Georgia

Georgians voting absentee urged by election officials to drop ballots off at county drop boxes

Published

2 months ago

October 30, 2024

Georgians voting absentee urged by election officials to drop ballots off at county drop boxes

The political landscape has shifted greatly since the 2020 presidential election when a record number of Georgians voted absentee during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Four years ago after Election Day, then-President Donald Trump and his Republican allies sparked a wildfire of conspiracy theories regarding absentee ballot voting fraud as the reason he lost the election to Joe Biden in Georgia by less than 12,000 votes.

Mail-in voting will be an important aspect of this year’s Nov. 5 presidential election, which has so far seen a record early voting turnout of more than 3,2 million Georgia casting ballots in person at the polls, or 44% of all active voters.

The state’s early voting period ends Friday.

As of Monday, more than 199,000 Georgians have turned in mail-in ballots out of a total of 342,000 requested ballots. Voters who did not request an absentee ballot by Friday’s deadline must vote early in person or on the Nov. 5 Election Day.

Election officials in Georgia and several voting rights organizations are encouraging voters to directly return their mail-in ballots to county election offices and drop boxes, or to vote in person if they have not yet received them.

Georgia’s county election workers greeted a historic number of early-bird voters since select polling places opened on Oct. 15, with some locations experiencing wait times in excess of an hour daily. Statewide, reports of long lines were minimal. Voter turnout is expected to increase during this final week of early voting.

Georgia nonprofit Fair Fight Action, a voting access advocacy organization, noted significant problems with mail-in ballot processing this fall and advised voters to return their ballots via drop boxes or in-person voting instead of sending them by postal mail. An overhaul of the postal service’s Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto is blamed for delaying mail delivery so much that a bipartisan group of Georgia’s congressional delegation has issued stinging criticism of the U.S. postmaster general.

According to Fair Fight Action, a number of county registrars are coping with delays in vote-by-mail processing, with one-third of voters contacted still waiting for their ballots.

A third of the about 190,000 ballots sent to Georgia voters that were unreturned as of last week were within the metro Atlanta area, including the counties of Cobb, Fulton. Gwinnett, and DeKalb. Unreturned ballots in other parts of the state were reported to be at their highest levels in Bibb, Dougherty, and Sumter counties, according to Fair Fight.

Absentee ballots must be received by the time the polls close at 7 p.m. Election Day in order to be counted.

“We do not recommend at this point, that voters, put their ballot in the postal system,” Fair Fight CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo said last week. “They need to return it into a drop box, or they need to go into an early voting center and cancel their mail vote and vote in person because of the postal delays.”

Since the 2020 election, Georgia lawmakers introduced new voter ID laws that specifically limit options for absentee voters.

About 1,200 absentee ballots are on the Georgia Secretary of State’s office list of ones rejected for deficiencies.

Many of the rejections were due to ID errors, which could be a result of Georgia voters being unaware of the new ID requirements that differ for each form of voting, according to VoteRiders, a national voter ID resource organization.

VoteRiders is collaborating with Fair Count of Georgia for a ballot cure program that will assist voters to have their absentee ballots counted by fixing the issues that resulted in their ballots being rejected.

“What we are seeing is in addition to the changes in the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot, there are new voter ID requirements for absentee ballots that did not exist in 2020,” said Randy Faigen, Georgia state coordinator for VoteRiders.

Voters who have had their absentee ballots rejected are being contacted directly by Fair Count. Election officials in some areas have already contacted voters to inform them of the problem.

“A lot of times it requires that they submit a copy of their state ID or their driver’s license, and that isn’t always easy, especially for some of our elderly voters who may not have access to a photocopy machine or have a smartphone to send that in,” Faigan said. “They may need a ride to go to the county elections office to show them their ID. If so, then we’re really just brainstorming with the voter to figure out what we can do to make sure their ballot counts.”

This year’s election has seen a substantial number of Republican operatives change their stance to emphasize early voting. Georgia is considered one of seven swing states for the Nov. 5 presidential election contest between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump has publicly encouraged Republicans to vote early at polling stations, but there has been mixed messaging about absentee voting.

In 2020, Trump’s early lead over Biden evaporated after Election Day as mail-in votes were tabulated in Democratic strongholds such as Fulton County. Trump and other supporters spread false allegations that the election was stolen in order to cause doubt in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and other states where Trump was defeated after the 2020 election.

In the following 10 weeks, there were over 60 failed voter fraud lawsuits, multiple new conspiracy theories about election theft, violent threats against election officials, and a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, David Becker, executive director of The Center for Election Innovation & Research, said on an October episode of his podcast “The Count with David Becker.”

“(Trump’s) message to his party was clear,” Becker said. “Any election we lose cannot be trusted. Election distrust was now hardwired into a major political party.

“So when that party lost in 2020, the partisan effect combined with the hardwired message, fully half of Republicans expressed no confidence in the vote, a 32-point gap below Democrats,” Becker said. “There’s a painful paradox in this lost confidence. As overall confidence in elections was dropping, the elections themselves were getting better and better.

“More professional, more transparent, more verified, more secure, until we reached the most trustworthy and least trusted election in American history,” Becker said

Faigan said absentee voting remains a secure way for Georgians to make their voices heard in an election.

“Absentee is a great method of voting,” Faigan said. “People get nervous about it. There’s a lot of misinformation out there, but the ballots are secure. if you take it to a drop box, you can put it in yourself, and you see it go in. The hard part is the mail and that’s the one factor we cannot control. Georgia is a received-by-absentee ballot date, which means absentee ballots have to be received by 7pm on Election Day. It doesn’t matter what the postmark says.”

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Georgia

What Georgia-based productions are up for Golden Globe awards?

Published

5 hours ago

January 5, 2025

Press Room

What Georgia-based productions are up for Golden Globe awards?

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – The Golden Gloves aired Sunday night, and Georgia’s status as a film and TV production hub is bearing fruit on the big stage.

The Peach State was represented on both the film and TV sides of the awards, through both native actors and productions filmed in Georgia.

Gabriel LaBelle was nominated for Best Performance in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his performance in Saturday Night, a film about the first ever episode of Saturday Night Live. The movie was shot in both Atlanta and Fayetteville. LaBelle lost to Sebastian Stan for his role in A Different Man.

Kathryn Hahn was nominated for Best Performance in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy for her performance in Agatha All Along. The Disney+ series was partially shot at Trilith Studios in Atlanta. Hahn lost to Jean Smart for her role in Hacks.

Actor Donald Glover, who grew in Stone Mountain, was nominated for Best Actor – Television Series Drama for his role in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Glover lost to Hiroyuki Sanada for his role in Shōgun.

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Georgia

Report: Georgia QB Jaden Rashada to enter transfer portal

Published

12 hours ago

January 5, 2025

Press Room

Report: Georgia QB Jaden Rashada to enter transfer portal

Jaden Rashada spent the 2024 season at Georgia. (Photo by John Adams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Jaden Rashada’s college career will continue at another school.

The former Florida signee and Arizona State quarterback is entering the transfer portal, according to ESPN. Rashada spent the 2024 season at Georgia and did not play in a game.

Rashada was a four-star recruit and the No. 11 pro-style QB in the high school class of 2023. He initially committed to Miami, but flipped that verbal commitment to Florida. After signing with Florida, Rashada asked for his release from the Gators — more on that in a bit — and signed with Arizona State in February of 2023.

The California native appeared in three games for the Sun Devils in 2023 and transferred again at the end of the season. He ended up at Georgia with an apparent eye on competing for the starting job in 2025 and beyond with Carson Beck entrenched as the starter. Gunner Stockton served as the Bulldogs’ No. 2 QB in 2024 and started the team’s Sugar Bowl loss to Notre Dame on Jan. 2.

Not long after he transferred to Georgia in early 2024, Rashada filed a lawsuit against Florida coach Billy Napier and a booster over an NIL deal that never came together. Rashada said that he was promised a name, image and likeness deal north of $10 million as part of his commitment to Florida.

The lack of that NIL deal was the reason Rashada transferred from the Gators. He left after he didn’t receive his first payment and his recruitment to the school is now the subject of an NCAA investigation.

In three games with the Sun Devils a season ago, Rashada was 44-of-82 passing for 485 yards, four TDs and three interceptions. ASU was 3-9 a season ago before posting one of the biggest turnarounds in college football in 2024. Former Michigan State QB Sam Leavitt emerged as the starter as the Sun Devils won the Big 12 and made it to the College Football Playoff before losing 39-31 in double-overtime to Texas in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1.

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Georgia

Georgia hopes the scars of a difficult 2024 season make them better in 2025: ‘Remember this feeling’

Published

20 hours ago

January 5, 2025

Press Room

Georgia hopes the scars of a difficult 2024 season make them better in 2025: ‘Remember this feeling’

NEW ORLEANS — The normally stoic Smael Mondon finally displayed some emotion. After four years, multiple injuries and pouring everything he could into the Georgia program, Mondon finally showed how he was feeling as he embraced Glenn Schumann in the locker room.

The ups and downs that followed a difficult 2024 season, not just for Mondon but many on the Georgia roster, culminated in a 23-10 defeat to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. Instead of cheers, there were tears for Georgia. Not just from a distraught Mondon, but the likes of Oscar Delp, Dylan Fairchild and others.

“Definitely not what you want in the end. That’s for certain,” sophomore linebacker CJ Allen told DawgNation after the game. “The things we’ve been through, the things this team’s been through, the stuff we overcame, we overcame a lot. I’m very super proud of this team. We overcame a lot. Just thinking about that, you know what I’m saying, to be proud of ourselves for that, the things we overcame this season.”

For the first time since the 2018 season, Georgia’s season ended with a loss. That ironically came in the Sugar Bowl, against Texas. The Longhorns were still in the Big 12 at that point time.

Players like Mondon and Chaz Chambliss had yet to sign with Georgia. Those seniors ended up becoming the winningest senior class in program history, going 53-5. They went 25-0 at home, winning two SEC championships and two national championships.

The Bulldogs were unable to get a third national title. Too many injuries. Too difficult a schedule. Not enough talent and not enough bounces of the football went their way this season.

Some may see this season as a failure. Those people obviously didn’t see the inside of the Georgia locker room following the loss to Notre Dame.

To see everything that this team went through and call them anything but successful would be insulting.

“Played the hardest schedule in the country. We’re SEC champions. Can’t take that away from us,” Delp said. “That’s just how it is. It’s going to be like that next year, too. It’s not like that one year. That’s how it’s going to be. Deal with it. We got to work in the offseason, get better, compete. A lot of crazy things happened this season. We can’t control anything. You got to do what you do.”

Georgia went on the road to Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss. It beat the Longhorns twice, as well as playoff participant Tennessee as well. It won an SEC championship with its starting quarterback exiting the game on the last play of the first half.

There were dismissals, arrests, suspensions and a number of self-inflicted incidents that kept this team from being one of the final four remaining. This team was far from perfect.

But in some ways, the beautiful mess that was the 2024 Georgia football season puts this team’s accomplishments in better perspective.

There was no Brock Bowers or Jalen Carter on this team. Sure there were talented players, such as Butkus Award winner Jalon Walker or two-time All-American Tate Ratledge, but there wasn’t a single player that elevated everyone else.

It was a band of brothers, coming together and fighting all the way to the end. Georgia had incredible comebacks against the likes of Texas and Georgia Tech. Even against Notre Dame when the Bulldogs gave up a 98-yard kickoff return to open the second half, they never rolled over. They continued to battle and were a redzone touchdown away from cutting the deficit to 6.

Georgia couldn’t make the plays when needed. But this team never stopped trying to make them.

“It’s going to teach us just to keep going,” freshman linebacker Chris Cole said.

Next year’s team is will look different. Given the rapid roster movements that occurs on college rosters now, many of the players in that locker room will play elsewhere. Some in the NFL, others at other schools.

The roster will flip, as the Bulldogs are likely to see double-digit players leave via the transfer portal and the NFL draft. Such is life when you’re as talented as Georgia was, even in what was admittedly a down season.

Still, it’s hard not to come away with how this Georgia team fought, all the way until the end.

“What they went through this year and what they played and how they played, the resiliency, the injuries that we’ve had, and to win an SEC championship — which I have so much respect for our conference,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “To win some of the comeback games they won and never quit, even in this game, never quit, that’s the attitude you’ve got to have to get better as a football program.”

Smart has been honest about this team. It was not his most talented. The ninth-year head coach has said as much. There were moments of frustration this season, some were due to forces out of Georgia’s control.

He knows the Georgia program has to get better. Smart has shown he’s the coach capable of doing so, as the Georgia program seemed a lot farther away from championships than it did the last time it saw its season end with a loss in New Orleans.

And he knows that the scars formed during this season will help make future Georgia teams better.

“Remember the taste in your mouth, you never want that feeling again,” Allen said. “When you’re a winner, you hate losing more than you like winning. So just taking that into consideration with the offseason program and just knowing what we have to do and the feeling that we have now, not want to fight that again. So just working hard in the summer and spring and so on.”