Voices Spotlight: Working through the fear of Election Day uncertainty

Welcome back to the fourth edition of the AJC Voices Spotlight, featuring compelling opinion columns through the Nov. 3 election. I’m David Plazas, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution opinion editor.

On Thursday, I attended the 50th anniversary celebration for the Jeannette Rankin Foundation at Georgia Public Broadcasting, an event moderated by iconic Atlanta news anchor Monica Pearson. The foundation is named after the first female U.S. Congress member, who introduced legislation that would lead to the 19th Amendment.

It’s been 106 years since women’s suffrage was ratified in the U.S., and it’s a perfect opportunity to reflect upon the importance of every vote. By the way, early voting ends Friday and then your last shot is on Election Day, Nov. 3.

DEBATE OF THE WEEK

Should we be fearful on Election Day?

Georgia delivered its electoral votes to President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024, but not in 2020. Six years have passed since that election, but it still looms large today over the Peach State.

• Background: The Trump administration ordered an FBI raid on the Fulton County election warehouse at the beginning of the year to reexamine the 2020 ballots.
• What’s been happening: The president has tried to assert control over elections — which are constitutionally run by the states — by trying to restrict mail-in balloting and seeking unredacted voter lists. Those efforts have been limited or rebuffed by the courts. Rumors have circulated that federal troops or immigration agents could circle voting precincts. The Justice Department has said it will place monitors at six Democratic-heavy counties.
• Elections experts Paige Alexander, David Becker and Gabriel Sterling’s message: Fear not. In a guest opinion column for the AJC, they urge voters not to be distracted by the noise and to not let it get in the way of casting their votes. They also describe how the system works and judicial remedies for irregularities. Alexander leads The Carter Center — founded by the late President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter — which monitors overseas elections and now has also turned its attention to several U.S. states, including Georgia.

“The reality is that for nearly 250 years, the United States has held federal elections through civil war, two world wars, pandemics, natural disasters, and other national emergencies,” they wrote. (Read their full column).

On the other hand: Veteran award-winning journalist Michael Isikoff, who wrote a book about the 2020 election, warns in an exclusive guest opinion column for the AJC that Trump is eager to meddle in the midterm elections and paints a bleak picture of concerted efforts to undermine election integrity.

“Throw enough claims of foreign ‘manipulation’ and ‘tampering’ against the wall, no matter how outlandish or ridiculous, and eventually some of them might stick — at least enough to give Trump grounds to declare a national emergency and direct the U.S. military or law enforcement agents to show up at the polls on Election Day, potentially even seizing voting machines and ballots,” he wrote. (Read his full column).

Related: The AJC Editorial Board also weighed in on the election, reminding voters that it’s “easy to vote and hard to cheat” in Georgia elections. “Now is the time for Georgians to create their election plans, to study the issues, to review candidates’ platforms in the AJC voter guide and ultimately to decide how they are going to vote.” (Read the editorial).

🔉 Listen: On Thursday, “Politically Georgia: The Final Tally,” premieres. It’s a three-part podcast series from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Pulitzer Center examining how Georgia became the epicenter of the fight over election administration, public trust, and democracy. (You can listen here).

What do you think? Share your letters of 250 words or fewer to letters@ajc.com. Include your name and town or city.

Republican and Democratic governors agree on amendment

Georgia’s ballot contains three proposed amendments to the state constitution.

• Amendment 1 would increase the amount of land a single owner can claim for a conservation use property tax classification.
• Amendment 2 would make probate election judges nonpartisan.
• Amendment 3 would authorize the creation of a modernized 9-1-1 system.

We expect to learn on Nov. 3 how voters will decide. But on Amendment 2, former Georgia Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes and Republican Gov. Nathan Deal see eye-to-eye. They encourage voters to support the measure “to eliminate the last vestige of partisan judicial elections in our state.”

🖊 In a guest opinion column, Deal, Barnes and Council of Probate Court Judges of Georgia Executive Director Kevin D. Holder make the case for the amendment. Other judicial offices such as the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are already nonpartisan.

“Given our current political climate, a bipartisan group of political and civic leaders agreeing on anything seems significant — and in this case, it is,” they wrote. (Read their column).

Highlights from the week

Find guest opinion columns by politicos in the Peach State:

• Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms: “Georgians’ cost of living is too high. My plan makes life more affordable.” (Read her column, which links to a previously published column by her opponent, Republican nominee Rick Jackson).
• Republican Party of Georgia Chair Josh McKoon: “Republicans have a record that puts Georgians’ safety and finances first.” (Read his column).

What readers are saying

✉️ Some excerpts from letters to the editor, a segment the AJC calls “Readers Write.” (Read an assortment letters)

• “Perhaps it’s time to get government out of the way and let healthcare function as an efficient, innovative free market with clear price signals, robust competition and consumer choice.” — Dana R. Hermanson, Marietta, criticizing the Affordable Care Act
• “President Donald Trump has exhorted followers to pretend he’s on the ballot. No need to pretend; write-in votes appear on nearly every ballot.” — Steve Miller, Duluth (Editor’s note: In Georgia write-in votes are only counted if the candidate is a certified write-in candidate).

Quotables

🔍 Read Ángel Cabrera’s full guest opinion about the growth and development of Georgia Tech here.

Best of Mike Luckovich

Check out more cartoons from the AJC’s Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, Mike Luckovich