Friday, November 13,20201 GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
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and Carolinas. inside, 4a
Honestly Local
Hall’s hand recount
of ballots starts today
Process could take days and is open for public viewing
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
Hall County elections offi
cials will start hand-counting
ballots from the presidential
race at 9 a.m. Friday, a pro
cess that could take several
days and is open for public
viewing.
Secretary of State Brad
Raffensperger on Wednesday
announced an audit of presi
dential election results that
he said will trigger a full hand
recount.
County election officials
must begin the hand tally by
9 a.m. Friday and complete it
by Wednesday night.
Lori Wurtz, Hall County’s
elections director, said that all
91,023 ballots cast in the presi
dential race in Hall would be
reviewed by a team of three
people. Each team has one
Republican, one Democrat
and one designee of the coun
ty’s elections board.
Wurtz has contacted local
parties about their represen
tatives for the teams. She said
the county will have six to
10 teams, although all teams
may not be working at once.
When reviewing each bal
lot, one person on the team
will read the information on
the ballot, one will record the
information and the third will
observe and verify the process
is done correctly, Wurtz said.
Wurtz said it was still
undetermined how long the
recount would take or how
much it could cost. Poll work
ers, who would serve as elec
tions board designees on the
teams, would be paid, while
representatives from local
parties would be volunteers.
“We have over 90,000 bal
lots that will have to be looked
at and tallied by hand, and
that’s a really big job, which
is what prompted me to go
ahead and try to take care of
anything that I can ahead of
time as I’m awaiting further
direction from the secretary
of state’s office,” she said
Wednesday.
The process will be open for
observation from the public,
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Hall County Elections Director Lori Wurtz loads a batch of provisional ballots Monday, Nov. 9,
after they are certified to be counted. Officials will begin counting ballots by hand today.
Wurtz said. Those interested
can walk in to the office at
the Hall County Government
Center, 2875 Browns Bridge
Road, Gainesville. Counting
begins at 9 a.m. Friday, Nov.
13, and Wurtz said it would
likely go until at least 5 p.m.
Friday. Weekend shifts are
also expected, she said.
County election staffers
will work with the paper
ballots in batches, dividing
them into piles for each can
didate. Then they will count
each pile by hand, Deputy
Secretary of State Jordan
Fuchs said. Gabriel Ster
ling, Georgia’s voting system
implementation manager,
had said Wednesday that the
ballots would be counted by
■ Please see RECOUNT, 5A
Grand jury
returns with
‘no glitches’
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
With more than 300 cases to be presented
to the grand jury, Northeastern Judicial Cir
cuit District Attorney Lee Darragh said the
first grand jury session this week since the
COVID-19 outbreak went smoothly and with
“no glitches.”
Darragh’s office presented 29 cases this
week to the grand jury. According to court
documents, the cases primarily involved
counts of theft, burglary, drug offenses and
weapons charges.
Darragh said there are still 321 cases ready
to go for grand jury, and he said he expects
to present 150 cases total to the grand jury
before the end of the year.
The grand jury this week met in a Hall
County courtroom, but the cases will soon be
heard at the Gainesville Municipal Court.
“We think that will go as smoothly, but it
will be different,” Darragh said.
Hall County Superior Court Judge Kathlene
Gosselin signed an order in October designat
ing the Municipal Court as an alternate court
facility. The COVID-19 jury committee made
the decision to move Hall County grand jury
sessions to the Municipal Court.
“We wanted the courthouse as clear as it
could be without having grand jury run into
other trials, which is not a problem without
COVID-19,” Darragh said, adding the Munic
ipal Court was not available on the first day
■ Please see GRAND, 5A
Hall, city see
graduation
rates increase
BY KELSEY P0D0
kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com
Both Gainesville City and Hall County
Schools’ improved on their graduation rates
during 2019-2020 school year, compared to the
year before.
Inside
Hall Schools
deadline for
switching to remote
or in-person learning
is today, 5A
According to the
Georgia Department
of Education’s most
recent report, Hall’s
high schools aver
aged an 88.9% gradu
ation rate, up from
87.4% in school year
2018-19, and Gainesville High School achieved
an 86.1% rate, up from 81% in 2018-19.
Both districts also surpassed this year’s state
average of 83.8%. There are eight high schools
included in the rate in the Hall County district
I Please see GRADUATION, 6A
Mother: Man in death investigation was ‘big teddy’ bear
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Michelle Guerra said her son,
John Aaron McMurray, called her
at 9:46 p.m. the night before his
death, saying he was exhausted
and wished her a good night.
McMurray, of Gainesville, died
after allegedly fighting with two
men at his home, according to the
Hall County Sheriff’s Office.
Guerra described her son as a
“big teddy” bear who was gener
ous and loved people.
“He would give them his
last dollar if they thought
they were hungry,”
Guerra said. “I’ve seen
him take clothes when he
had very little of his own
and give it to the homeless
people.”
Sheriff’s Office spokes
man Derreck Booth said
McMurray was in a fight Oct. 28
with two men, Zachery Duane Rus
sell, 28, of Flowery Branch, and
John Marlin King Jr., 30,
of Winder, at McMurray’s
home on Old Athens Road.
Authorities tried to
revive McMurray, but the
man died at the scene,
Booth said.
Guerra said her son was
industrious while working
two jobs, one at Georgia
Hardwoods and Door Dash
delivery at night.
“He was very bright, loved life,
loved music, loved to dance, loved
to sing and was totally and com
pletely in love with his (2-year-old)
son,” Guerra said.
King and Russell were arrested
that day, and both men were
charged with battery, Booth said.
King was additionally charged
with aggravated assault, and Rus
sell was charged with party to
the crime of aggravated assault,
authorities said.
The sheriff’s office previously
described the men as friends, but
Guerra said that was inaccurate.
The Times made multiple calls
to the Hall County coroner and
deputy coroner to get more infor
mation on the case, but those calls
were not returned.
Booth said the autopsy and toxi
cology reports were incomplete
and would likely be months.
“Because of the ongoing inves
tigation, we’re not able to get into
anything further on the medical
front,” Booth wrote in an email.
■ Please see MCMURRAY, 5A
McMurray
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