Category: Democracy

Voter suppression comes in many forms. It can be as subtle as preventing a blind man from being able to verify his vote. Or, as some critics contend, as flagrant as passing laws that affect millions of voters. To date, lawmakers in 19 states — including Georgia — have passed 33 laws that make it more […]

When you turn 18, you’re legally considered an adult. This comes with a multitude of new responsibilities in this country – not the least of which is access to the ballot box. With Atlanta’s 2021 municipal elections on the horizon, ACC spoke to potential new voters from this cohort to hear their thoughts on local politics and […]

U.S elections are secure, but recent partisan-fueled efforts to overhaul the process are undermining years of voting and civil rights progress. That’s the consensus of national experts who gathered Thursday to talk about election security. The virtual roundtable was the fourth installment in “Reimagining Democracy,” hosted by journalist and former CNN correspondent Jeanne Meserve. The […]

A proposed draft of a new congressional map introduced this week by two top Georgia Republican lawmakers blindsided redistricting activists and politicians, many of whom only learned about the proposal on social media. Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and State Sen. John F. Kennedy quietly released the map late Monday night, calling it in a joint prepared statement, […]

Georgia’s two public broadcasting stations will air a new documentary tonight on the nation’s 39th president Jimmy Carter. The ”In Their Own Words” series, airing at 8 p.m., is said to be one of the more candid looks at the country’s oldest living president, James Earl Carter Jr., who turns 97 on Friday. Carter and those […]

The redistricting season officially opens in Georgia in November, the day after Georgians go to the polls to cast ballots in some 1,600 municipal elections. Gov. Brian Kemp signed a proclamation late Thursday to convene a special session on Nov. 3 on redistricting. The session also will deal with other policy and procedural issues. The process is […]

The 2021 redistricting cycle has begun in earnest. The nation’s exhaustive and often divisive task of reshaping political lines officially began this week. On Monday, the Texas legislature formally convened its special session to redraw maps in a state where 44 percent of its 4 million residents live in five counties. The map-drawing phase of […]

State elections officials Tuesday dismissed an illegal voting complaint against the wife of football legend Herschel Walker who is running as a Republican candidate from Georgia in the U.S. Senate race. The State Elections Board voted 4-0 to close the case against Julie Blanchard who was alleged to have voted illegally in Georgia while living […]

Georgia’s top election official wants state lawmakers to change the state constitution so that only American citizens can vote in municipal elections. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger recently became the first Georgian to sign a petition calling for that amendment to the state constitution. “I understand how important it is to have the right to […]

The odometer on voting rights activist Fenika Miller’s 2014 Ford Fusion has racked up nearly 300,000 miles. Most of those miles have been added since March when Miller’s organization launched an all-out blitzkrieg of sorts against Georgia’s controversial new election reform law. As senior state coordinator for Black Voters Matter, Miller runs the organization’s operation from […]

Atlanta political stalwart Cathy Woolard Wednesday was tapped to lead the troubled elections operations of the state’s largest county, despite vigorous opposition. Woolard was appointed chair of Fulton County’s elections board after strident criticism over her ties to Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group founded by Stacey Abrams. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger slammed the […]

Georgia’s six-month-old election reform law will see its first major test in the coming weeks as voters across the state head to the polls for municipal elections. Many of the provisions in the Election Integrity Act of 2021 will serve as the first wake-up call for many voters who until now hadn’t given much more than a […]

Voting rights activist Stacey Abrams will headline the Georgia Legal Services Program’s 50th annual Rural Georgia Justice and Poverty Summit later this month. The September 17 summit brings together researchers, state agencies, philanthropists, community policymakers and attorneys to talk about problems such as housing, education, public health, poverty and other critical issues affecting low-income and […]

Why should lawmakers have all the fun — or power — when it comes to creating the district where you’ll vote for city council, school board or Congress members? For the first time in history, there are DIY apps for that for the public. You can now draw political boundary maps yourself to get a […]

Working in male-dominated industries like foreign policy, national security and the nuclear field helped honed Jane Kim Coloseus for the job she has now. Coloseus is executive director of Her Term, a four-year-old Atlanta-based nonprofit that recruits women to run for public office in the Georgia state legislature. It is an organization of about 10 people. […]

Fifty-eight years ago this Saturday a young Atlanta minister stepped up to a podium to address a crowd that filled the length of the two-mile National Mall in Washington, D.C. They had gathered from around the country for the March on Washington, a protest against civil rights abuses and employment discrimination. They wanted to hear […]

A nationally known elections law attorney and authority on voting rights and redistricting has formed his own law firm so he can devote more time to these matters. Marc Elias is leaving the blue-chip law firm of Perkins Coie where he headed its Washington, D.C.-based Political Law Group to form Elias Law Group. Ten Perkins […]

Atlanta high school students are slated to take part in a pilot program that could make learning about democracy part of school curriculums nationwide. An estimated 2,000 Atlanta Public Schools juniors and seniors will learn about the history of democracy and the importance of local government in a new initiative called Democracy Class Atlanta. “APS […]

Fulton County’s embattled elections office Wednesday edged closer to a possible state takeover of its operations. The State Elections Board appointed a performance review panel to look into Fulton County’s election management. The review essentially puts Fulton – which has long wrestled with long lines during elections and other problems over the years – on […]

New federal census data show Georgians are more ethnically and racially diverse and live mostly in and around large cities like Atlanta, Savannah and Macon. The data is key in reshaping Georgia’s political landscape and determining the outcome of future elections. Georgia lawmakers and cartographers will use the data this fall to create new political districts based […]