Newspaper Page Text
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