Politically Georgia: It's fake

Today’s newsletter highlights include:

A Georgia lawmaker’s faux pas.
It’s the first day to buy health insurance on GeorgiaAccess.gov.
It’s the last day you can vote early in person.

A video claiming a group of Haitians illegally voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia was likely the work of Russian troll farms working to sow doubts about the U.S. election, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said late Thursday.

The roughly 20-second video shared by far-right election conspiracists shows a man claiming to have voted illegally in both Fulton and Gwinnett counties.

Raffensperger’s office looked up the driver’s license of one of the alleged voters and determined it was a fake. He urged Twitter owner Elon Musk, a prominent ally of former President Donald Trump, and other social media tycoons to take down the post.

“As Americans we can’t let our enemies use lies to divide us and undermine faith in our institutions — or each other,” Raffensperger said in a statement.

Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

Senior U.S. intelligence officials have warned that Russia and Iran could try to prompt violent protests in the U.S., according to a recently declassified memo. It said Russian military intelligence in January attempted to recruit what U.S. officials called a “probably unwitting” American to organize protests in the U.S.

The U.S. has also accused the Iranian government of secretly backing protests against American support for Israel during its war with Hamas.

Chris Krebs, the former director of the national Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, called this latest video “more nonsense from Russian troll farms” that will only intensify ahead of the election.

“You’re the mark. They think you’re stupid,” he posted on social media. “They think you’re incapable of half an ounce of critical thinking. Prove them wrong.”

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

GOOD MORNING! The presidential election is just four days away. Vice President Kamala Harris is coming back to Georgia on Saturday. Former President Donald Trump will be here on Sunday. After that, it’s all over but the voting.

Here are three things to know for today:

Libertarian presidential candidate Chase Oliver, a Georgia native, is struggling to gain traction, even for a third-party candidate, the AJC’s Michelle Baruchman reports.
Dozens of Morehouse College students marched to the polls on Thursday.
A government watchdog group has sued the State Election Board over emails it says the board should have disclosed under Georgia’s open records law, the AJC’s David Wickert reports.

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Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC

‘LEGAL IMMIGRANT.’ Note to Georgia GOP lawmakers: Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

State Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, issued a statement mourning the death of slain 25-year-old TikTok fitness star Minelys Zoe Rodriguez-Ramirez, whose body was found a week after she went missing in Habersham County.

Albers was quoted in the statement referring to the victim as a “legal immigrant from Puerto Rico who followed every step of the process to live and work in the United States.” He went on to slam Democratic immigration policies.

That’s much the same language Republicans use to praise people who immigrate legally to the United States. Except as a Puerto Rican native, Rodriguez-Ramirez is a U.S. citizen at birth — and not an immigrant, legal or otherwise.

The statement was later updated to take out that language, but we heard from several Puerto Ricans who said it was just another indignity for an island territory of more than 3 million people that’s long been mistreated.

Just days earlier, a comedian at former President Donald Trump’s “closing message” event in New York made a racist joke about Puerto Rico that drew stinging backlash from Latino advocate groups and Democrats in Georgia.

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Credit: Screenshot

OPENING DAY. Georgia is going solo.

For years, people here have bought discounted health insurance plans on the federal website HealthCare.gov. That changes today as the state launches its own website, GeorgiaAccess.gov.

It’s a big moment, especially for a red state. These websites were created by the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. States had the option of creating their own or letting the federal government do it. Since most Republican-led states opposed the law and wanted it repealed, they chose not to build their own.

The ACA appears to still be in the crosshairs of national Republican lawmakers. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has vowed “No Obamacare” if Republican Donald Trump is elected president.

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

But the ACA has been resilient. It’s survived an onslaught of legal challenges and Trump’s presidency, where it came within one vote of being repealed. Now, Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King said other red states might follow their lead.

“They’re going to see the opportunity to take control away from Washington and bring it back to the state where it should be in the first place,” King said.

King said he’ll be closely watching how many people sign up. Last year, the number of people buying policies soared to more than 1.3 million. A lot of that was because of generous subsidies approved by Congress that drastically reduced the cost of monthly premiums.

King says another factor was the state’s robust advertising campaign to let people know about the plans. They’ll be tracking that measure of success next year.

“How many people come back?” he said.

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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

FOR CONTEXT. This is what we mean when we say lots of people are voting in Georgia.

The number of people who cast ballots in person through 17 days of early voting:

2018: 1.49 million
2020: 2.32 million
2022: 1.9 million
2024: 3.4 million

See? It’s a lot.

There are some caveats. Turnout is always higher when there is a president to elect, and 2018 and 2022 were not presidential elections. Also, 2020 was its own thing because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Even when accounting for those factors, the number of people voting early in Georgia is astounding.

And Georgia is not done. Today is the last day to vote early in-person before Election Day. It’s usually the biggest early voting day of the year (a shoutout to all the procrastinators.)

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Credit: Greg Bluestein/AJC

SHIFTING PATTERNS. Democrats are downplaying the high early voting turnout in GOP areas like Towns County, where more than two-thirds of active voters have already cast ballots.

An aide for Vice President Kamala Harris told us the campaign’s number-crunchers are tracking a shift in voting habits away from Election Day voting, not an overall increase in the Republican-leaning electorate.

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Credit: Drew Kann/AJC

THEY SAID, THEY SAID. A trio of lawyers on Thursday skewered the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, accusing the agency of not helping the Gullah-Geechee community on Sapelo Island following last week’s deadly gangway collapse.

“Our clients have not been contacted by anyone offering state resources. What we have is volunteers in our community,” attorney Natalie Jackson said. “This is not their accident. People should not have to volunteer.”

But the Department of Natural Resources says it has offered those services. The agency said it held “community support sessions” last Saturday, where anyone affected by the tragedy could meet with mental health professionals. The sessions were free, paid for by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Foundation.

“Ongoing mental health resources will be provided to those in need,” the agency said in a news release last week.

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Credit: AP

BATTLEGROUNDS. We all know Georgia is a battleground state. But where are the battlegrounds within Georgia? Greg Bluestein has the breakdown:

Atlanta’s northern suburbs. Home to many of the split-ticket voters who helped decide Georgia’s last few statewide elections.
Southwest Georgia. Peach County has picked the eventual presidential winner in five of the last seven elections since 1992. The exceptions: 2000, when Democrat Al Gore captured the county but lost to Republican George W. Bush; and in 2020, when voters there picked then-President Donald Trump, who lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Atlanta’s core. Home to Clayton and DeKalb counties, two of the bluest counties in the state.
South metro. Fayette County has become more competitive in recent years as Democrats have had more success.
GOP strongholds. Democrats are trying to reduce Republican margins in some of their most reliable counties, including Forsyth and Floyd.

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Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC

LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” State Election Board Chair John Fervier joins the show. Then, Isaac Hayes III talks about the role of entertainers and pop culture in the presidential race.

Be sure to download the AJC’s Politically Georgia podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are uploaded by noon each day, just in time to have lunch with us. You can also listen live at 10 a.m. EDT on 90.1 FM WABE. Have a question for the show? Give us a call at 770-810-5297.

On Thursday’s show, Ryan Anderson, founder of the vote data tracking website GeorgiaVotes.com, talked about early voting. Also, Michael O’Leary, vice chair of College Republicans at the University of Georgia, and Young Democrats of Georgia national committee representative Parker Short joined the show.

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Credit: Roberto E. Rosales/AP

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. Today’s happenings:

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, husband to Vice President Kamala Harris, will speak at campaign events in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Harris will be in Wisconsin, where she will visit a union hall in Janesville, speak at a get-out-the-vote event in Appleton and headline a campaign rally in Milwaukee.
Former President Donald Trump will speak at rallies in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Warren, Michigan.
Eric Trump, the former president’s son, will speak at a campaign event in Douglasville, Georgia.
Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, will headline campaign rallies in Portage, Michigan, and Selma, North Carolina.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, will campaign at events in Detroit, Flint, and Traverse City, Michigan.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Savannah Mayor Van Johnson will campaign for Harris at events in Liberty County and Savannah.

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Credit: AJC

KNOW YOUR STUFF. Former President Donald Trump has made immigration a key issue in his campaign, warning that Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies will put the public at risk.

Is crime increasing? Are immigrants to blame?

The answer to both questions is “no,” per the AJC’s Caroline Silva, part of our Know Your Stuff series.

Silva writes that crime rates have been steadily decreasing since 1986. Georgia crime rates have fallen in the past decade.

As for immigrants, Silva writes:

Research indicates that immigrants, both legal and undocumented, do not commit crimes or face incarceration at higher rates than native-born Americans. However, as of 2023, Gallup polls showed nearly half of Americans believe immigrants make crime worse.

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Credit: Bob Andres/AJC

SHOUTOUTS. Today’s birthdays:

State Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson.
Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols.

Credit: Olivia Bowdoin for the AJC

Kudos:

Happy retirement to Tony Clark, who is retiring today after two decades as the public affairs director at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.

Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that! Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.

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AS ALWAYS, send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.

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