When early voting starts next month, one thing is certain: A voter in Cobb County will have less time to do it than many voters elsewhere in metro Atlanta.
Today's Marietta Daily Journal attributes the following information to Michael Owens, the number-crunching chairman of the Cobb County Democratic party:
-- During the last primary election, he said, Cobb offered 343 hours of advance voting, compared to Gwinnett's 708 hours, DeKalb's 999 and Fulton's 3,853.
-- Cobb has 473,358 registered voters, compared to Gwinnett's 500,308, DeKalb's 471,302 and Fulton's 673,056.
-- Cobb's fiscal 2018 elections budget was $3.18 million, compared to Gwinnett's $7.9 million, DeKalb's $4.3 million and Fulton's $9.1 million.
The newspaper makes clear that Janine Eveler, the county official who oversees balloting in Cobb, doesn’t disagree. It’s all about the money, according to Eveler, who says the number of voters in Cobb has increased by 30 percent since 2008.
Dissatisfaction with early voting hours isn't restricted to Cobb. From Jonathan Grant, on his Brambleman website:
The DeKalb County Board of Elections voted 4-0 (Leona Perry absent) to open only one early voting location for the July 24 runoffs: The Memorial Drive office. So there will be no early voting in DeKalb's 6th Congressional District precincts despite the runoff between Lucy McBath and Kevin Abel — nothing like the widespread early voting locations for last year's runoff between Jon Ossoff and Karen Handel.
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This is fresh and so worth noting:
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Former first lady Rosalynn Carter on Monday added her voice to the growing number of onetime White House occupants who have decried the Trump administration's zero tolerance illegal immigration policy. Carter said the policy, which has resulted in migrant children being separated from their parents on the Southern border, is "disgraceful and a shame to our country," according to ABC News.
Carter joined the Obamas, Clintons and Laura Bush, who all criticized the administration's moves in recent days.
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On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court sidestepped the major issue behind two much-watched gerrymandering cases generated out of Maryland and Wisconsin.
Each case tested the constitutionality of extreme efforts by a political party to keep itself in power, by drawing state legislative and congressional district lines to maximize the clout of its voters.
Both cases were faulted on procedural issues, and sent back to lower courts for further action. But the quest for a high-court standard continues. Next up: A North Carolina case cultivated by, among others, Atlanta attorney Emmet Bondurant, who also sits on the national board of Common Cause. The organization is one of three major plaintiffs in the action.
Justices could schedule the North Carolina case for October arguments as early as Thursday – though we may not find out they’ve done so until next week.
Hours after Monday’s Supreme Court decision, Bondurant said he wasn’t surprised, given that in both the Wisconsin and Maryland cases, procedural flaws were raised during oral arguments.
His North Carolina case has no such flaws, and the question of legislative intent is more cut and dry, Bondurant said.
“It’s in the context of a state that is the quintessential purple state,” he said. “It’s the perfect test case.”
In January, a three-judge federal court panel ruled the congressional district map for North Carolina, a state closely divided between Republican and Democratic voters, to be unconstitutional. The judges said state GOP lawmakers had tried too hard to make sure that 10 of North Carolina's 13 members of the U.S. House remain Republican.
Here’s what may tempt justices to review the case: North Carolina lawmakers publicly voted on the standards that would be used. Racial data was excluded. Census blocks would be graded on a formula that used statewide election results from 2008 to 2014 as a measure – except for the two presidential contests in which a fellow named Barack Obama was a candidate.
One Republican state lawmaker reportedly said he proposed that the North Carolina map be drawn to guarantee 10 Republican members of Congress -- because he couldn’t figure out how to get to 11.
It worked. In 2016, Republicans indeed won 10 of 13 congressional seats in North Carolina. With 53 percent of votes cast for Republican candidates, their win rate was magnified to 77 percent.
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We offer our condolences to U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, who lost his mother over the weekend. Dorothy Collins died Sunday, according to Access WDUN, after a sudden illness. A funeral service is being held this afternoon in Gainesville.
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A familiar face closed out ABC's "World News Tonight" yesterday. Check out our WSB Radio colleague Jamie Dupree's emotional first spin on the air in two years.
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Talk about pre-emption: On Sunday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp said he'd go to bat for Honor Defense, a gun manufacturer and dealer dropped by its credit card processor.
This morning, his primary run-off rival, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, will host a press conference that will feature Honor Defense owner Gary Ramey. Cagle, too, will promise to sponsor legislation to prohibit financial service companies from refusing to service gun manufacturers.
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We told you last week that, in the May 22 primaries, Democrats attracted twice as many new or reactivated primary voters as Republicans – i.e., voters who hadn't participated in a primary vote since 2008.
Chris Huttman, the Democratic operative who did the number-crunching, has one more: In 2010, the last primary featuring an open race for governor, Democrats generated 17 percent of primary ballots cast in the Sixth District. This year, that number was 39 percent.
But also on the numbers front, Republican strategist Todd Rehm, editor of GaPundit.com, notes that primary voters aren't necessarily a true predictor of general election turnout:
My primary finding is that substantially identical percentages of 2018 Republican Primary voters (96.70%) had voted in the 2016 General Election as 2018 Democratic Primary voters (96.03%). Unless these voters changed their party preference in the last two years, which is possible, the "new" Democratic Primary voters won't add appreciably to the 2018 General Election numbers for their party.
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On the endorsement front:
-- Casey Cagle, locked in a GOP primary runoff with Brian Kemp in the race for governor, has won the support of Police Benevolent Association of Georgia, a group that claims 13,000 law enforcement officers as members.
-- The Georgia Hunting and Fishing Federation, which had endorsed Rick Jeffares in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor, is now endorsing David Shafer in the Republican primary runoff.
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Clarkston Mayor Ted Terry seemed to enjoy his star turn on Netflix. From our AJC colleague Rodney Ho:
If 35-year-old Clarkston mayor Ted Terry ever runs for Georgia governor, he could use his episode of Netflix's "Queer Eye" as part of his campaign.
Debuting on Friday as part of season two, his episode is a largely flattering portrayal of Terry. In reality, he isn't quite as much of a reclamation project as some other folks featured on the revamped show, which shot its first two seasons in metro Atlanta.
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The inaugural class of Zell Miller's leadership academy is honoring his legacy in a special way. The graduates of the late governor's program launched a #ThankYouGovMiller campaign to honor him by raising scholarship funds for the foundation. They're asking for $25 donations to celebrate the 25 years of the HOPE scholarship. The money will fund scholarships for future participants of the academy, a nonpartisan program geared toward emerging public service leaders. Find more details here.
