Last week Secretary of State Brian Kemp refused to step down to avoid any conflict of interest in the upcoming election, and a federal court mulled a suit demanding the state go back to paper ballots, now. It’s a far cry from 16 years ago, when we were talking about a future in which voting would be as easy as going to the mall.

The political class is already stocking up popcorn for the study in contrasts that is this year’s Georgia governor’s race. Unfortunately, the race is also likely to mark a milestone in the politics of dark money electioneering, which for the average voter means endless waves of scary black-and-white attack ads paid for by organizations with fuzzy names.

It’s a open seat, the race is neck to neck and lots of money is being spent by both campaigns. By all rights, we should be expecting a healthy turnout next week in the runoff election to pick the Republican candidate for governor. A sharp drop in turnout could be a warning sign voters are tiring of the race to be “craziest.”

As the nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day, nearly a third of Americans say a second civil war is likely in the next five years. If they’re right, the next civil war won’t be anything like the last one.

This is the first election in Georgia history in which all the Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are women, and all the Republican candidates for those offices are men. There have been implications for both races.