Wednesday on Political Rewind: A lawsuit accusing Georgia's presidential election of being rigged was dismissed. In other news, an African American candidate for mayor of Sandy Springs says he is being threatened and targeted with racist campaign messages. Plus, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.
Tuesday on Political Rewind: Early voting in municipal elections across the state started today. In Atlanta, candidates for mayor will feature in a series of debates that are becoming increasingly contentious. Meanwhile, two election workers in Fulton County were fired for allegedly shredding 300 paper voter registration applications.
In a 4-2 vote, commissioners approved Cathy Woolard to the five-member board after she fended off objections by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other Republicans about partisan connections to the Democratic party.
The Georgia State Election Board has appointed a bipartisan three-member panel to initiate a performance review of Fulton County's elections board, the latest step in a lengthy process allowed under a new GOP-backed state law overhauling elections.
Another controversial part of Georgia's sweeping new voting law would allow state officials to temporarily take over local county elections boards, with Republicans eyeing Fulton County as the first target. An analysis of the measures and statements by election officials suggest that a takeover of Fulton is unlikely to happen any time soon — if at all.
Thursday on Political Rewind: Georgia Republicans have begun taking steps to a possible takeover of Fulton County elections. A letter signed by two dozen state senators supports a performance review of the county’s election chief. Also: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s moratorium on evictions during the pandemic is set to end this Saturday, potentially unleashing a wave of pent-up evictions around metro Atlanta.
Tuesday on Political Rewind: Voting rights advocates remain concerned Republican legislators are angling to use Georgia’s new voting law to take over operation of Fulton County elections. However, critics of past chaos in the county’s elections say change is needed. Meanwhile, as cases of COVID-19 propelled by the dangerous delta variant spread in the state, Savannah Mayor Van Johnson has once again issued a mask mandate for the city.
Friday on Political Rewind: Vice President Kamala Harris visits the Mexican border for the first time today. She’s been criticized by Republicans and Democrats for failing to take the leadership role President Joe Biden assigned her to find solutions for dealing with the surge of immigrants looking to enter the United States.
Meanwhile, the New York Appellate Court that suspended Trump lawyer Rudolph Giuliani’s license to practice law in New York State cited his conduct in challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Over half of all absentee ballots in Fulton County were returned using drop boxes, according to an analysis of more than 1,500 absentee drop box forms submitted from the November election.
The Fulton County Sheriff's office is investigating why an alarm went off over the weekend at a warehouse that stores election equipment, the latest bizarre twist in an ongoing lawsuit seeking to prove thrice-counted absentee ballots were marred by fraud.
Democratic members of the Fulton County Commission are sponsoring a resolution that seeks to minimize the impact of the state's new 98-page voting law on county voters.
Fulton County's November and January elections had no fraud but faced problems with its mail-in absentee voting process, according to a report from a State Election Board-appointed monitor.
The appointed Fulton County Board of Registration and Election voted 3-2 to fire Elections Director Rick Barron, despite support from his staff and a successful November election, because of lingering problems with how Georgia's largest county runs its vote-counting processes.
