ATLANTA — For the first time in over 10 years, Luci Harrell can vote in a presidential election.

Around the time she graduated law school this year, Harrell completed two years of parole and became legally allowed to register.

“It feels important to me…real and symbolic,” Harrell said. “For years I was required by the federal government to pay taxes and pay student loans, yet being denied the ability to vote.”

Harrell is one of an estimated 450,000 people in Georgia with past convictions who are eligible to cast ballots. As get-out-the-vote efforts ramp up across the swing state, advocates have a hard time reaching those who are formerly incarcerated, in part because many of them don’t know they can vote.

“Nobody comes back and informs you that your voting rights are restored,” said Pamela Winn, an Atlanta organizer who was formerly incarcerated. “You don’t receive a letter. There’s no kind of notification. So most people, once they get a felony, in their mind all their rights are gone.”

According to a report released Thursday by The Sentencing Project, which advocates for reducing reducing imprisonment, almost 250,000 people in Georgia cannot vote because of a felony conviction, out of 4 million nationwide.

The national rate has fallen in recent years as some states expanded voting rights for people with past convictions, but Georgia has not followed suit. Most cannot vote until they have completed their prison sentences and are off probation or parole.

Fourteen other states have similar restrictions and 10 are even stricter, but Georgia has the eighth highest rate of people who cannot vote due to past convictions, something observers attribute in part to the state’s unusually long prison and probation sentences.

“We have the No. 1 rate of correctional control,” said Ann Colloton, policy and outreach coordinator for the Georgia Justice Project, which advocates for people in the criminal justice system. “More people per capita are either incarcerated, on probation or on parole than any other state. That’s what drives our rate of felony disenfranchisement.”

A billboard across from a federal courthouse in Atlanta shows Winn and Travis Emory Barber, who also advocates for people who have been incarcerated, standing cross-armed in orange suits alongside the words, “Formerly Incarcerated People/USE YOUR POWER TO VOTE.”

Last Sunday, the day before the state voter registration deadline, the duo set up a tent in west Atlanta to register people. Winn said her organization, IMPPACT, canvasses in areas where there are high rates of people on probation, but there is no way to target people who are eligible or will soon be eligible to vote.

Before he came by the tent, Sirvoris Sutton wasn’t sure whether he could register to vote. He originally chose not to because he didn’t want to be accused of voter fraud, which former President Donald Trump and his supporters have falsely said was widespread in Georgia during the 2020 election.

He learned that day that he will not be able to vote for 11 years, the amount of time he has left on parole.

“It feels like another phase of incarceration again,” Sutton said. “I’m out here in free society. How could my one vote be a threat to the democratic process?”

Of the quarter-million Georgians who cannot vote because of criminal convictions, about 190,000 are ineligible because they are on probation or parole, according to The Sentencing Project. That is the case even though the state passed legislation in 2021 creating a pathway for people to terminate their probation early.

Some people with past convictions feel the government has always failed them and don’t want to vote.

For example, when Christopher Buffin of Terrell County recently left prison, he knew there was a chance he could vote. And two days before Monday’s deadline, an advocate helped him register. But for now at least, he feels too frustrated to actually cast a ballot because he has not gotten his disability benefits back since leaving prison.

“In a marginalized community, voting isn’t really a priority,” Winn said, noting that people who are incarcerated are disproportionately Black and come from economically depressed communities. “The priority is survival.”

Inconsistency from state to state also adds to confusion about whether people can register, observers say.

“The U.S. is an incredibly patchwork nation when it comes to these laws,” said Sarah Shannon, a University of Georgia sociology professor who worked on The Sentencing Project’s report.

Florida has the most who are unable to vote. Voters there approved an amendment in 2018 to expand voting rights for people with past convictions, but legislation and legal rulings reimposed restrictions for those with outstanding fees. In 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said an election police unit arrested 20 people for registering even though they had a felony conviction that made them ineligible.

And in Nebraska, the secretary of state and attorney general issued an opinion this year against two state laws that let people vote after completing their sentences.

Back in Georgia, Democratic senators introduced a bill in 2023 that would modify state law to permit people still serving time for a felony to vote as well as a resolution to remove the state’s constitutional restriction on people voting before completing their sentences. They didn’t pass, however.

Such restrictions on voting rights date back to Jim Crow, after the 13th amendment outlawed slavery except as a punishment for crime. States such as Georgia added language to their constitutions that banned voting for people convicted of a felony “involving moral turpitude,” a vague term that state officials say apply to all felonies.

Organizers feel the weight of this history today as Black people are incarcerated at disproportionately high rates. The Sentencing Project estimates that over half of the people who can’t vote due to past convictions in Georgia are Black. But even for those who can, getting them to vote is an ongoing battle.

“Because people are marginalized and because they have criminal background, they are led to believe that their vote doesn’t count,” Winn said.

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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon

A lawsuit filed by the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections seeks to prevent the State Election Board from appointing several election monitors for the Nov. 5 election.

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, Fulton’s election board claims that the Georgia State Election Board is pressuring it to appoint multiple additional election monitors. The plaintiffs argue that the five-member state panel lacks the statutory authority to force the county to hire and pay for extra election monitors to add to the team it already appointed to oversee the 2024 election.

The lawsuit is one of several filed in recent weeks contesting the rules changes approved by three right-wing state election officials who support GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

On May 7, Fulton County was admonished by the panel that oversees how counties conduct elections and ordered a monitor for this year’s campaigns. The state board voted to reprimand Fulton and appoint an independent monitor for the 2024 election,accusing county officials of violating state law while conducting a recount of the 2020 presidential election.

President Joe Biden’s narrow 2020 election in Georgia was confirmed by multiple recounts and audits and withstood many court challenges.

Georgia secretary of state officials determined mistakes by county election workers would not have changed the outcome of the 2020 election but were unable to determine how many invalid ballots were included in the results used to certify the election.

According to the lawsuit, the State Election Board is pushing to force the Fulton election board to “capitulate” to the appointment of several additional state-appointed election monitors. A flurry of last-minute efforts are being made to drastically affect Nov. 5 general elections, according to the plaintiffs’ complaint.

The lawsuit alleges that Republican State Election Board Member Janice Johnston warned in October that the state board would have no choice but to “disavow” the county if it refused to hire additional election monitors.

Johnston emailed the Fulton election board chairman on Oct. 1 calling for the board to accept eight additional monitors.

Johnston and her two allies suggest that Fulton add Heather Honey, who previously worked with the Cyber Ninjas, a company that employed questionable audit practices of 2020 election results in Arizona. They also recommended Frank Ryan, who refused to certify election results in the past. Honey and Ryan distrust the results of the 2020 election

The Georgia Election Board voted Tuesday to reprimand Fulton County and appoint an independent monitor for the 2024 election for violating state law while conducting a recount of the 2020 presidential election. Democrat Joe Biden narrowly defeated GOP nominee Donald Trump by nearly 12,000 votes in Georgia for the 2020 presidential race.

In 2023, a Georgia election board with several different members rejected a state takeover of Fulton ballot counting following a lengthy performance review after the tumultuous 2020 presidential election spurred conspiracy theories and brought national attention to Georgia’s most populated county.

The independent panel’s report did not find any proof of election workers engaging in intentional misconduct but noted Fulton elections new leadership role is now resolving past problems with managerial oversight, disorganization and mistakes in recounting ballots.

Election Board ethics complaint dismissed

A Fulton County judge Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by several Democratic public officials against Gov. Brian Kemp over his refusal to order ethics hearings for three Republican State Election Board members.

One of the state lawmakers behind the lawsuit vowed to appeal after the dismissal.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville said Wednesday that the lawsuit filed by three Democratic elected officials was insufficient to advance the case. Glaville said an official investigation into the State Election Board’s actions should have been conducted before the lawsuit was filed in September against GOP Gov. Brian Kemp.

In September, Democratic officials sued to remove  the three Trump loyalists on  the State Election Board for revising election rules and holding an illegal meeting. The board also includes a Democrat and chairman  who have voted against several rules supported by the Trump loyalists.

In its lawsuit, the plaintiffs asked the Fulton court to order Kemp to hold a hearing to determine if three board members singled out for praise by Trump at an Atlanta rally violated ethics laws through pushing through new rules that undermine public trust prior to the Nov. 5 election.

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. – Thousands of Florida residents are fleeing to Georgia ahead of Hurricane Milton and hotels and motels are filling up.

Hurricane update: Milton remains powerful Category 4 storm ahead of Florida landfall

Traffic on Interstate 75 was heavy on Tuesday and Florida residents told FOX 5 Atlanta that they spent hours on the road trying to escape the state before Milton arrived. 

Rest stops up and down Georgia highways were packed on Tuesday with families, including pets.

Florida residents arriving in Georgia ahead of Hurricane Milton

The evacuation has been further complicated by damage left behind by Hurricane Helene just two weeks ago. 

Georgia officials are advising evacuees to avoid south Georgia and instead seek shelter in places like Albany, Columbus, Macon, and Atlanta. 

On Tuesday evening, Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency posted a warning on social media that lodging in Georgia was filling up quickly. According to GEMA, several hotels were already sold out or had very few rooms left.

On Wednesday morning, Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites shared a post saying many state parks that still have cottages and campsites available for those who have left Florida and are seeking refuge. 

As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, Milton was once again classified as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph. GEMA says that further strengthening is possible through tomorrow as it moves northeastward towards Florida. Although Milton is expected to weaken before making landfall, the wind field is also expected to expand, making it a much larger hurricane, which means its impacts will be felt even in south Georgia.

At this time, Milton is expected to make landfall near Tampa, Saint Petersburg and Sarasota on Wednesday evening. 

As a result, the following Georgia counties could receive 2-6 inches of rainfall and tropical storm force winds of 40-50 mph: Camden, Glynn, McIntosh, Liberty, Bryan, Chatham, Charlton, Ware, Echols, Clinch, Brantley, Pierce, Wayne, Long, Appling, Bacon, Atkinson, Lanier, Lowndes, and Brooks. Flash flooding is possible where the heaviest rainfall occurs — likely in Camden, Glynn, McIntosh, Brantley, Charlton, and Ware Counties. Areas farther inland should receive less than 2 inches of rain and wind gusts should stay below 35 mph. The timing for impacts in Southeast Georgia (heavy rain and gusty winds) will be Wednesday afternoon through Thursday afternoon.

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Atlanta Motor Speedway has also opened an area for evacuees ahead of Hurricane Milton. Click here for more details.

Additionally, there are several shelters available. For an up-to-date list, click here.