Friday on Political Rewind: After claiming the 2020 election was rigged, Republicans are mobilizing election volunteers and disputing individual voter registrations statewide. Plus, teachers are better-paid this school year, but they face new restrictions on teaching race and gender.
Groups challenging Georgia's 2021 voting law are asking a federal judge to block a ban on giving water and food to voters standing in line. The state is defending the ban, saying that it prevents concerns about illegal campaigning or vote buying, while preserving order around polling places.
County election office directors, Democratic lawmakers, and a coalition of voting rights groups say the most troubling aspect of House Bill 1464 is that it gives the Georgia Bureau of Investigation the ability to initiate election investigations, a significant change that would divert jurisdiction from the Secretary of State’s Office and State Election Board to the crime fighting agency.
During a commemoration of the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Elliott Smith's great-aunt pushed him across the iconic Edmund Pettus Bridge in a stroller. Decades later, just before her passing, Smith switched roles and guided her wheelchair across the same bridge in 2015. She was Amelia Boynton Robinson, who helped lead the 1965 march.
Thursday on Political Rewind: Gov. Kemp said he supports legislation giving parents the right to decide if their children should wear masks in school. Plus, a conservative voter mobilization group launches a campaign to expand Sunday voting in rural areas of the state.
Wednesday on Political Rewind: A federal judge in Atlanta suggests he may have to stop hearing a voting rights lawsuit after a Supreme Court decision on a Alabama redistricting case. Newly released campaign fundraising totals show Stacey Abrams and Raphael Warnock outraised their GOP rivals. And Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan has further distanced himself from Republican loyalists to former President Donald Trump.
The symbolic action comes as Sinema has come under criticism from progressive groups in Arizona after she voted to uphold the filibuster in the Senate.
Thursday on Political Rewind: President Joe Biden faced a series of daunting challenges since taking office one year ago, including a dramatic resurgence of the coronavirus and a unified GOP Senate minority determined to block the president’s agenda. Plus, former Sen. David Perdue is calling for a new police unit to monitor state elections, based on his continuing lies about massive election fraud costing Donald Trump the state in 2020.
The majority-white, majority Republican rural county planned to move from seven to one polling place because of scarce resources and a change in voter behavior.
Republican state lawmakers across the country are ramping up their drive to enact voting and election-related laws in time for crucial 2022 midterm elections.
Monday on Political Rewind: We mark Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a panel of Georgians reflecting on the legacy of the great civil rights leader. What would Dr. King make of the setbacks in the U.S. Senate this past week experienced by those calling for new voting rights legislation?
Friday on Political Rewind: Just days after a visit to Georgia where he demanded the U.S. Senate pass voting rights legislation, President Joe Biden admits the prospects for action are now dim. Is there a future for federal election reform law? Meanwhile, in his State of the State speech, Gov. Brian Kemp showcased his plans for doling out billions of dollars of state surplus money for income tax refunds, teacher and state employee pay raises, and more.
Thursday on Political Rewind: Gov. Kemp prepares his State of the State address. Meanwhile, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens seeks to improve the relationship between city and state government. And Sen. Warnock puts pressure on big businesses to step in the fight on voting rights.
