Georgia
Abortion access has won when on the ballot. That's not an option for half the states — including Georgia
Tucked inside the West Virginia Statehouse is a copy of a petition to lawmakers with a simple request: Let the voters decide whether to reinstate legal access to abortion.
The request has been ignored by the Republican lawmakers who have supermajority control in the Legislature and banned abortions in the state in 2022, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to the procedure.
The petition, with more than 2,500 signatures, is essentially meaningless given the current makeup of the Legislature. But it illustrates the frustratingly limited options millions of Americans face in trying to re-establish abortion rights as the country marks the two-year anniversary since the Supreme Court’s ruling.
West Virginia is among the 25 states that do not allow citizen initiatives or constitutional amendments on a statewide ballot, an avenue of direct democracy that has allowed voters to circumvent their legislatures and preserve abortion and other reproductive rights in a number of states over the past two years.
Republicans there have repeatedly dismissed the idea of placing an abortion-rights measure before voters, which in West Virginia is a step only lawmakers can take.
“It makes you wonder what they’re so afraid of,” said Democratic Del. Kayla Young, one of only 16 women in the West Virginia Legislature. “If they feel so strongly that this is what people believe, prove it.”
The court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade was praised by abortion opponents as a decision that returned the question to the states. Former President Donald Trump, who named three of the justices who overturned Roe, has repeatedly claimed “the people” are now the ones deciding abortion access.
“The people are deciding,” he said during a recent interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. “And in many ways, it’s a beautiful thing to watch.”
But that’s not true everywhere. In states allowing the citizen initiative and where abortion access has been on the ballot, voters have resoundingly affirmed the right to abortion.
Voters in seven states, including conservative ones such as Kentucky, Montana and Ohio, have either protected abortion rights or defeated attempts to curtail them in statewide votes over the past two years. Reproductive rights supporters are trying to put citizen initiatives on the ballot in several states this year.
But voters don’t have a direct say in about half the states.
This is particularly true for those living in the South. Republican-controlled legislatures, many of which have been heavily gerrymandered to give the GOP disproportionate power, have enacted some of the strictest abortion bans since the Supreme Court ruling while shunning efforts to expand direct democracy.
States began adopting the initiative process during the Progressive Era more than a century ago, giving citizens a way to make or repeal laws through a direct vote of the people. Between 1898 and 1918, nearly 20 states approved the citizen initiative. Since then, just five states have done so.
“It was a different time,” said John Matsusaka, professor of business and law at the University of Southern California. “There was a political movement across the whole country when people were trying to do what they saw as good government.”
Some lawmakers argue citizen initiatives bypass important checks and balances offered through the legislative process. In Tennessee, where Republicans have gerrymandered legislative districts to give them a supermajority in the statehouse, House Majority Leader William Lamberth likened ballot measures to polls rather than what he described as the legislature’s strict review of complicated policy-making.
“We evaluate bills every single year,” he said.
As in West Virginia, abortion-rights supporters or Democratic lawmakers have asked Republican-controlled legislatures in a handful of states to take the abortion question straight to voters, a tactic that hasn’t succeeded anywhere the GOP has a majority.
“This means you’re going to say, ‘Hey Legislature, would you like to give up some of your power? Would you like to give up your monopoly on policymaking?’” said Thad Kousser, professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego. “You need a political momentum and then have the process cooperate.”
In South Carolina, which bans nearly all abortions, a Democratic-backed resolution to put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot never got a hearing this year. Attempts to attach the proposal to other pieces of legislation were quickly shut down by Republicans.
“If you believe you are doing the right thing for all the people of South Carolina — men and women and babies — you should have no problem putting this to the people,” said Democratic Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, alleging that Republicans fear they would lose if the issue went directly to voters.
In Georgia, Democratic Rep. Shea Roberts said she frequently fields questions from her constituents asking how they can get involved in a citizen-led ballot measure. The interest exploded after voters in Kansas rejected an anti-abortion measure from the Legislature in 2022 and was rekindled last fall after Ohio voters overwhelmingly passed an amendment codifying abortion rights in the state’s constitution.
Yet when she has brought legislation to create a citizen initiative process in Georgia, the efforts have been ignored inside the Republican-controlled Legislature.
“Voters are constantly asking us why we can’t do this, and we’re constantly explaining that it’s not possible under our current constitution,” Roberts said. “If almost half of states have this process, why shouldn’t Georgians?”
The contrast is on stark display in two presidential swing states. Michigan voters used a citizen initiative to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitution in 2022. Voters in neighboring Wisconsin don’t have that ability.
Instead, Wisconsin Democrats, with a new liberal majority on the state Supreme Court, are working to overturn Republican-drawn legislative maps that are among the most gerrymandered in the country in the hope of eventually flipping the Legislature.
Analiese Eicher, director of communications at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, said a citizen-led ballot measure process would have been especially valuable for her cause.
“We should have legislators who represent their constituents,” she said. “And if they don’t, there should be another option.”
In West Virginia, Steve Williams acknowledges the petition he spearheaded didn’t change minds inside the Legislature.
But the Democratic mayor of Huntington, who is a longshot candidate for governor, said he thinks state Republicans have underestimated how strongly voters believe in restoring some kind of abortion access.
Republican leadership has pointed to a 2018 vote in which just under 52% of voters supported a constitutional amendment saying there is no right to abortion access in the state. But Williams said the vote also had to do with state funding of abortion, which someone could oppose without wanting access completely eliminated.
The vote was close, voter participation was low and it came before the Supreme Court’s decision that eliminated a nationwide right to abortion. Williams said West Virginia women weren’t facing the reality of a near-total ban.
“Let’s face it: Life in 2024 is a heck of a lot different for women than it was in 2018,” he said.
Associated Press writer Jeffrey Collins contributed to this report from Columbia, South Carolina. Kruesi reported from Nashville, Tennessee, and Fernando from Chicago.
The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The choice was easy for ESPN regarding their College GameDay location in Week 5, as the show took place live in Tuscaloosa on Saturday morning, ahead of the gigantic SEC clash between Georgia and Alabama.
Nick Saban returned to a grand ovation, bringing along his wife Terry Saban — known as Miss Terry — as the Celebrity Guest Picker. Aside from the Bulldogs and the Crimson Tide, some of the other intense matchups the crew predicted included Louisville at Notre Dame, Illinois at Penn State and Oklahoma State at Kansas State.
Ahead of all the action taking place, the College GameDay crew locked in their Week 5 picks, with a raucous crowd of Alabama fans behind them. Here’s what Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, Nick Saban, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, joined by the aforementioned Miss Terry, came up with for this weekend’s action.
ESPN College GameDay Picks for Week 5:
Georgia at Alabama: Howard got the crowd warmed up, rocking with the Crimson Tide, before Saban and Miss Terry joined hands to select Alabama in an awesome moment, “Roll Tide Roll,” they exclaimed.
Herbstreit is calling the game, so he’s not making a pick, while McAfee chose to roll with Alabama. What would Corso do? He grabbed that Big Al mascot head, and Sweet Home Alabama blared throughout the set, as the entire crew chose to roll with the Crimson Tide.
Oklahoma State at Kansas State: Oklahoma State has been slow out of the gate, can they defeat the Wildcats on the road? They don’t have any believers on Saturday, as everyone is on Kansas State.
Colorado at UCF: Miss Terry was shocked her husband picked against Coach Prime and the Buffaloes, but he wasn’t the only one, Corso and Herbstreit also believe in the Knights.
BYU at Baylor: Corso is the only believer in the Bears, rocking with Baylor to defeat the Cougars.
Illinois at Penn State: Nobody believes the Fighting Illini can pull the upset against the Nittany Lions.
Kentucky at Ole Miss: Everyone is on the Rebels this weekend over the Wildcats.
Louisville at Notre Dame: Only Saban is on the Cardinals on in Week 5.
North Carolina at Duke: Saban and McAfee are the lone dissenters, riding with the Blue Devils.
Oklahoma at Auburn: Howard and Herbstreit are on the Tigers, much to the dismay of the crowd in Tuscaloosa, but the rest of the crew are on the Sooners.
Full CGD analyst picks for Week 5:
Desmond Howard: Alabama, Kansas State, Colorado, BYU, Penn State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Auburn
Nick Saban: Alabama, Kansas State, UCF, BYU, Penn State, Ole Miss, Louisville, Duke, Oklahoma
Celebrity Guest Picker – Terry Saban: Alabama, Kansas State, Colorado, BYU, Penn State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Oklahoma
Pat McAfee: Alabama, Kansas State, Colorado, BYU, Penn State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Duke, Oklahoma
Lee Corso: Kansas State, UCF, Baylor, Penn State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Oklahoma
Kirk Herbstreit: No pick for Georgia at Alabama, Kansas State, UCF, BYU, Penn State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Auburn
Georgia
Georgia father Eric Arnold sues county who demolished family home without court hearing: ‘They took my dignity away’
A devastated homeowner in Georgia is suing Macon-Bibb County officials after he claimed they demolished the home he was fixing up for his family without a court hearing.
Eric Arnold bought the property in Macon, Ga. – located 90 miles southeast of Atlanta – in February 2022 for just $15,000 for himself and his children, according to local news station WMAZ.
“It’s like they just took it all away from me,” Eric Arnold the outlet. “They took my dignity away from me, like I wasn’t even a person. Like ‘You don’t even exist, we just going to do what we want. This is our town.’”
13 WMAZ
The home was supposed to be a “fixer-upper” that Arnold was renovating and eventually planned to live in, but the plans changed when a dumpster ended up on his property and his home was labeled an “imminent threat to the community.”
The county had already listed the home for demolition when Arnold purchased the home.
However, Arnold’s lawyers allege that the father was not aware and that there were no liens on the home and no public record of Code Enforcement.
It was eventually demolished in November 2023.
The demolition was part of Mayor Lester Miller’s Blight Fight launched in 2021, which aimed to remove dangerous structures from neighborhoods but Arnold insists he paid his taxes and got the permits needed in order to save the home before it was torn down.
“I did everything I was supposed to do. I thought I was okay. I wasn’t okay. They still knocked my house down,” Arnold said.
“While he still had work to do, the yard was neat, the exterior was clean, the house was locked up, and, most importantly, it was in a vastly improved state of repair compared to when he purchased it,” Arnold’s lawyer Christie Herbert wrote in a statement on her website.
Herbert claims the county “secretly sped up the demolition” after Arnold asked them to stop and remove his home from the demolition list.
All that’s left on the property now is a concrete slab at the end of a driveway and a post where the mailbox used to be.
Arnold requested to be paid back the cost of the house and the cost of renovations, according to The Macon Telegraph.
Arnold’s home is the latest casualty of renovation projects that were abruptly stopped due to the eager bulldozers in the neighborhood, according to neighbor Jerry Collins.
“There’s a lot of folks that are doing their best to bring these old houses back to life and revitalize the neighborhood. I see good things but if this keeps up, those good things may not happen and that’s what really concerns me,” Collins told the outlet.
“Eric’s lawsuit isn’t about just one man’s house, it’s about protecting the constitutional rights of all property owners in Macon-Bibb county,” Herbert said during a press conference on the empty lot where the home used to be.
According to WMAZ, the county said they haven’t seen any lawsuit yet but did release a statement about the demolished house.
“We are aware of the demolition on Sunnyvale Drive. A letter designating it as a Nuisance Per Se and blighted and that it would be torn down if not repaired was provided several years ago,” Macon-Bibb County wrote.
The statement from county officials claims the property was marked as blighted before being sold to Arnold in February 2022. They say the new homeowner had 20 months to “pull any construction permits or fix it up” but they were not made aware of any so a demolition moved forward.
The expansion of the College Football Playoff doesn’t quite make this a “must-win game,” but… it’s a must-win game for both Georgia and Alabama, albeit for slightly different reasons.
For Georgia, it’s the first of three gigantic road tests against top-10 ranked teams that will go a long way in defining the team this season.
And for Alabama, it’s a primetime showcase for Kalen DeBoer to prove he is, at least early on, the right man to replace Nick Saban, and that he has the coaching chops to stand face-to-face with an SEC powerhouse.
So while everything isn’t on the line, plenty still is, and the loser is one very notable step back in their respective projects.
Where does that leave Alabama coming into this game? Here are the three biggest things the Crimson Tide have to do to beat Georgia on Saturday night.
Coming into DeBoer’s first season, one of the big questions on this team, including from Saban himself as an ESPN analyst, was the condition of Alabama’s back seven pass defense.
It lost two great cornerbacks in Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold and two elite safeties in Caleb Downs and Jaylen Key.
Their replacements — among them Michigan transfer safety Keon Sabb, ex-USC defensive back Domani Jackson, and 5-stars Jaylen Mbawke and Zabien Brown — have performed well, as defensive coordinator Kane Wommack has rotated personnel on the back end with varying results.
Most of them great: the defense as a whole has performed well against the pass, ranking 7th nationally in total yardage allowed, and surrendering just 52.3 percent completion from opposing passers while allowing a remarkable 3.2 yards per attempt, the best mark in FBS.
Georgia has some agile speedsters for Beck to throw to, including Dominic Lovett and Arian Smith, but so far this receiving corps does appear to have regressed in the absence of Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey.
It’s no secret that Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe is a big dual-threat, but DeBoer has been a little more aggressive in exploiting that mobility than Saban was at this time last season.
The results have boosted the Tide’s offensive capacity when it comes to big plays. One of the nation’s best rushing quarterbacks, Milroe has 156 yards this year and 2 rushing scores in each of the last 3 games, already 50 percent of his rushing TD total from a year ago.
And while Alabama has been fine-tuning its repertoire of explosive plays, Georgia’s defense, suffocating in just about every phase, has looked vulnerable in limited exposure against mobile quarterbacks. Kentucky’s Brock Vandagriff was able to average almost 8 yards per carry against it.
Milroe’s game is far from limited to his legs: 5 of his 8 passing touchdowns are longer than 20 yards, the best mark among any quarterback in the nation.
But his ability to keep the Bulldogs’ scrimmage tacklers a half-step behind with a battery of improvised runs, and the ability to extend plays to spread them out and give his receivers that much-needed extra second to break out of their coverages, will be critical.
Kirby Smart has preferred to build his Georgia offenses out from the running game, hoping to control the line of scrimmage initially and using that strength to open things up downfield later on.
But that strategy could run into some trouble as No. 2 running back Roderick Robinson is expected to miss the game, guard Tate Ratledge is injured, and Alabama’s front seven looks ready to pounce.
Georgia’s ground attack sputtered against Kentucky as the team managed under 4 yards per carry, and on the year it ranks just 84th nationally with 145 yards per game on average.
The lack of an articulated run-blocking scheme could bring back memories of when the Bulldogs ran for just 2.5 yards per touch in the SEC title game last year. Advantage, Alabama.
More … How Georgia can beat Alabama
And … Georgia vs. Alabama score prediction by expert model
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