Friday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host John Fredricks welcomed Corinne Murdock, a reporter for The Virginia Star, to the show to weigh in on her recent stories about voter dumping and GOP poll watchers being kept away by Detroit Department of Health officials.
Read More
Twitter permanently suspended several accounts dedicated to documenting the Arizona audit. The social media giant also permanently suspended other similar or affiliated accounts covering the audit or calls for an audit in Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
The suspended accounts were: @arizonaaudit, @AuditWarRoom, @AuditMichigan, @AuditWisconsin, @AuditNevada, @AuditGeorgia, @Audit_Arizona and @Audit_PA. The latter 7 accounts are associated with an Instagram account, @auditwarroom, that hasn’t been suspended from the Facebook-owned platform. That account notified the public that it joined GETTR, a social media platform created by former President Donald Trump’s aide Jason Miller.
Read More
Arizona State University (ASU) debuted a new undergraduate degree geared toward social justice activism, called community development. The course description describes education on the basics of activism, citing concepts like diversity, inclusivity, sustainability, equity, and social and environmental justice. If students enjoy studying community development, they may also earn a graduate degree in it.
“The BA program in community development equips students with tools to collaborate with, empower and educate diverse community constituents by drawing on grassroots and inclusive frameworks such as sustainable development, social and environmental justice, participatory democracy, social and economic equity and social accounting,” reads the course description.
Read More
An apparent break-in occurred at the ballot-holding warehouse where the ballots for the pending Fulton County, Georgia audit were housed. According to reports, security guards hired by Fulton County left the facility. About 20 minutes later, the facility’s alarm was set off. A security detail hired by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Bob Cheeley, relayed to reporters that the facility door was wide open.
The audit concerns over 145,000 ballots from the presidential election. President Joe Biden won Georgia with just over 12,600 votes.
Read More
A Fulton County elections report revealed extensive problems occurred with chain of custody and absentee ballot processing during the general election. The State Election Board contracted Seven Hills Strategies (SHS) to monitor Fulton County from its pre-electoral processes through the recent runoffs. An SHS monitor synthesized 270 hours of observation into a 14-page report, published last month. The monitor was careful to emphasize that they didn’t witness any fraudulent activity such as ballot stuff or double-counting.
In addition to multiple reports of absentee ballots sent to incorrect addresses, the monitor reported that the absentee ballot processing was “extremely sloppy” and rife with chain of custody issues. The monitor cited one example of the headquarter building functioning as both the additional voter verification area and a holding room for ballots between the mail room and another processing room. The monitor stated that it witnessed staff members attempting to move unverified absentee ballots into a stack headed for State Farm Arena to be scanned and counted.
Read More
The Fulton County Registration and Elections Board fired its elections director, Richard Barron, during a special meeting on Tuesday. Barron had served the role since 2013.
Members of the public and the board in favor of firing Barron cited a variety of issues concerning the events at State Farm Arena, chain of custody, rejected ballots, record-keeping, security of ballot transportation, and the dismissal of whistleblowers such as Bridget Thorne. In December, The Georgia Star News interviewed Thorne about her affidavit and subsequent dismissal by the elections officials.
Read More
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is seeking another prosecutor to assume the case due to her predecessor’s conduct. Willis requested removal of her office from prosecuting former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe in a letter to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She is also requesting to reassign another case involving six Atlanta Police Department Officers alleged to have used excessive force.
According to Willis, the county’s previous district attorney, Paul Howard, reportedly used video evidence from Brooks’ case in a campaign ad. Willis claimed that the act may have violated Georgia Bar Rule 3.8(g) by not “refraining from making extrajudicial comments that have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused.”
Read More
The Medical Center of Elberton has been barred temporarily from administering COVID-19 vaccines after mistakenly vaccinating teachers and other school staff without state permission. The medical center reportedly vaccinated around 40 percent of the Elbert County School District employees.
For that, the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) suspended the medical center from receiving vaccine supplies for 6 months.
Read More
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will allow Georgia to use technology that reportedly kills over 98 percent of airborne COVID-19 particles. The emergency exemption request was approved under Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
The antiviral air treatment, Grignard Pure, is composed of Triethylene Glycol (TEG) vapor and nanoparticles that permeate and kill the COVID-19 virus particles by disrupting the protein and membrane structures. The EPA confirmed prior independent lab reports that the treatment kills over 98 percent of COVID-19 particles.
Read More
An online media outlet owned by publicly-traded mega corporation E.W. Scripps Tuesday became the latest outfit to publish a dishonest and inaccurate report on The Star News Network.
A three-minute segment produced by Newsy’s Mark Greenblatt and Lauren Knapp called into question the locality of The Star News Network’s local news outlets, including The Minnesota Sun. In its reporting, Newsy failed to follow the basic ethical guidelines as described by its parent organization, Scripps.
Read More
Despite reports of individuals engaging in “vaccine tourism,” state officials said they won’t be checking residency before administering COVID-19 vaccines. In a press conference on Tuesday, Dr. Kathleen Toomey responded to a reporter’s inquiry about individuals admitting they were traveling from out of state to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Georgia.
“I think it’s important that everybody know: we’re not going to be checking driver’s licenses, we’re not going to police this process. Does that mean somebody may slip in from out of state? Possibly,” stated Toomey. “I think it’s important that we don’t want to be policemen. We want to encourage as much vaccination as we can.”
Read More
The Georgia House of Representatives recognized 8 new committee chairmen, with House Democrats earning one chair. State Representative Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) was appointed to chair the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Overview Committee (MARTOC), a statutory body overseeing the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) budget.
Oliver was the only Democrat appointed to chair a committee; no Democrats chair any of the subcommittees or special committees either. MARTOC’s designation as a joint committee means that it doesn’t handle legislation, and members don’t vote with the MARTA Board of Directors.
Read More
Activists and legislators are calling for Gwinnett County Board of Registrations and Elections Chair Alice O’Lenick to resign for supporting election law changes. O’Lenick wanted to limit no-excuse absentee voting to the elderly and infirm, ban absentee ballot drop boxes, and expand early voting to last 21 days and be open on the weekends.
O’Lenick’s proposals incited negative responses from a variety of civil rights and activist groups, as well as a coalition of Democratic state legislators. Amongst the groups were The Lincoln Project, Fair Fight Action, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta, Georgia American Federation of Labor and Congress of Individual Organizations (AFL-CIO), Georgia Equality, and Voto Latino.
Read More
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) banned all “hate speech” by its members – not just in members’ professional capacity, but in every aspect of their lives. The policy changes were approved by the NAR Board of Directors during a meeting on November 13.
The policy on hate speech encompasses an array of broad issues: “harassing speech, epithets, or slurs based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.” Collectively, these speech-related issues fall under what the NAR terms “public trust,” which also includes misappropriation of client or customer funds, or property and fraud that causes significant economic harm.
Read More
A judgment allowing or prohibiting the inspection of Fulton County’s mail-in ballots may occur as early as next week. The plaintiffs, organized by the election integrity organization Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VoterGA), have been engaged in litigation for nearly a month to obtain an inspection of those ballots.
VoterGA had anticipated receiving a ruling allowing them to inspect the county’s mail-in ballots during their last hearing on January 15. However, after three hours debating the county’s compliance with open records requests concerning the mail-in ballots, akin to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requirements, Chief Judge Brian Amero decided to only address that issue.
Read More
The 1776 Commission published its report on the history and principles of the American founding on Monday. The 45-page account explored the key individuals, events, and documents informing this country’s founding. It addressed the contextual history and meaning of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, ideologies that both historically and presently challenge American principles, and a series of proposals to restore national unity.
The appendices included the entirety of the Declaration of Independence, as well as further insight on the topics of religious faith, identity politics, and a strong civics education. In an interview with The Tennessee Star, Vice Chair Dr. Carol Swain explained that the report focuses on the virtues and ideals of this country that unite and benefit American citizens.
Read More
Twitter suspended Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from her personal account temporarily on Sunday. The suspension occurred shortly after Greene posted allegations that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Gabriel Sterling were to blame for potential voter fraud.
Greene had issued a response to Sterling’s tweet which claimed that Greene, Doug Collins, and President Donald Trump were to blame for a significant drop-off in Republican turnout. Just over 270,000 less Republicans voted in the runoff elections, as compared to nearly 166,000 less Democrats.
Read More
Two upcoming special elections scheduled next month will result in a new state representative and chief prosecutor. The race for House District 90 – which encompasses DeKalb, Henry, and Rockdale counties – will feature a slate of 7 Democratic candidates. The Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney race is bipartisan and much smaller, featuring only two candidates.
The list of candidates on the ballot for the state representative seat are exclusively Democratic because of the circumstances surrounding the previous representative’s departure from office. Representative Pam Stephenson (D-DeCatur) resigned last September due to medical issues; she’d served as representative for about 15 years. Her daughter, Taureaun Stephenson, acted as her power of attorney and submitted a resignation letter to House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge). The next week, Governor Brian Kemp accepted her resignation.
Read More
State Representative Dar’shun Kendrick (D-Lithonia) introduced five bills that are aimed at increasing “Black wealth.” The bills propose racial compositions on Georgia corporations receiving state tax credits; reinstatement of the “Angel Investor” tax credit and qualifying historically Black colleges and universities (HCBU) as eligible; tax credits for HBCU entrepreneurship programs; racially diversify all boards, commissions, councils, or committees to reflect the state’s demographics; and annual reports on wealth within certain demographics.
In a press release, Kendrick claimed that Black communities are systemically marginalized within the economy. She added that the pandemic has only compounded the matter.
Read More
A Georgia Gwinnett College student appeared before the Supreme Court on Tuesday to defend free speech on campuses. The student, Chike Uzuegbunam, was prohibited by campus officials from speaking about the Christian faith on campus twice in 2016, following alleged complaints from other students.
A day before the Supreme Court hearing, Uzuegbunam published an opinion piece recounting his experience at the college and throughout the subsequent court hearings. Uzuegbunam explained that he was barred from passing out fliers and discussing his faith with fellow students publicly. According to his account, he was having one-on-one conversations with students when he was stopped by a campus official and told he needed to file a request for a speech zone.
Read More
The Georgia House Education Committee introduced legislation to fund education savings accounts for qualifying parents. House Bill 60, or the “Georgia Educational Scholarship Act,” proposes granting certain state educational funds to parents directly rather than schools.
The bill would allow students with circumstances including poverty, foster care, active duty military parent(s), disability, bullying, or mandated distance learning to apply certain state educational funds to attend the participating school of their choice.
Read More
District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez implemented over 40 new policy changes posing alternative, more progressive forms of prosecution. In a lengthy memorandum titled “Fairness and Equity in the Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney Office,” Gonzalez stated that the changes would take effect immediately.
Gonzalez cited that these efforts would end their circuit’s “participation in mass incarceration and the school to prison pipeline.”
Read More
The Georgia House Democratic Caucus Subcommittee on COVID-19 requested that Governor Brian Kemp implement more emergency regulations to address the new COVID-19 strain. Subcommittee members are State Representatives Rhonda Burnough (D-Riverdale), Viola Davis, (D-Stone Mountain), Shelly Hutchinson (D-Snellville), Donna McLeod (D-Lawrenceville), Sandra Scott (D-Rex), and Kim Schofieeld (D-Atlanta).
The letter requested that Kemp expand the emergency orders to require everyone to either shelter-in-place, or do a combination of the following: cease all in-person schooling; further limit gatherings in bars, clubs, and restaurants; impose a statewide mask mandate; and establish moratoriums on evictions and utility cutoffs for all of this upcoming year.
Read More
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called President Trump’s remarks a “threat” during a 60 Minutes interview aired Monday. The interview also included previous Voting System Implementation Manager Gabriel Sterling, currently the Secretary of State’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.
Raffensperger was referring to a secretly-recorded, leaked call in which the President questioned the merits of Georgia’s elections systems, voter fraud allegations, and election irregularities. At several points, Trump criticized Raffensperger for stating that there wasn’t any evidence of criminality within the 2020 general election. The President also likened Raffensperger’s unwillingness to assign credibility to election fraud claims with criminal activity.
Raffensperger was referring to a secretly-recorded, leaked call in which the President questioned the merits of Georgia’s elections systems, voter fraud allegations, and election irregularities. At several points, Trump criticized Raffensperger for stating that there wasn’t any evidence of criminality within the 2020 general election. The President also likened Raffensperger’s unwillingness to assign credibility to election fraud claims with criminal activity.
Governor Brian Kemp and Democratic voting rights activist Stacey Abrams were both cleared of some wrongdoings in their respective 2018 gubernatorial campaigns. While the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission maintained that the complaints against Kemp had no merit, they only dismissed several of the complaints against Abrams.
The unresolved complaint raised against Abrams alleged that her campaign illegally coordinated with a political action committee (PAC) through a voting rights nonprofit that she founded. Abrams’ nonprofit, New Georgia Project, and a similarly-named PAC, New Georgia Project Action Fund, reportedly operated in the same office under some of the same individuals. In an attempt to investigate the complaints further, the commission petitioned a court for a subpoena to access more of Abrams campaign documents; the judge denied the request. It is unclear whether the investigation is still ongoing. Commission members may not comment on active investigations pursuant to the state’s Rules of Professional Responsibility.
Read More
Republican incumbent Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, Jr., narrowly secured re-election in the runoff race to represent District 4 in the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC). McDonald secured over 50 percent of the vote totals, while his Democratic opponent, Daniel Blackman, trailed McDonald by 1 point.
The win marked McDonald’s fourth time being elected to the position. He has served GPSC for 16 years.
Read More
Senator Kelly Loeffler reversed course following the riots at the Capitol, accepting rather than objecting as promised to the Electoral College certification. Her acceptance of the results also followed her projected loss to Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock in their runoff election.
Loeffler shared that the protestors who breached the barricaded Capitol grounds and infiltrated the Capitol itself were the reason why she changed her decision.
Read More
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) will select a committee to address election integrity, but a fellow legislator questioned his motives.
During a press conference on Thursday, Ralston revealed that the General Assembly would address election law reforms as early as next week. He noted that he would appoint a special committee to undertake election integrity reforms and investigations to ensure confidence in future elections.
Read More
Chief Judge Brian Amero filed a temporary injunction ordering Fulton County to preserve their general election mail-in ballots. Plaintiffs in the case organized by Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VoterGA) had hoped to obtain an order from this hearing allowing them to conduct a forensic inspection of the county’s mail-in ballots. The hearing took place virtually at 4 p.m. EST with Henry County Superior Court. Fulton County Elections Director Rick Barron was present on the line; the other election board members didn’t attend the hearing.
Attorneys from the Cheeley Law Group represented the plaintiffs. Their contentions concerned the events from State Farm Arena on November 3rd after 10:30 p.m. EST. Multiple reports noted that poll workers and media were informed that vote counting was finished for the night, and that they should leave. They requested to share the video evidence from that night with the court, but Amero declined.
Read More
Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff claimed victory in their respective U.S. Senate runoff elections as vote counting continued. Warnock declared that he’d won late Tuesday evening, while Ossoff waited until Wednesday morning to declare his win.
At the time of press with over 98 percent reporting in for both races, Warnock led Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) by over 55,600 votes, or just over 1 point. Ossoff led Republican incumbent David Perdue (R-GA) by over 18,400 votes, or just over half a point.
Read More
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Gabriel Sterling negotiated a $200,000 annual contract for himself last year to oversee the new voting technology from Dominion Voting Systems. Under that position, it’s reported that he worked as an independent contractor rather than as a government employee. However, he identified himself in that position as a full-time employee.
Sterling’s stint last year as an independent contractor aligned with the state’s decision in 2019 to award Dominion a $107 million contract for its voting systems. Prior to working as an independent contractor for the state, Sterling worked under one of his current positions: Chief Operating Officer. He earned much less under that government position – around $114,000 annually. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the information on Sterling’s contracts through an open records request.
Read More
Georgia voter Richard Hendrix reported that the Dominion Voting Systems (Dominion) scanners ran out of battery power at his Fulton County voting location at Heards Ferry Elementary School on Tuesday morning.
Hendrix stated that he filed a complaint with the Secretary of State’s office, and sent copies to Senator Burt Jones, Republican Party of Georgia Chairman David Ralston, and Governor Brian Kemp.
Read More
A Spalding County voter told The Georgia Star News early Tuesday that voting machines broke at a Griffin-area polling place, and instead of receiving paper ballots, workers sent the voters waiting in line away.
In an interview with The Star News, the voter stated that she’d arrived at her polling place at Union Baptist church early because she works several jobs and wanted to ensure she could cast her vote.
Read More
A private call between President Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was leaked by The Washington Post on Sunday afternoon. The call reportedly took place almost exactly a day prior to the time that the audio was leaked.
Others on the call included White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Trump’s attorneys Cleta Mitchell and Kurt Hilbert, Georgia’s Secretary of State General Counsel Ryan Germany, and Georgia’s Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs.
Read More
A hearing to decide whether Fulton County would be ordered to allow public inspection of their general election ballots was transferred suddenly. The hearing was scheduled for Monday at 11 a.m. EST with the Fulton County Superior Court under Judge Rachelle Carnesale.
Instead, the hearing will occur in another county within another judicial circuit. The plaintiffs, election integrity organization Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VoterGA), sued for constitutional rights violations. On Monday, Judge Carnesale decided the case was truly an election case and therefore not within her jurisdiction.
Read More
Downtown Nashville now features a mural honoring the six police officers who evacuated residents ahead of the Christmas Day bombing. Sergeant Timothy Miller and officers Brenna Hosey, Amanda Topping, Tyler Luellen, Michael Sipos, James Wells are depicted on a rendition of the famed “I Believe in Nashville” mural series. Their version of the mural reads, “I Believe in Heroes.”
The mural is located at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Broadway, just ahead of the site of the bombing. The street is still blocked off due to the wreckage being cleared away. The groups behind the popular Instagram pages dedicated to the Nashville community and the “I Believe in Nashville” mural series painted the mural with the permission of the building owner, Hard Rock Cafe Nashville. The mural is expected to remain until the window underneath is replaced. After that, it will be framed and hung inside the building.
Read More
Gwinnett County will no longer participate in the 287(g) Program, meaning their officers will no longer perform immigration law enforcement functions. The county’s newly-elected sheriff, Keybo Taylor, announced his decision the same day he was sworn into office.
Gwinnett County first entered into the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program in 2009. Under the agreement, officers were trained by ICE to become federal immigration officers. They could interrogate, arrest, process, detain, transport, and issue immigrant detainers to individuals in regard to their immigration status and any related violations.
Read More
The Volunteer State gained a set of new laws that took effect on the first day of the new year.
These laws impacted tobacco purchasing, emergency alert systems, pregnant employees and their employers, 911 operators, Department of Veterans Services staff, correctional officers and emergency medical personnel, animal owners, and those who rent out their homes or cars.
Read More
Only 9 out of 35 Republican state senators signed a petition to call a special session determining Georgia’s 16 electors and addressing election fraud. In order for the petition to go through, at least 29 senators needed to sign onto it.
The state senators who signed the petition were: Brandon Beach (R-GA-Alpharetta), Burt Jones (R-Jackson), Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming), William Ligon (R-Brunswick), Matt Brass (R-Newnan), Tyler Harper (R-Ocilla), Marty Harbin (R-Tyrone), Bruce Thompson (R-White), and Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega).
Read More
Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner reversed part of her ruling late Wednesday night, allowing Muscogee County to impose provisional ballots for challenged voters. However, Gardner maintained that the challenge of eligibility can’t be made solely on the basis of National Change of Address (NCOA) registry data. Gardner’s updated order followed shortly after an original ruling prohibited two counties from imposing provisional ballots for over 4,100 challenged voters.
Gardner is the sister of Stacey Abrams, the Democratic activist leading several organizations and a political action committee dedicated to voters rights. Despite the pair’s connection and Abrams’ interest in the case, Gardner refused to recuse herself. She published an explanation on Thursday, several days after her first order.
Read More
Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff accused incumbent Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) of campaigning with a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member, ignoring her remarks to the contrary. He made his accusations during an impromptu interview with Fox News on Wednesday. Ossoff’s allegation was based on a viral photo of Loeffler with a former KKK leader, Chester Doles, taken earlier this month.
“We have two United States Senators in Georgia who have blatantly used their offices to enrich themselves. This is beyond partisanship,” stated Ossoff. “Here’s the bottom line: Kelly Loeffler has been campaigning with a klansman. Kelly Loeffler has been campaigning with a klansman. She is stooping to these vicious personal attacks to distract from the fact that she’s been campaigning with a former member of the Ku Klux Klan.”
“Right now, we have a crisis of corruption in American politics. And since we’re live on Fox right now, let me take this opportunity to address directly the Fox audience. We have two United States Senators in Georgia who have blatantly used their offices to enrich themselves. This is beyond partisanship,” stated Ossoff. “Here’s the bottom line: Kelly Loeffler has been campaigning with a klansman. Kelly Loeffler has been campaigning with a klansman. She is stooping to these vicious personal attacks to distract from the fact that she’s been campaigning with a former member of the Ku Klux Klan.”
Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) stated that last year’s investigation into the Nashville bomber yielded no evidence or suspicion of a crime. Chief John Drake revealed those details in a statement on Anthony Warner, the bomber linked to the Christmas Day explosion in downtown Nashville.
Drake explained that MNPD were called by an attorney to address a suicidal woman with two guns last August. The woman at the scene was Pamela Perry, Warner’s girlfriend at the time. She reported to police that Warner was making bombs in his RV trailer, and stated that both guns belonged to him. The attorney, Raymond Throckmorton III, reportedly represented both Warner and Perry.
Read More
Representative-elect Diana Harshbarger announced Thursday that she will object to the Electoral College results during next week’s certification.
“On Jan 6 when the Electoral College meets, I will join my other GOP [colleagues] in objecting,” wrote Harshbarger. “I stand for free and fair elections, and I am ready to fight for Tennessee and our Country.”
Read More
Fulton County Superior Court has granted a hearing for a forensic inspection of Fulton County’s mail-in ballots. Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VoterGA) relayed the news in an email sent to The Georgia Star News on Thursday. The announcement followed Georgia Senate Judiciary Subcommittee’s motion to request all absentee mail-in ballots from Fulton County on Wednesday. The next day, the subcommittee sent their formal request to the county.
The hearing will take place Monday at 11 a.m. EST. The Senate subcommittee hasn’t filed a petition with the court, but instead has sent a letter to Fulton County officials, requesting a response by noon Thursday. Their request would include all absentee mail-in ballots processed at the State Farm Arena. VoterGA organized voters into plaintiffs a little over a week ago to obtain a court order granting similar relief.
Read More
Fulton County Superior Court has granted a hearing for a forensic inspection of Fulton County’s mail-in ballots. Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VoterGA) relayed the news in an email submitted to The Georgia Star News on Thursday. The announcement followed Georgia Senate Judiciary Subcommittee’s motion to request all absentee mail-in ballots from Fulton County on Wednesday. The next day, the subcommittee sent their formal request to the county.
The hearing will take place on January 4, at 11 a.m. EST. The Senate subcommittee hasn’t filed a petition with the court, but instead has sent a letter to Fulton County officials, requesting a response by noon today. Their request would include all absentee mail-in ballots processed at the State Farm Arena. VoterGA organized voters into plaintiffs a little over a week ago to obtain a court order granting similar relief.
Read More
Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will visit Georgia to support the Senate election runoff candidates, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, next week.
Biden and Harris will arrive in the days preceding the runoff elections, according to a press release from their team. Harris will precede Biden by a day, showing up to Savannah on Sunday. Biden will arrive on Monday in Atlanta.
Read More
Georgia State Senate Judiciary Subcommittee held another hearing on election fraud on Wednesday. Chairman William Ligon (R-GA-White Oak) oversaw the hearing.
Witnesses testified to multiple variants of election integrity issues, including the voting machines, voting systems, poll workers and adjudicators, and even the printed QR ballots themselves. A consistent message throughout the testimonies reflected a lack of helpfulness from the secretary of state’s office.
Read More
Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner blocked two counties from purging over 4,000 voters from the rolls for Georgia’s upcoming runoff elections. Gardner is the sister of Democratic activist and failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Abrams is the leader of Fair Fight Action, a voter rights organization, and the founder of New Georgia Project, which is under investigation currently by the secretary of state’s office.
The defendants requested that Gardner recuse herself due to her relationship with Abrams and Fair Fight. Their reasoning concerned Fair Fight’s current engagement in a similar federal court-level lawsuit, filed on the same day last week as their lawsuit. The defendants noted that the lead counsel in both cases are also the same.
Read More
President Donald Trump will host another Georgia rally in a show of support to incumbent Senators Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA). The “Victory Rally” will occur January 4th, one day before the runoff election date for the two senate seats.
Others joining Trump at the rally are incumbent Georgia Public Service Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, Jr., and a coalition of unnamed Republicans. McDonald will also appear on the January 5th election runoff ballot, defending his District 4 position for the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC). The incumbent will face Democratic challenger Daniel Blackman. Prior to serving as commissioner, McDonald served two decades as a state representative.
Read More
Senators Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA) submitted a letter to the U.S. Embassy’s Acting Consul General requesting the release of Skylar Mack. The senators expressed concern for the welfare of Mack, an 18-year-old college student jailed for breaking the Cayman Islands’ quarantine rules.
In their letter, Loeffler and Perdue acknowledged the impact of COVID-19 and the Cayman Islands’ authority to impose its pandemic-related regulations and sentencing. However, according to the two senators, Mack has reportedly received a substantial amount of death threats for the incident.
Read More