About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 2018)
t*ZJ OUR REGION Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief 770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com The Times, Gainesville, Georgia Monday, December 3, 2018 [j ELECTION 201 8 SECRETARY OF STATE Voting access takes center stage in runoff BY BEN NADLER Associated Press ATLANTA — As a battle over the fairness of Georgia’s recent election for governor moves from the political arena to the courtroom, two men are locked in a runoff race, with far less fanfare, to oversee the future of the state’s election apparatus. Republican state Rep. Brad Raffensperger faces former Democratic con gressman John Barrow in a Dec. 4 runoff for Georgia secretary of state after nei ther garnered the more than 50 percent of votes required to win outright on Nov. 6. Official results show Raffensperger led by about 16,000 votes out of over 3.8 million cast. Raffensperger has sup port from President Don ald Trump, who earlier this week endorsed him via Twit ter. Barrow, meanwhile, has the endorsement of some top state Democrats, including former gubernatorial candi date Stacey Abrams. At stake in their runoff is the ability to reshape the state’s election sys tem, which came under a national microscope during the recent race for governor between Abrams and Repub lican Secretary of State — now gover nor-elect — Brian Kemp. Following Kemp’s victory, a political group backed by Abrams filed a federal law suit saying election officials “grossly mismanaged” the 2018 election, depriving some citizens, particularly low-income people and peo ple of color, of their right to vote. It’s one of several recent lawsuits challenging Geor gia’s handling of elections that the next secretary of state must respond to. Changes will likely include replacing the state’s aging electronic touchscreen vot ing machines that leave no auditable paper trail. Both candidates say they prefer a system with a paper record. And both candidates say they will work to sup port county officials while coordinating the patchwork of 159 counties that some times interpret election law and administrative guid ance in slightly dif ferent ways. Another major question facing the candidates is whether either would step aside from overseeing an election they were running in. Kemp was criticized for not resigning while over seeing his own election for governor. Barrow has said he would either resign or recuse himself from official duties as the state’s chief elections officer if he were to run; Raffensperger has said that he doesn’t plan to seek higher office. But one of the most divi sive state issues is also being played out at the national level: How to strike the right balance between access to the polls and integrity of the polls. Georgia has been aggres sive in cleaning the names of “inactive” voters from its rolls — called “voter purges” by critics. An analysis by The Associated Press found that over 1.4 million registrations were canceled in Geor gia since 2012, with nearly 670,000 can celled in 2017 alone. Many of those can celed were from people who moved or died, but others were removed mistakenly or for simply not voting in several election cycles. In an interview with the AP, Barrow said Georgia is good at preventing fraudu lent voting but must do more to expand access. “We should be making it as easy to vote for people as possible, without in any way making it possible for some one to cheat,” Barrow said. “We’ve done a pretty good job of keeping people from cheating, but we’ve done a lousy job of making it easier for folks to vote.” Barrow pointed to long lines at some polls, and peo ple who were purged from the rolls without knowing about it. “There are all kinds of stories that have come out dur ing the last election of all kinds of little things that need to be fixed,” Barrow said. He specifically criticized the way mass cancella tions of registrations were handled. “We ought to put at least as much effort in notifying someone that they’re about to be kicked off the voting rolls as we give to somebody before we turn off their water,” Barrow said. “And that involves a lot more than just one postcard.” Calls and text messages sent to Raffensperger’s cam paign spokesman by the AP were not returned. The GOP candidate also pulled out of the runoff race’s only tele vised debate, citing a sched uling conflict. But in interviews and pre vious debates, Raffensperger has defended Georgia’s maintenance of voting rolls and said he would keep the focus on election integrity and making sure only legal citizens can cast a ballot. During a recent inter view on the Shelley Wynter Show on Atlanta radio sta tion WYAY, Raffensperger said he saw no malfeasance in the way Georgia elections were handled. But he said his administration would ana lyze what could be done to fix any mistakes for the next election. “When I listen to what has gone on this election, there has been an awful lot of hyperbole. People have just spun things up out of whole cloth in many instances,” Raffensperger said. Barrow served in the U.S House from 2005 to 2015. His tenure there required two moves, as GOP lawmak ers twice redrew his district boundaries. He was finally defeated in the GOP’s mid term sweep in 2014. Raffensperger is owner and CEO of an engineering design firm. He served as a local elected official in Johns Creek, before serving two terms in the Georgia state House from the same area beginning in 2015. Barrow Raffensperger GREEN ■ Continued from 1A “It’s a great community event,” said Briann Wel- born, who, along with his wife Melissa, are local fran chisees of Uncle Maddio’s Pizza. “It’s good sponsorship and it gives us a lot of good publicity, but it’s also our main community involve ment every year.” “This is a time when everybody comes together as a community for a Christ mas event,” Melissa said. “All walks of life come together and enjoy (the event).” They went through 36 boxes of extra-large pizza, handing out free slices. They also handed out cups of homemade chili. “Usually, it’s really cold out here and the chili goes really good,” Briann said with a laugh. There were other free bies, as well, including hot chocolate. The Fudgery, which has corporate offices on Green Street, was giving out free samples and holding fudge making demonstrations. “It’s just nice to come here,” said Stephanie Flores, who brought her 4-year-old daughter Emelie. Her friend Alexis Garcia had never been to Christ mas on Green Street and accepted Flores’ invitation to go with her to the event. Garcia brought her daugh ter, Elizabeth, IV2. “(Garcia) has a little one, and I really wanted her to enjoy it,” Flores said. “It’s mostly about the tra dition,” Flores said. “That’s the best part.” For years, Christmas on Green Street had been orga nized by members of the Hall County Historical Soci ety. This year, the group and its committees worked with Main Street Gainesville on the event. Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Lots of classic cars are featured Sunday, Dec. 2, during the annual Christmas on Green Street parade. Dan Berg juggles fire in the middle of Green Street Sunday, Dec. 2. Daniel Sims and son Sebastian, 4, take their place among the crowds along Green Street Sunday, Dec. 2, as they await the start of the parade. Members of Heather Wayne’s Performing Arts studio take part in the annual Christmas on Green Street parade Sunday, Dec. 2. Characters parade along Green Street Sunday, Dec. 2, during the annual Christmas on Green Street parade.
