Georgia Today: Voter lawsuit tossed; Candidates focus on health care; Jimmy Carter's birthday

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, health care and affordability take center stage in the Georgia governor's race. The Atlanta Braves face elimination in the wild card series, and the State Election Board considers a big last minute change. 

Ben Adita: The proposal to upgrade software with two weeks to go is really fraught and risky. 

Peter Biello: Today is Thursday, Oct. 1. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today. 

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Peter Biello: Both candidates hoping to be Georgia's next governor have put healthcare reform at the top of their to-do list. But as GPB's Sofi Gratas explains, how far these plans will go to increase healthcare access could be limited by policy changes in the nation's capital. 

Sofi Gratas: Conference room full of nurses on a Friday in August. Democratic candidate for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms makes a promise. 

Keisha Lance Bottoms: Well, if God willing, I am — or when, God willing, I am elected governor of this state, healthcare will be a priority for me. 

Sofi Gratas: For Bottoms, up against billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson, it's important that message resonates. Especially among undecided voters like Lorna Williams, a nurse in nearby Villa Ricca. 

Lorna Williams: Being a campaign stop being here, I actually feel kind of special.

Sofi Gratas: Even as a healthcare worker, she says seeing a doctor, under the current way things are, is hard. 

Lorna Williams: You know, even having insurance, I struggle to pay the hospital bills for my own care. 

Sofi Gratas: Williams is someone who needed help from social safety net programs in the past, so she likes the Democrats' plan to pursue a full expansion of Medicaid. 

Lorna Williams: So that it includes more families, and then actually broaden what it covers would be good, too. 

Sofi Gratas: But now, because of the passage of President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, any plan to expand Medicaid comes with a major caveat. Under the bill, most adults covered by Medicaid in states that have expanded the program will have to prove they're working at least 80 hours a month in order to keep their coverage, with some exceptions. If Georgia did expand Medicaid, the up to half a million people estimated to be newly eligible would be subject to these rules, too. Georgia has already been experimenting with this model. 

Brian Kemp: To put it simply, Georgia Pathways and Access will provide the opportunity for thousands of hardworking Georgians to finally have health insurance coverage. 

Sofi Gratas: That's Gov.Brian Kemp in 2020, presenting his Pathways to Coverage program. An alternative to full Medicaid expansion, it offers low-cost insurance to adults who can work. Certain training, education and volunteer hours also count. But since Pathways' own work requirements went into effect in 2023, the program has reached only a fraction of people eligible for it, according to the state's own data. Leah Chan is with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. 

Leah Chan: What we know from Georgia's experience and from the experience of other states who've instituted some sort of work requirement tied to public benefits, is that work requirements do not work. 

Sofi Gratas: She means they make getting health insurance difficult, and then in turn don't help people find long-term employment. 

Leah Chan: So thinking about what is in the state's control, there are policy choices we can make to reduce the burden on caseworkers, to better leverage our technology. It's good for all of us. It's cost savings for the state. 

Sofi Gratas: For Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, improving the current system would mean ending Pathways first and deal with the new federal work requirements later. 

Keisha Lance Bottoms: But we gotta claw back some of this money that we have spent on programs that have proven not to work. This is a bipartisan issue. 

Sofi Gratas: Republican Rick Jackson, the healthcare executive running against Bottoms, rejects full Medicaid expansion. Instead, on Day 1, he's proposed presenting lawmakers with another alternative, a program for adults like Pathways with work requirements. His campaign hasn't made it clear exactly who would be eligible for this, but Jackson's ultimate plan, he says, is to get more people on private insurance. Here he is earlier this summer. 

RIck Jackson: Look, I was on welfare. These people don't want to be on welfare for their whole life. They have pride. They want to get out. They just need an opportunity. If they get on to commercial insurance, that's a first stop of success for them, and so they can grow their career. So that's what I want to do. 

Sofi Gratas: Neither campaign has provided details about what their plans will cost the state. Both plans will depend on much more cash from the federal government. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas. 

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Peter Biello: If healthcare is a top priority for both Bottoms and Jackson, affordability could fairly be called a close second. Bottoms rolled out part of her policy package yesterday that aims to make driving more affordable. She says she wants to nix a state tax on auto insurance payments and those savings could be passed on to customers. She also wants to limit rate increases and create a Georgia insurance advocate. She says the state also needs options for those who can't afford auto insurance. 

Keisha Lance Bottoms: And we will also work to create a low-cost basic policy for Georgia drivers who meet income requirements. 

Peter Biello: She also proposed lowering the state gas tax from 33 to 28 cents per gallon. For his part, Rick Jackson proposed a policy in August to suspend the state tax automatically if prices rise 35 cents or more within a week or 75 cents in 30 days. 

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Peter Biello: A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice that sought access to sensitive voter data in Georgia. Federal officials said they needed the information for a probe into the state's compliance with federal election law. But in a ruling yesterday, U.S. District Judge Victoria Calvert said the law does not require disclosure of sensitive information. Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger hailed the ruling. He says the state could comply with federal election while protecting confidential information. 

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Peter Biello: The State Election Board is considering a last-minute change less than two weeks before the start of early voting. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports experts told board members today that that's a bad idea. 

Sarah Kallis: The board says the changes would address a privacy flaw that could allow cybercriminals to see how people voted, by matching voting records and valid images. They want to update software or shuffle ballots prior to scanning. Ben Adita is the executive director of VotingWorks, a nonprofit that sells open-source voting systems. He told a committee the secretary of state has already taken steps to mitigate the privacy flaw, and urge them not to implement changes this close to the election.

Ben Adita: The proposal to upgrade software with two weeks to go is really fraught and risky. The proposal to alter the vote casting process statewide is fraught whether you have two weeks or two or six months, frankly, of lead time. 

Sarah Kallis: The board did not take action on the measure and plans to reconvene next week. Early voting starts Oct. 13. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis. 

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Peter Biello: The Georgia Board of Regents today formally hired the next leader of the state's 25 public colleges and universities. The board named Thomas Fanning as chancellor. The former president and CEO of Southern Company will take control of the University System of Georgia on Jan. 1, the day after Sonny Perdue retires. The regents named Fanning the position's sole finalist last month. 

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Peter Biello: Georgia has set another tourism record. The State Department of Economic Development yesterday said Georgia welcomed 175 million domestic and international visitors last year. That is 2% more than in 2024 and the fourth consecutive year of record-breaking figures. 

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Today would have been the late President Jimmy Carter's 102nd birthday and his hometown Plains is celebrating. The city is hosting free events throughout the day, including trolley tours and a birthday celebration on Main Street. Last night, President Carter's church, Maranatha Baptist, hosted its annual concert. 

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Peter Biello: In Georgia sports, the Atlanta Dream are heading to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs. Allisha Gray scored 22 points in the Dream's 93 to 75 victory over the Washington Mystics yesterday. And the Atlanta Braves face a potential season-ending game tonight in Game 3 of the wild card series against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Braves are planning to open with rookie Ray Kerr on the mound to get through the Phillies' tough top of the lineup hitters Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. After Kerr, manager Walt Weiss is expected to bring in Grant Holmes, who has much more experience on the hill this season. Aaron Nola will get the start for Philadelphia. 

Peter Biello: And that is a wrap on Georgia Today. Thank you so much for tuning in and thank you for supporting GPB. Your financial contributions during this fall fun drive really help us do everything we do at GPB, including produce this podcast, Georgia Today, so thanks very much. Your support also helps us post news stories to gpb.org/news. That's where you can find updates and we're going to keep reporting the news tomorrow as well and you won't want to miss a thing, so make sure you subscribe to this podcast. That way we'll pop up automatically in your podcast feed. And your feedback is welcome, of course. You can send it by email and it'll reach the whole team. The address is [email protected]. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We will see you tomorrow. 

For more on these stories and more, go to gpb.org/news