Category: Democracy

Nine metro Atlanta election offices responding to an Atlanta Civic Circle inquiry incurred more than a million dollars in unbudgeted expenses for the state’s two mandatory ballot recounts following the 2020 presidential election. The first was a hand-count required by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Then, former President Donald Trump called for another recount. Recount expenses […]

American democracy is in trouble. That’s the assessment of most Gen Zers and Millennials responding to a national poll released Wednesday by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School. In fact, 35% of all respondents said they’ll likely see a second Civil War during their lifetime. Over 52% of Americans between the ages of 18 […]

This month’s mayoral race ushered in a new era for Atlanta’s municipal elections. Dark money donors—or Independent Expenditure committees—bombarded voters with billboards, text messages, and TV ads. Once fixtures on the national scene, these deep-pocketed donors are increasingly setting their sights on local elections to shape policies and anoint candidates. They remain anonymous, even as […]

With the Nov. 30 runoff just days away, mayoral candidates Felicia Moore and Andre Dickens are busy trying to distinguish themselves—largely from each other. Both Democrats with widely overlapping policy platforms, Moore and Dickens have tacked toward whatever strengths they hope will appeal to the most voters. Moore, the current Atlanta City Council president, has […]

More than 600 years before the United States existed, America’s original inhabitants were already practicing a form of democracy that Ben Franklin and other founders would later borrow from. Much of the framework of the U.S. Constitution came from the way 12th century Indigenous people governed, a fact the U.S. Senate did not  acknowledge until 1988. American […]

Cathy Woolard has served in the Peace Corps and on the Atlanta City Council. She has run for mayor and faced the demons and dragons that come with a 40-year career in politics, but nothing could have prepared the 64-year-old politician for her latest job. Woolard has recently been tasked with repairing the reputation of Georgia’s […]

The process of redrawing Georgia’s political districts opened Wednesday with the Republican-controlled Georgia Senate proposing a map that would help them retain control. Thirty-four Republicans and 22 Democrats currently sit in the Georgia State Senate, and they’re in charge of updating district maps to keep their constituencies equal as the state’s population grows. The GOP-proposed […]

A day after his staff oversaw a trouble-free municipal election, the head of Fulton County’s elections operations announced he will leave at the end of the year. Rick Barron notified county officials Wednesday afternoon that he would resign Dec. 31 from the job he has held for more than eight years, the last year of […]

A coalition of civil rights groups joined the redistricting fray last week with its own proposed set of political maps. The Unity maps were done to give lawmakers an example of new district maps that reflect the state’s growing racial diversity. The maps were created by the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, the Georgia Coalition for the […]

Atlanta clinched the World Series, but don’t put away the popcorn just yet: Today’s opening round of Georgia’s special legislative session on redistricting promises to be suspenseful. The once-a-decade session begins at 1 p.m. and is expected to last until around Thanksgiving. Follow the proceedings here. The Republican-controlled legislature is redrawing political boundaries in a state […]

A coalition of civil rights groups unveiled maps for new political districts Friday that it says create a more fair and equitable representation of Georgia’s increasingly diverse population. The coalition’s Georgia Unity Redistricting plan comes five days before state legislators gather for a special session to redraw the state’s Congressional, state Senate and state House […]

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation announced today it is giving $10 million in grants to a dozen civil and voting rights advocacy groups. Each of the 12 groups is working to ensure eligible Americans can vote and participate in the democratic process, with a focus on Georgia and the Southeast. The money is the first […]

With nine days left before Georgia lawmakers start redrawing political boundaries, redistricting activists are making one last informational go-round this week about the once-a-decade political task. Redistricting, the process of drawing electoral district boundaries, is often controversial and complex, using updated census data to carve out new district maps. Click here to read the full […]

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is part of a national group of attorneys general calling the federal government’s crackdown on harassment of school officials an unlawful infringement of parental free speech. The move comes as the federal government tries to crack down on harassment and violence against school officials, mostly from parents reacting to the […]

A new voter protection group has teamed with the Democratic Party to finance year-round staff in the battleground states of Georgia, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. Power The Vote will start with six paid positions in Georgia: a director and five deputy regional directors. The group has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars so […]

Some of metro Atlanta’s top lawmakers gathered with constituents this week to discuss the arrival of Georgia’s long-awaited redistricting season. The pandemic and delays in census data already has this redistricting season running months behind schedule. Tech-savvy map-drawers and lawmakers will set about reshaping Georgia’s political landscape next month. It promises to be a session […]

Growing up, King Walker, a high school senior from Bankhead, knew about presidential elections, but he knew little, if anything, about local elections. “Nobody taught me really about voting and democracy,” the Booker T. Washington High School student told Atlanta Civic Circle. “I just knew that the presidential election was big, but the rest of the […]

In July 2020, at the height of the pandemic, gamers gathered for an epic online competition of the popular video game Fortnight. Not only was the virtual event a chance to watch the best gamers in the country battle for a $10,000 prize, it was also a chance to urge gamers to become more civic-minded. In […]

A judge dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking further inspection of alleged fraudulent absentee ballots cast in Fulton County during last year’s presidential election. Henry County Superior Court Chief Judge Brian Amero’s decision came after Georgia election investigators found no evidence to support claims that fake ballots were found during a recount. Amero’s ruling ends the […]

Dunwoody voter Vasu Abhiraman has cast most of his ballots in the 6th Congressional District, a collection of north Atlanta suburbs. Yet, under a new congressional district map proposed last week by Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and Ga. Sen. John F. Kennedy, Abhiraman would now be in the 4th District, which would include most of DeKalb […]