a federal court judge throws out a lawsuit brought by a local conservative activist against the Chatham County Elections Board, its chairman, and two police officers. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
NEWS: ELECTIONS
It’s time!
Today rings in the start of early, in-person voting for the November three midterm elections. Georgia has offered flexible voting options for two decades, including early, in-person voting since 2003 and no-excuse absentee voting since 2005. Both are more popular than ever. In 2024, 76 percent of voters voted early or by mail, compared to 24 percent who voted in person on Election Day. The Current has a handy early voting guide for each county.
Today is also the second of two days of debates between statewide candidates sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club. The second of two meetings starting at 8 p.m. between U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, and Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Mike Colllins, highlights a line-up today that includes the candidates for state school superintendent, agricultural commissioner and insurance commissioner.
All the debates and recordings are available on The Current. Monday’s debates featured lieutenant governor candidates Greg Dolezal and Josh McLaurin, attorney general candidates Tanya Miller and Brian Strickland, secretary of state candidates Tim Fleming and Penny Brown Reynolds, District 3 Public Service Commission candidates Peter Hubbard and Fitz Johnson, and District 5 PSC candidates Shelia Edwards and Josh Tolbert.
For information on the elections and candidates throughout November, check out The Current’s collection of stories at this link.
NEWS: IMMIGRATION
Hunger strike
About 500 people in an ICE detention center in Folkston are on a hunger strike to protest conditions at the sprawling facility and over what they say are violations of asylum protocols by U.S. authorities, according to family members and legal representatives, The Current’s Jabari Gibbs reports.
Samantha Hamilton, senior litigation staff attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta (AAAJ), said most of the people participating in the strike came to the U.S. seeking asylum from authoritarian and repressive national governments.
The hunger strikers say they were following the legal process for their immigration claims yet have been at the privately operated Folkston facility for months, even years, awaiting judicial hearings.
The strike is the latest controversy at the Charlton County installation, which is operated by The GEO Group under a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Amid numerous complaints about unsafe conditions, the facility is expanding to become the largest ICE detention center in the U.S.
NEWS: POLITICS
Cheers for Georgia
For state Rep. Jesse Petrea, the message to voters for these midterm elections is simple: Don’t spoil a good thing.
“Georgia is thriving,” Petrea, who represents District 166, told fellow Republicans gathered at his traditional “Party in the Pines” at Savannah’s Forest City Gun Club last week. “So, it’s real important we win this election.”
The Republicans in attendance cheered Petrea, who has represented District 166 in the state House of Representatives since 2015 and is one of few local incumbent lawmakers with a challenger in this fall’s elections.
The attendees included U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter; 1st District congressional candidate Jim Kingston; secretary of state candidate Tim Fleming; House Speaker Jon Burns; House Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones; state Sen. Ben Watson (District 1); state Sen. Billy Hickman (District 4); state Rep. Bill Hitchens (District 161); state Rep. Ron Stephens (District 164); Atlantic Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Laurie Baio; Bryan County Board of Commissioner’s Chairman Carter Infinger; Chatham County Commissioner Wayne Noha (District 1); Chatham Elections Board member James Hall; Chatham County Republican Committee chair Brittany Brown; former Chatham County Commissioner Patrick Farrell; and Ladies on the Right founder Marolyn Overton.
NEWS: COURTS
Case dismissed
A federal court judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a local conservative activist in which she alleged that her free-speech rights were violated when two Chatham County police officers forcibly removed her from a meeting of the county’s elections board in 2023, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
The activist, Beth Majeroni, was carried hands-and-feet from the meeting by the two officers after she defied the requests of the board’s chairman, Thomas Mahoney III, to vacate the podium during the meeting’s public-comment period because she’d breached meeting rules.
Videos of incident at the board’s meeting room on Eisenhower Avenue in Savannah on July 10, 2023, went viral, and Majeroni, a retired pharmacy executive and resident of Skidaway Island, became a cause célèbre for MAGA and election-integrity activists nationwide. She was dubbed an “America First rock star.”
In 2024, Majeroni sued over the incident, claiming her rights under the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution were violated. Named as defendants in the suit were Mahoney, the Chatham County Board of Elections, and the two police officers, Andrew Nizwantowski and Robert Santoro. The lawsuit asked for unspecified financial damages.
Earlier this year, lawyers for the defendants asked U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood to throw out Majeroni’s lawsuit. Last month, she did.
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Secret agreement effectively ends Jasper Ocean Terminal plans
A long-standing plan to build a container ship terminal in Jasper County through a joint venture between South Carolina and Georgia has been indefinitely suspended as both states focus on their individual maritime interests.
Approximately 500 participate in hunger strike at Folkston immigration detention center
Approximately 500 detainees at a private ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia, launched a hunger strike to protest poor living conditions and alleged asylum protocol violations while awaiting judicial hearings.
Judge throws out local conservative activist’s lawsuit against Chatham elections official, police officers for civil rights violations
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by conservative activist Beth Majeroni, who alleged her constitutional rights were violated when she was forcibly removed from a 2023 Chatham County elections board meeting.
Watch the 2026 Georgia election debates
Recordings, links to statewide debates for 2026 November election.
Election workers prep for early voting as talk of DOJ ‘intervention’ leaves advocates unsettled
As Georgia prepares for midterm elections starting with early voting on October 13, local officials are conducting logic and accuracy testing on voting machines amidst controversy over the State Election Board’s request for federal intervention.
Support independent, solutions-based investigative journalism without bias, fear or favor on issues affecting Savannah and Coastal Georgia.
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