About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 2018)
OUR REGION Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com ®he®ttncs gainesvilletimes com Sunday, November 11,2018 Spotlight on Latino voter turnout Nonprofit civil rights group criticizes Hall election officials over exact match’ implementation BY JOSHUA SILAVENT jsilavent@gainesvilletimes.com A nonprofit civil rights group has accused Hall County elections officials of non-compliance with a recent federal court order involv ing the state’s “exact match” voter identification law. “In Hall County, Georgia, offi cials failed to comply with the order issued in litigation regard ing the state’s discriminatory exact match scheme,” Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Commit tee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a press release on Nov. 8. Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law was formed in 1963 at the request of Presi dent John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination, That order required all eligi ble voters in Georgia, including recently naturalized citizens, who provide appropriate identification to be given the right to vote a regu lar ballot, Clarke added. “Instead of allowing eligible voters the right to vote, officials subjected certain voters to the burden of going to the county elec tions office to provide proof of cit izenship instead of accepting this documentation at the polling site as explicitly required under the court’s order,” she said. “More over, some voters who are limited English proficient were denied their right to receive assistance from a person of their choice. The actions of Hall County officials imposed barriers and restric tions that impaired the rights of minority voters seeking to vote on Tuesday.” Hall County spokeswoman Katie Crumley, in an email to The Times, said county officials were unaware of any voters burdened by the alleged incidents. Crumley said an incident at one voting precinct occurred on Tuesday and “revolved around a voter’s proof of identity.” ■ Please see VOTERS, 3C SCOTT ROGERS I Times file photo A voter makes his way into the Lakewood Baptist Church Gainesville V voting precinct Tuesday, July 24, to cast a ballot in the primary runoff. ‘If you get too confident with it, that’s when mistakes happen’ Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times Sgt. Doug Whiddon, range master, left, instructs Deangela Chastain on how to shoot a gun during a firearms safety course organized by the Gainesville Police Department on Saturday, Nov. 10. Locals brush up on firearms safety at safety course hosted by Police Scot McEwen, left, and his wife, Debra, examine his target during the firearms safety course. BY LAYNE SALIBA lsaliba@gainesvilletimes.com Shots rang out on Saturday afternoon, but they weren’t fired in anger. It was from citizens wanting to learn more about gun safety and gun laws. About 25 enrolled in the free Citizen Firearms Safety Course hosted by the Gainesville Police Department. After meeting at the police department for a morning lecture, the class went out to the department’s fire arms facility to put into action what they already knew and everything they had learned. “For us, it’s just an opportu nity to interact with the com munity, to give back to the community a little bit,” said Sgt. Doug Whiddon, range mas ter. “It’s a great opportunity for us to promote safety, safe gun handling, and it really just gives us a chance to fellowship with the citizens we take care of day in and day out. It’s a chance for them to see us face-to-face and get to know us.” Each participant got one- on-one assistance from law enforcement at the range as they loaded and unloaded their guns and took shots at a target. Jose Nunez was there by him self after getting a gun about a year ago. Before he owned one, he said he went to the shooting range to try out different kinds to help him choose what he is most comfortable with. “Safety is a big portion of this whole thing,” said Nunez, a Gainesville resident. “And then I can actually transfer some of this information to my daughter.” He said he learned quite a bit throughout the course. He learned the proper way to stand and hold his weapon as well as how to handle it in general. One of the most important things he was reminded of was keep ing any weapon always aimed down range. “It’s all things that we know, but sometimes we take for granted as a gun owner,” Nunez said. “So it’s good to come to these classes and freshen up ... It keeps you on your toes. If you get too confident with it, that’s when mistakes happen.” Whiddon said the course is usually taught twice each year — once in the spring and once in the fall — and classes fill up “the minute it’s announced.” “We encourage them to bring their weapons and we can teach them all about their weapon,” ■ Please see SAFETY, 3C Couple found dead in East Hall home identified BY LAYNE SALIBA lsaliba@gainesvilletimes.com A man and his girlfriend were found dead at a mobile home in East Hall County early Saturday morning. Authorities were called to the 3500 block of Gaines Mill Road where they found the bod ies of Norman Reece, 43, and Audrey Dhal, 35, with “no obvious signs of trauma or foul play,” said Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks of the Hall County Sheriff’s Office in a release. Reece’s 18-year-old son, who lives in the home, found them both in a bedroom around 6 a.m. “after last having contact with them the previous evening,” Wilbanks said. “He discovered the deceased when he woke up ... after noticing the house had become very cold,” Wilbanks said in an email. He added there were space heaters in the home, which was without electricity, so Hall County Fire Services tested the air quality but did not find toxic carbon monoxide levels. The bodies were taken to the DeKalb Med ical Examiner’s Office for autopsies. The case remains under investigation. AUSTIN STEELE I The Times A couple was found dead in a home along Gaines Mill Road Saturday, Nov. 10. Kemp calls for Abrams to concede BY JAY REEVES Associated Press ATLANTA — Ahead by more than 60,000 votes days after Georgia’s guber natorial election, Republican Brian Kemp pushed for Democrat Stacey Abrams to concede Saturday as civil rights groups urged her to stay in the fight. Kemp’s campaign issued a statement that said it was mathematically impos sible for Abrams to even force a run off, much less win outright. It called Abrams’ refusals to concede “a disgrace to democracy” that “completely ignore the will of the people.” But members of civil rights groups including the Atlanta- based Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held a small rally urging Abrams to keep fight ing until every vote is counted. “That is a promise she made,” said Ben Williams, president of the Cobb County branch of the SCLC, founded by the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Erick Allen, a black Democrat newly elected to the Georgia House, said allega tions of voter suppression and questions about Election Day problems could dog Kemp as governor if he eventually prevails. “The erosion in trust is done,” said Allen. Abrams is trying to become the first black woman elected governor in the United States, while Kemp is attempt ing to continue GOP dominance in a diversifying state that could be a battleground in the 2020 presidential election. Unofficial returns show Kemp with 50.3 percent of almost 4 million total votes, a roughly 63,000-vote lead over Abrams. The margin is enough for an outright Kemp victory if totals remain the same, but it’s a tight race consid ering the large turnout. Abrams has argued that tens of thousands of provi sional and military ballots could need to be counted before the race is over. The Kemp campaign said a maxi mum of 17,495 provisional and mili tary ballots remain to be counted. The Abrams campaign contends at least 30,823 votes remain, including nearly 27,000 provisional ballots; that could be enough to prompt a recount. The Associated Press has not declared a winner. AP will reassess the race Tuesday, the deadline for counties to certify election results to the state. Abrams’ supporters and volunteers made a push to get people who cast pro visional ballots on Tuesday to provide information required to count their bal lots by a Friday deadline, but it wasn’t clear how many did so. The Kemp campaign said it didn’t matter because there were far too few outstanding ballots for Abrams to erase his lead. The Abrams campaign attempted to reserve television advertising time in case she can make it into a runoff with Kemp that would be held Dec. 4, but Atlanta TV station WSB said it wouldn’t accept any commercials until votes are certified. After each of Georgia’s 159 counties certifies final returns by Tuesday, the state must certify a statewide result by Nov. 20. Kemp Inside Tight race casts light on voting restrictions, 2C
