About The Braselton news. (Jefferson, Ga) 2006-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 2022)
Wednesday, November 16, 2022 The Braselton News Page 7 A State round-up Georgia’s unique general election runoffs can ‘cut both ways’ Depot continued from 1A By Rebecca Grapevine Capitol Beat News Service When Georgians go to the polls — again — next month to vote in the U.S. Senate runoff, they'll be participating in a unique — and complicated — state tradition. That’s because Georgia is the sole state to require runoffs in both primary and general elections. In Geor gia. candidates must earn at least 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff. Some other Southern states have a runoff rule in primary elections - but not for general elections like the one Georgia held this month. (Mississippi recent ly adopted a measure that requires general runoffs for statewide races that will start with next year’s elec tions.) In Georgia, although Democratic U.S. Sen. Ra phael Warnock earned about 35,000 more votes than Republican challenger Herschel Walker, neither candidate crossed the 50% threshold because Liber tarian Chase Oliver drew 2% of the vote. Walker and Warnock now face a runoff for the Senate seat on Dec. 6. It won’t be Warnock’s first: He won his Senate seat in 2021 by defeating then-incumbent Repub lican Kelly Loeffler in a runoff. Georgia’s modern era of runoffs began when the legislature adopted a new election code in 1964, explained University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock. The legis lature put the runoff system in place - but excluded the governor’s race. That presented a problem in 1966. when neither Dem ocrat Lester Maddox nor Republican Bo Callaway could pass the 50% mark in By Rebecca Grapevine Capitol Beat News Service A Georgia Senate com mittee focused on addressing homelessness heard Wednes day from a variety of Geor gians who have directly expe rienced living on the streets. Those who testified came from diverse backgrounds but shared the common experi ence of homelessness. They described in frank terms the challenges they faced in trying to bounce back. “A lot of it was due to alco hol and drugs,” said Darlene Adair, explaining why she was homeless for around 20 years. Adair now runs her own nonprofit and serves as an advisor to a major Atlanta nonprofit devoted to home lessness. She described being forced into uncomfortable sit uations just to be able to sleep in a car for a night. Adair said that she thought a combination of a hous ing-first approach and “self- love” among people who are homeless are needed to solve the problem. “Join [those] together - we can fix something that will work for everybody,” she said. Homelessness has in creased partly due to people’s struggles to earn enough to afford housing, Adair added. Other people have faced serious mental health strug gles that derailed promis ing life plans. For example, Kellie Bryson, who served the general election due to a write-in candidate. After court challenges, the state legislature — controlled by Democrats — was al lowed to choose the gov ernor. Lawmakers chose party-fellow and staunch segregationist Maddox. In response, and with Maddox’s support, Geor gia voters adopted a 1968 constitutional amendment requiring the governor’s race to go to a runoff in the absence of a clear-majority winner. The state’s runoff law has not been immune to legislative tinkering since then. Back in 1992. Dem ocrat Wyche Fowler lost his Senate reelection bid to Republican Paul Coverdell in a runoff. Fowler had earned more votes in the general elec tion but neither candidate crossed the 50% mark. Fowler fell to Coverdell in the rematch. The Dem- ocratic-controlled General Assembly then changed state law to require only 45% of the vote to avoid a runoff. That paid off in 1996, when Democrat Max Cle- land drew more than 45% — but less than 50% — of the vote, skirting a rematch and winning a Senate seat outright. In 2005, the by-then Re publican-controlled state legislature and then-Gov. Sonny Perdue changed the law back to the 50% threshold. That would later prove fatal for another Per due-family pol, David. The incumbent Republican senator — cousin of the former governor — won more votes than Democrat Jon Ossoff during the No vember 2020 elections but fell just short of the 50% mark, pushing the race to a runoff. Ossoff bested Per- in the U.S. Army, became homeless not long after she was discharged and ran out of savings. She said the expe rience only compounded her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “I found myself making the streets, parking lots, and parks of Atlanta.” said Bryson. “I lived in a constant state of fight or flight.” Bryson said she initially reached out to some govern ment resources for help but after not receiving any, she stopped asking for help. She said youth facing homeless ness may distrust adults and lack access to information about resources. Bryson now has housing and serves on the Atlanta Youth Action Board, which advises local groups about youth perspectives on home lessness. The committee also heard witnesses from rural Geor gia, where homelessness is a growing problem. “What’s coming to our community is going to be dev astating, because we simply have not prepared to mitigate the COVID needs for recov ery as needed,” said Sherrell Byrd, founder and executive director of SOWEGA Rising, a Southwest Georgia group focused on organizing to im prove local conditions. Byrd said increasing hous ing, utility and food prices are making it difficult for many families to afford their rents or due by about 55,000 votes in the Jan. 2021 rematch, winning the Senate seat in a runoff upset. “It cuts both ways,” said Bullock, the UGA political scientist, about the impact of Georgia’s unique gener al election runoffs on polit ical outcomes. Some have criticized the runoff rules for ties to the state’s segregationist past. For example, a 1990 federal court challenge to Georgia’s primary runoff rule argued it was racially discriminatory and violated the U.S. Constitution. The plaintiffs, a group of Black Georgians, argued primary runoffs are de signed to keep white peo ple in office and Black can didates out. As evidence, they pointed to statements by then-state Rep. Den mark Groover and other early supporters of the system who thought run offs would preserve white political power. White vot ers could group together in a runoff to defeat a Black candidate, even if the white vote had been split initial ly and the Black candidate had initially drawn the most votes, the plaintiffs argued. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that Groover had been mo tivated by “racial animus” — a fact which Groover had, in fact, confirmed in interviews. However, the three-judge panel’s 1998 ruling found the primary election runoff law was not discriminatory in intent or practice. Despite that court ruling, many still think the runoff rule was racially discrimi natory in intent. “[The Georgia runoff rule] did not remove any one’s right to cast a ballot, but it was commonly re garded as hampering Af- mortgage payments. “These are the types of fac tors that are really impacting the lives of rural Georgians in a way that’s going to cause a serious wave of homeless ness,” Byrd said. Trista Wiggins, who man ages five private apartment complexes in the Albany area, affirmed Byrd’s observations. She may soon have to evict more than 50 families who have not been able to pay their rents. “My concern is their fam ilies who. through no fault or very little fault of their own, are now facing being evicted from their homes and being homeless,” said Wiggins, who noted that COVID has hurt many families’ earning ability. “Not all landlords. I prom ise, are bad.” Wiggins said. “We want to try and keep these families in their homes.” Wiggins and Byrd said some the families they work with have faced problems getting federal COVID rental relief, noting that many faced delays or never received re sponses. This was reiterated by Kel ley Saxon of Greater Valdosta United Way, who said fami nes in the Valdosta area also face problems getting rental assistance. There are currently around 150 people living without shelter in the Valdosta area and around 600 students in the area who were either unshel tered or living with families in rican Americans ... from making their votes count more effectively at the polls.” said a 2009 U.S. De partment of Interior report. From the point of view of political strategy, po litical scientist Bullock said, runoffs can provide Georgia voters an extra chance to vet candidates. Georgians who vote on Dec. 6 will experience this for themselves, when they get a final chance to weigh in on the Warnock-Walker race. A new generation of political scientists is ana lyzing the law’s impact on Georgia. Kerwin Swint, J. Benjamin Taylor, and Ayla McGinnis, all of Ken- nesaw State University, collected data on runoff turnout, costs and attitudes in more than a third of Georgia’s 159 counties. Using this data, the team calculated that the 2020 Senate election run offs cost about $75 mil lion statewide. Smaller counties face the greatest burden, since they tend to have fewer resources than large counties. And though the Geor gia runoffs draw national attention, turnout is lower than in the main elections, suggesting voters lose in terest as time goes on. One option the research ers recommend consid ering is Instant Runoff Voting, which allows voters to rank candidates on Election Day. The ma jority winner is identified during tabulation. Geor gians could also eliminate runoffs, instead electing the candidate who gets the most votes in the general or primary, said Swint. All Georgians who were registered to vote by Nov. 7 can vote in the Decem ber runoff. Early voting will begin Nov. 28. crowded conditions to avoid homelessness, Saxon said. “Please don’t forget about us below the [Macon] line down here,” she said. downtown, Carswell said the city could grow “that way,” pointing toward the massive new Cresswinds residential and commercial development that is building on the southside of town. Hoschton is also in the pro cess of building a new city hall and community center on the town square. The depot has been used in the past as a meet ing place for various local civic clubs and as a rental facility for parties and private functions, a role the new community center would take on in the future. Interim city manager Jen nifer Hanison-Kidd said there had been some problems with the rental of the depot since some groups had caused dam age to the property. COOL RECEPTION But a crowd of citizens at the meeting gave the city’s plans a cool reception. One woman said it would be a “betrayal” to the commu nity for the depot to be leased out to a private business “for personal gain.” She outlined November community cele bration to kick off their store’s holiday-shopping season. Amy Pinnell. Braselton’s communi ty development director, said town officials often hear from those who wonder why the town doesn’t hold its celebra tion in December. “Yes, every year, we kind of get called out,” said Pinnell, noting that some people bristle at celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving. “ ... I’m like. ‘Yeah, I hear you, but this is what the Braseltons did.” Pinnell explains the impor tance of the early celebration in the hey day Braselton Brothers Store. A day of shopping was much more rare back then in rural Georgia, so the Braseltons made an event out of it for their customer base. The Braselton brothers handed out candy and fruit to kids, brought in a Santa and stocked their general store with wares for the hoards of shoppers. “Back in the day, people didn’t go shopping all the time,” Pinnell said. “So, they really kicked into gear their holiday really early so that farmers and folks that had to kind of come in only once a week or maybe even only once a month into the community were able to shop and prepare for the holidays.” Not only did the celebration kick off the Christmas season in Braselton, it coincided with the anniversary of the Braselton brothers’ business. “They always kind of tied in a big kickoff in early Novem ber,” Pinnell said. “We know that they did that really early on, and they continued to always kind of have a celebration.” how the community, led by the Hoschton Women’s Civic Club, raised funds to restore the depot after it burned and then the group got it listed on the National Historic Register. She said the facility is supposed to be for the use of citizens. But Harrison-Kidd said most of the people who rent the facil ity aren’t citizens of Hoschton and that the new community center would be available for local civic group use. In addition to the depot, the city is also looking for a revi talization of the old Larry’s Ga rage, a space the city purchased earlier this year. Carswell said the city would like to see a Ponce Market type development in the space, a mix of retail stores and restau rants based on the large Ponce Market in Atlanta. The city is currently attempt ing to sell the building to a de veloper who would undertake that kind of development, but if that’s not feasible, the city intends to develop the property itself. The holiday celebration has evolved over the years but continues to draw considerable crowds. Pinnell said the parade likely dates back to the 1980s or 1990s. She also noted the ef forts of a group called the Bra selton Business Alliance which hosted a holiday carnival in the town’s downtown park. The present-day version of Braselton’s celebration in cludes the large parade and tree lighting. The town used to hold those two events on separate Saturdays in November before merging them into a single event on the third Saturday of the month. Some new wrinkles will be added to this year’s event, in cluding live reindeer. They’ll be brought in between 2-4 p.m. after the parade. A kids’ show and singalong, another addi tion, is slated for 1 p.m. on the stage on the town green. A kids’ scavenger hunt through the holiday market is sched uled as well. Pinnell said it’s hard to gauge how many attend the an nual event, but said the parade is “massive.” “It’s seems like there’s more and more every year,” Pinnell said. As the event moves forward, the town continues to pay hom age to its past by keeping the celebration on the November calendar. "That’s absolutely important to us because we love tradition, we love our history,” Pinnell said. “Our whole community was based on this store that brought a community together, so we definitely want to honor that.” PUBLIC MEETINGS... FOR ONLY $5 PER MONTH you can list your group’s meetings! Banks County News * Jackson Herald Madison County Journal * Braselton News 4660 St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church Mass Schedule: Sat 4:00 p.m. Sun. 10:00 a.m. Monday ■ Friday 12:10 p.m, Spanish Sun. 8:00 a.m. Website: www.stcatherinelabourega.org 706-367-7220 12969 . Tri-County f Shrine Club 3rd Thurs. of each month 7:30 p.m. Rockwell Lodge 191 JEFFERSON AMERICAN LEGION * wear blue run to remember CIRCLE OF REMEMBRANCE FOR FALLEN SERVICE MEMBERS Post 56 • Meets 2nd Fri., 9:00 a.m. Joe Ruttar, Commander Phone (860) 949-4037 309 Lee St., Jefferson, GA 12971 MADISON COUNTY DEMOCRATS Meet Monthly For Time, Date & Location: Facebook: MadisonCountyGaDemocrats Or mcgademocrats.wixsite.com/mcdp JEFFERSON ROTARY CEUB Meets Tuesdays 12:00 Noon Jackson County Historic Courthouse 85 Washington St., Jefferson Traci Bledsoe, President 678-227-8417 ^ Pilot Club of Jefferson Meets 3rd Tuesday of each month, 6:30 p.m. Jefferson City Clubhouse 706-367-9313 or 706-693-4715 BANKS COUNTY 13004 HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC. Meets first Monday each month 7:00 p.m. in the Banks County Historical Courthouse at 105 U. S.Hwy 441 North in Homer, GA 12623 JEFFERSON LIONS CLUB Meets 2nd & 4th Monday Jefferson City Clubhouse 6:30 p.m.. (404) 368-4327 Noble (Bo) Jones, President /0k 12972 JL? ROCKWELL LODGE F& A.M. No. 191, Hoschton, GA 2nd Tues. at 7:30 p.m. • Dinner at 6:30 p.m. www.rockwelllodgel91.com Two blocks behind Larry's Garage West Broad at Hall Street 12619 JEFFERSON AMERICAN LEGION Post 56 • Meets 3rd Tues, 6:30 p.m. Joe Ruttar, Commander Phone (860) 949-4037 309 Lee St., Jefferson, GA KIWANIS OF JEFFERSON Meetings every 2 nd & 4 th Monday at Noon Cream & Shuga Contact Darryl Gumz at 770-605-6656 for more info. FOR ALL YOUR PRINTING NEEDS, CALL 706-367-5233. Call 706-36 meeting ►7-5233 to adv date, time an ertise your d place. Georgians describe their experiences with homelessness to state Senate committee Celebration continued from 1A
