A.M. ATL: GA election board members have work cut out for them
Morning, y’all! Happy Friday. It’s going to be a lucky day, 8/8. Sure, numbers are just numbers, but we make our own luck around here.
Let’s get to it.
INVESTIGATION BACKUP
The Georgia State Election Board has amassed a backlog of hundreds of investigations into election complaints while the group instead spent time trying to change Georgia election law during this year’s legislative session.
- As a result, 315 investigated cases are still awaiting a decision from the board, and more than 100 others need to be looked into.
- The board completed 115 investigations in 2024 and a whopping 527 cases in 2021, after false 2020 election fraud claims caused a surge in allegations.
- Some Georgia lawmakers are impatient with the delays, saying that’s what the board should have been focusing on in the first place.
- “The backlog is a result of what happened last year, when this board got deterred for a number of reasons. We spent the vast majority of our time dealing with rules and arguing over those kinds of things as opposed to hearing cases,” said Chairman John Fervier.
Statistically, a vast majority of election complaints are chalked up to clerical errors, but there have been some isolated instances of, say, someone trying to vote twice or voting under another name.
🔎 READ MORE: What lawmakers say needs to happen next
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FORT STEWART HONORS HEROES WHO STOPPED ATTACK
The U.S. Army honored six soldiers at Georgia’s Fort Stewart who were credited with stopping Wednesday’s shooting at the base. Five people were injured in the attack, but all are expected to recover. The suspected gunman, Sgt. Quornelius Radford, is in custody.
- Sgt. Aaron Turner, Sgt. Eve Rodarte, Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco, 1st Sgt. Joshua Arnold, Master Sgt. Justin Thomas and Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor were presented with Meritorious Service Medals.
- Some helped restrain Radford, while others provided emergency care to the wounded.
- At the ceremony, some of them recounted the harrowing moments when their fellow soldier appeared with an unauthorized handgun and began his rampage.
- “It was training that kicked in,” said 1st Sgt. Joshua Arnold, who jumped in to help victims. “You just go to work.”
Their accounts also provided more details of the attack. According to one soldier, Radford said he was looking for “leaders.” Radford’s father said his son wanted a transfer and complained of racism on the base.
🔎 READ MORE: Details of the attack from the honored soldiers
WEEKEND PLANS
Whether you’re looking for something funny, scary, delicious or chill, it’s going on this weekend around Atlanta. May we suggest:
👹 Monsterama Con: Get your retro sci-fi and horror fix with screenings, panels, vendors and a Monster Prom.
🏃🏽♀️➡️ Vinings 5K Downhill Run for the Kids: As a longtime resident of the area, I can tell you it’s not as downhill as the name implies. But it’s still a super fun race with lots of community happenings afterward.
🦗 Cirque du Soleil “Ovo”: Cirque’s fan-favorite show is back in town, with 53 performers recreating the buzzy, busy lives of bugs. Great for kids to enjoy, too, provided they’re not traumatized by the giant flexible man-cricket.
🎊 Brookhaven City Centre Grand Opening: The newly refurbished city center opens with a night of music, food and activities for the whole family.
☀️ MORE WEEKEND INSPO: Music events, movies en plein air and bats, plus more info on the above
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🚚 President Donald Trump’s executive order mandating English proficiency for U.S. truckers has successful foreign-born drivers fearing for their jobs.
🎒 The recent congressional funding bill includes a new federal school voucher program. So far, Georgia leaders have been quiet about whether the state will opt in.
✍🏻 Trump wants to change the way the U.S. Census is recorded to exclude undocumented immigrants. Such a shift would change how political power is distributed and where federal funds are spent.
ATL TV ANCHOR HAS A SECOND LIFE AS A HORSE RESCUER
Former horse girls will get it: Joy Lim Nakrin is living a life straight out of a novel. Lim Nakrin is a legal expert and host for Atlanta News First, where she flexes her long background in television and legal journalism.
Off the air, Lim Nakrin and her family run Joyous Acres rescue farm in Milton, where they care for and rehabilitate horses brought from difficult backgrounds. Some are retired or injured racehorses or were rescued from cruel conditions.
How does she balance the two very different sides of her life? It’s not easy, but she says it’s worth it.
“It is a lot of work, but it is really rewarding,” she said.“I feel like I’m always 24/7.”
🔎 READ MORE: How she and her family turned a dream into reality
AJC Her+Story is a new series in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution highlighting women founders, creators, executives and professionals with in-depth profiles and stories exploring important topics. Know someone the AJC should feature in AJC Her+Story? Email us at herstory@ajc.com.
NEWS BITES
Chick-fil-A plans nationwide launch of pretzel bun sandwich
Immediately yes.
Why more Georgia firms are using virtual reality to train and innovate
Immediately no.
Tomatoes shine in Atlanta’s unique cocktails and mocktails
The differentiations among tomato soup, tomato sauce, condiment and beverage are a matter of personal taste.
Could sweat really affect imaging results at airport security? Maybe, TSA says
Don’t think about it next time you’re at the airport, or you’ll sweat more!
ON THIS DATE
Aug. 8, 1996
From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: Mars finding sends NASA into orbit. Electrified by research suggesting that Mars once may have harbored life, America’s space agency is gearing up for a scientific assault on the red planet and inviting the world to help out. … A NASA-backed research team said minute golden-colored particles inside a meteorite from Mars harbored chemical and organic evidence that bacteria-sized organisms lived and thrived on the red planet 3.6 billion years ago.
I would have paid good money to be at a cocktail party with one of those NASA scientists as they vigorously explained this news. “Microscopic golden dust, billions of years old!” [Hands go wide, words failing] “... LIFE.”
ONE MORE THING
The official state insect of Georgia is the western honey bee. 🐝
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
About the Author
AJ Willingham is an National Emmy, NABJ and Webby award-winning journalist who loves talking culture, religion, sports, social justice, infrastructure and the arts. She lives in beautiful Smyrna-Mableton and went to Syracuse University.
