Newspaper Page Text
4A Saturday, Novembers, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WASHINGTON/POLITICS
Election cycle largely defined by gender politics
PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS I Associated Press
Women’s March demonstrators walk past the White House, Jan. 20, in Washington.
BY JUANA SUMMERS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Gender
politics have been a defining
issue of this election cycle,
beginning with the mobiliza
tion by women against the
victory and inauguration of
President Donald Trump.
But it’s not clear whether
the #MeToo movement —
and the controversy that
sometimes surrounds it —
will translate into political
success for either party on
Tuesday.
More women than ever
before won major party
primaries for Congress
and governor this year, giv
ing women the chance to
increase their numbers in
office. They’re donating
more money to political
campaigns, too, and they’ve
become a well-established
force in the 2018 elections.
“I feel very good about
where women are going to
be,” said Christina Reynolds,
the vice president of commu
nications for EMILY’s List, a
group dedicated to support
ing Democratic women in
politics. “I think regardless
of what happens, women
have shown that they are
no longer happy with other
people representing them
and speaking for them.”
But Republicans, too, feel
the focus on gender politics
could benefit them. The
fight over Brett Kavanaugh’s
nomination to the Supreme
Court galvanized voters, they
say, and could be a factor in
races like the re-election
campaign for Sen. Heidi
Heitkamp of North Dakota.
Like most midterm elec
tions, the 2018 campaign is
also a referendum on the
incumbent president. And
among women, who vote his
torically at higher rates than
men, Trump’s standing is still
bleak. In the latest NPR/PBS
News Hour/Marist poll, 49
percent of women said that
they disapproved of Trump’s
performance, compared
with 44 percent of men. And
51 percent of women overall
said that Trump would be a
major factor in their vote.
“Women have been ener
gized for a long time, and
it’s connected to Donald
Trump,” said Karine Jean-
Pierre, a senior adviser for
MoveOn.org and a veteran
of four Democratic presiden
tial campaigns. “We are in
this really awful time where
people are just tired and
ready and there’s been such
an energy around electoral
politics, for at least a year
since the Women’s March.”
Obama urges Ga. to elect
Stacey Abrams governor
BY BILL BARROW
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Former
President Barack Obama
urged Georgia voters on Fri
day to elect Stacey Abrams
governor as a way to coun
ter divisiveness and
help keep Republi
cans from disman
tling much of his
legacy.
Speaking before a
crowd at historically
black Morehouse
College in Atlanta,
Obama never men
tioned President
Donald Trump or
Abrams’ Republi
can opponent Brian
Kemp by name.
But Obama framed
Georgia’s nationally
watched matchup
within a larger fight
he said goes beyond
partisanship.
“On Tuesday, you can vote
for a politics that is decent,
for a politics that is honest,
for a politics that is lawful, for
a politics that tries to do right
by people,” Obama said after
a lengthy condemnation of
the all-GOP government that
has run Washington since
Obama left office.
“Make history here in
Georgia. Make things better
here in Georgia,” the nation’s
first black president said of
Abrams’ bid to become the
first black female governor
in American history.
Polls show Abrams and
Republican Brian Kemp in
a tight race that has drawn
national attention, even
coaxing media icon Oprah
Winfrey to Abrams’
side Thursday —
the kind of political
move the billionaire
businesswoman
had largely avoided
since her open sup
port of Obama in
2008.
Obama twice lost
Georgia by single
digit margins, but
population growth
among nonwhites
and discontent with
Trump in the GOP-
leaning, whiter sub
urbs of Atlanta leave
Abrams’ backers
cautiously optimistic
she can pull an upset
in a state that hasn’t elevated
a Democrat to the governor’s
office since 1998.
Kemp has embraced
Trump’s nationalistic tone as
he tries to extend GOP domi
nance. Trump will travel
Sunday to Georgia, appear
ing with Kemp as part of the
president’s final multistate
tour ahead of the midterms.
Abrams is running as an
unapologetic liberal, marked
by her pledge to reverse
Georgia Republicans’ refusal
to expand Medicaid insur
ance under Obama’s 2010
health care law.
Obama noted as much
in his 45-minute speech
at Morehouse. He chided
Republicans, including
Kemp, for opposing the
Affordable Care Act and only
recently turning to ads that
tell voters GOP candidates
will protect insurance access
for Americans with once-dis
qualifying health conditions.
“I want everybody to pay
attention to this: They have
literally been doing the oppo
site of what they are saying,”
Obama said, noting scores of
GOP votes to repeal the law.
“We can also call it what it is:
It’s a lie.”
Obama said the Republi
can campaign tactic on pre
existing conditions is just one
component of “an old play-
book” to divide voters and
distract from an agenda he
said hurts the middle-class
for the benefit of billionaires.
He mocked Trump’s asser
tion that a migrant caravan
coming north from Central
America is fundamental
threat. As he blasted Trump’s
decision to send troops to the
Southern border, Obama
failed to note he and Presi
dent George W. Bush also
dispatched military person
nel to the border, even if not
prior to an election.
Abrams
VOTING
■ Continued from 1A
Hall has 120,848 regis
tered voters who are eli
gible to cast a ballot in this
election, so turnout has
already been about 18 per
cent before election day.
More than 30 million peo
ple nationwide have cast
their ballots early for these
midterms. In 2014, the last
midterms, 28.3 million peo
ple voted early.
In Hall County, the bal
lot has several state and
local races, including the
governor’s race, as well as
contests for two state House
districts and Georgia’s 9th
District for the U.S. House
of Representatives. Locally,
two Hall County Board of
Education positions and the
spot for District 1 commis
sioner, representing South
Hall, are up for a vote.
While the Hall County
Government Center was the
only place open for early
voting, along with three
other locations on Oct. 27,
polling places countywide
will be ready to take voters
on Tuesday, from 7 a.m. to
7 p.m.
Polling places are avail
able on the Secretary of
State website.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
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Judge: Georgia must ease rule
for voters proving citizenship
BY RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press
SAVANNAH — Georgia must make it
easier for voters flagged as potential non
citizens to prove their U.S. citizenship at
polls, a federal judge ruled Friday in an
injunction ordering the state to change its
procedure just before Election Day.
A spokeswoman for state Attorney Gen
eral Chris Carr did not immediately say
whether the state would appeal. Spokes
woman Katie Byrd said state attorneys
were reviewing the order.
The injunction by U.S. District Court
Judge Eleanor L. Ross addresses a specific
issue that arose from a broader lawsuit by
civil rights groups who in October filed a
broader challenge to Georgia’s “exact
match” verification process. The state
requires identification information on
voter registration applications to precisely
match information already on file with the
Georgia Department of Driver Services or
the Social Security Administration.
Some mismatches are triggered by
variations in a name, or data entry errors.
Other people are flagged as potential non
citizens, often because the state driver’s
license database hasn’t been updated to
reflect their naturalization. Roughly 51,100
Georgians have been flagged as ineligible
to vote due to registration problems.
The judge ruled the state unfairly bur
dens about 3,100 possible voters whose reg
istration was flagged for citizenship issues,
because only a deputy registrar is allowed
to clear them to vote a regular ballot when
the voters show proof of citizenship at the
polls. She ruled that Georgia must immedi
ately start allowing poll managers, in addi
tion to deputy registrars, to clear flagged
voters who show proof of citizenship.
Secretary of State Brian Kemp, Geor
gia’s top elections official and the Republi
can governor nominee, issued a statement
saying advocates filing a last-minute law
suit had forced the state “to waste time and
taxpayer dollars for the judge to tell us to
do something that we already do. ”
But the judge said Georgia’s process for
clearing voters with flagged registration
didn’t treat those with citizenship issues
equally. She noted those flagged for issues
other than citizenship could be cleared by
any poll worker — not just a deputy regis
trar — after showing a photo ID.
“This raises grave concerns for the
Court about the differential treatment
inflicted on a group of individuals who are
predominantly minorities,” Ross’ order
said. "... The election scheme here places
a severe burden on these individuals. ”
The lawsuit says the “exact-match” pol
icy disproportionately affects black, Latino
and Asian-American applicants trying to
register. It was filed against Kemp as he’s
locked in a tight race against Democrat
Stacey Abrams.
Kemp’s office has been allowing flagged
voters to cast ballots after showing proof
of citizenship at the polls. In cases where
a deputy registrar isn’t available to clear
the voter flagged voters were to be given
provisional ballots marked with a note that
the voter showed proof of citizenship.
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