County elections offices have received more than 1,900 applications for absentee ballots electronically from military and overseas voters, Secretary of State Brian Kemp said this week.
Requests for absentee ballots in electronic format have come from Georgians stationed or living in approximately 45 countries in North, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Continue reading 1,900-plus serving in military file for absentee ballots »
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Another poll shows the same expected sweep by Republicans on Nov. 2. The Landmark Communications poll has Republicans on top in the races for governor and four other statewide contests. Republican Nathan Deal beats Democrat Roy Barnes by 8 points instead of the 5 points found in the recent InsiderAdvantage/WSB-TV poll earlier this week.
Continue reading New poll shows Republican sweep in top Georgia races »
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At a time when the economy has most industries hurting, the business of lobbying is booming, reports AJC’s Bob Keefe in Washington. He reports that while Congress passed tough rules aimed at lessening the ways lobbyists can influence politicians three years ago, the money flowing to lobbyists continues, and among the companies making sure their voices are heard are Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. and Southern Co.
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola and its affiliated companies, for instance, paid Washington lobbyists about $6.3 million in the first half of this year alone — double what they spent in the comparable period last year, according to public records.
The rise in spending on lobbyists by Coca-Cola and its affiliates coincided with a rise in legislation that could have affected the company, such as a proposed tax on soft drinks, new school nutrition guidelines and environmental legislation affecting water use.
Continue reading Lobbying becomes a booming business despite tougher rules for lawmakers »
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By Aaron Gould Sheinin, Tammy Joyner, Jeremy Redmon, AJC staff writers
Just 50 miles apart, Cherokee and Clayton counties are political polar opposites.
Cherokee is rock-ribbed red, having gone 75 percent for Republican presidential nominee John McCain in 2008 and where nearly 10 times as many voters cast ballots in the GOP primary in July as in the Democratic.
Clayton, meanwhile, gave 83 percent of its votes to Barack Obama for president, and five times as many voters participated in July’s Democratic primary as in the Republican one.
As Election Day approaches, the two counties tell a story that is being played out across the nation: Republicans ready to take back Washington are gearing up for a banner year, while Democrats are laboring to prevent major losses.
Ralph Reed, a former state GOP chairman and chairman of the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition, predicts the November election will …
Continue reading Energized Republicans turning up the heat »
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Candidates in other states are benefiting from a Georgia law that allows unlimited corporate contributions to political action committees. Just take Mississippi Gov. and potential presidential candidate Haley Barbour.
Political watchdog Jim Walls reports Barbour this summer more than doubled his Jackson-based political committee’s bank account, pulling in $231,000 after July 1.
Mississippi law caps corporate donations to PACs at $1,000. The sky’s the limit in Georgia, where Barbour’s committee is registered. Haley’s PAC pocketed seven checks of $20,000 or $25,000 from businesses in his state just in July and August.
There, in a nutshell, is why political action committees love Georgia….
Barbour, Gov. Sonny Perdue and hundreds of other elected officials have also formed their own “leadership PACs” to donate to other candidates and to pay for loosely defined nonpolitical expenses. Haley’s PAC, for …
Although the law won’t directly affect Georgians until the next election, the Albany Herald reports the Justice Department has approved a Georgia law requiring access to electronic voting at least 45 days before an election day. Absentee voters appearing in person will be able to cast ballots electronically rather than by paper. The measure, passed by the Legislature earlier this year, had to get federal clearance under the Voting Rights Act.
Continue reading Georgia’s electronic voting law gets Justice Dept. clearance »
AJC reporter April Hunt reports the benefit of early voting has proven clear to voters, with somewhere between a third and a half of Georgia voters expected to cast their ballots before Election Day largely because of the convenience.
What is less clear is whether the relatively new practice helps Democrats or Republicans more. Still, candidates and officials in both parties are experimenting with strategies to grab as many early votes as possible. Read more of Hunt’s article.
Continue reading Parties seek edge via head start at ballot box »
This just in from AJC reporter April Hunt:
Sandy Springs has become the first Georgia city to bail out of the Voting Rights Act’s federal oversight of its elections.
The city asked for a “bail out,” or exemption, in January, after an unsuccessful attempt to run its own elections last fall. The U.S. Justice Department reached a deal with the north Fulton city late Wednesday night.
“We’re honored to be the first city in Georgia to earn this,” said Sandy Springs city attorney Wendell Willard. “It gives us the flexibility we don’t currently have.”
The city claims being exempted from the act’s “pre-clearance” requirement for all voting procedures — including those as small as moving polling sites — will save it money by using private contractors to run its elections. The city backed away from using a private firm for the 2009 election because there wasn’t enough time to get approval from the Justice Department.
The request was not without its critics. The Fulton County Commission …
Continue reading No more federal oversight for Sandy Springs elections »
Georgia Equality has begun rolling out endorsements for the fall elections. The group promotes causes of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. So far the endorsements do not include preferences for the top statewide races, such as governor and state attorney general. The list so far includes:
Joan Garner: District 6 – Fulton County Commission
Maryline Blackburn: State House District 34
Stacey Evans: State House District 40
Darshun Kendrick: State House District 94
Steffini Bethea: State House District 106
John Eaves: Chairman Fulton County Commission
Mike Jacobs: State House District 80
Stephanie Stuckey Benfield: Sate House District 85
Curt Thompson: State Sentate District 5
Steve Henson: State Senate District 41
Continue reading Georgia Equality announces endorsements for November »
Should the Republican Party get behind tea party-backed nominees such as Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, who upset establishment candidates in the primaries? Here are two views (and feel free to add yours):
Will Hinton, Atlanta conservative blogger:
Unfortunately for the Republican Party leadership, they have no choice but to support tea party nominees and they have no one but themselves to blame. The Bush years, coinciding with six years of Republican control of Congress, led many conservatives to believe that the GOP had abandoned its principles. Along with the overreach of the Obama administration and an unimproving economy, tensions and anger towards both political parties has escalated and now culminated in the rise of the tea party.
The true test of the influence of the tea party is whether they can win general elections. I believe that the GOP and the tea party need each other. The GOP needs the tea party to rescue them from “politics as usual” and “big …
Continue reading Two views: Should GOP get behind the tea party? »
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