The Republican-led Georgia Senate is clashing with the state’s top elections official over the use of QR codes on voter ballots. The rift could offer a glimpse of a 2026 battle for governor between Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
At Jones’ urging, the Senate voted along party lines earlier this month to abandon the use of bar codes over the objection of Raffensperger. He warned senators the overhaul couldn’t happen until after the 2024 election.
Our AJC colleague James Salzer notes that Raffensperger also asked the Senate to fund technology to give officials the ability to audit the text of every choice on the ballot without using the QR codes. The House included $5 million for the system in its midyear budget.
Natrice Miller/AJC
Natrice Miller/AJC
According to Salzer’s reporting, Senate Republicans asked Raffensperger to agree to six conditions. Included was a stipulation that said nobody in his office “will benefit financially from the software development or procurement in the implementation of this pilot project.”
The mandate could have been a jab at a Raffensperger aide who temporarily left his state job to serve as an independent contractor in 2020. Or it could have been a way to score political points by sowing doubts about Raffensperger’s integrity. Either way, it brought a stinging rebuke from the secretary’s office.
“Seems like some people in the Senate are putting their own politics ahead of the security and integrity of this year’s election. It’s silly and immature,” said Jordan Fuchs, Raffensperger’s top aide, who urged the Senate to adopt her boss’ policy priorities.
We’ll have a resolution soon, Salzer notes, because the Senate Appropriations Committee is meeting this morning to vote on its version of the midyear budget.
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Arvin Temkar/AJC
Arvin Temkar/AJC
LOEFFLER’S LAMENT. Speaking of election jockeying, former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler penned a much-discussed commentary seeking to recruit a GOP challenger against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
“The Fulton judge might well remove Willis from Trump’s trial in the coming weeks,” wrote Loeffler. “But it will be up to the voters of Georgia to remove her from the office of district attorney this November.”
As we noted last week, Republicans are pushing to turn Willis’ reelection into a proxy battle over her election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his allies. But no known challenger has emerged yet.
Loeffler knows a thing or two about recruiting candidates. The Greater Georgia political organization she launched after her 2021 defeat helps prepare conservative contenders to seek office.
Key Democrats are rallying around Willis as rumors that her predecessor Paul Howard could mount a comeback bid in the Democratic primary.
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Greg Bluestein/AJC
Greg Bluestein/AJC
SPECIAL VOTE. Gov. Brian Kemp formally endorsed former Columbia County Commissioner Gary Richardson over social media influencer C.J. Pearson in the March 12 runoff for an open House seat.
The Republican-on-Republican faceoff for the solidly conservative Augusta-based seat has fast become a test of Kemp’s political machine against Pearson’s Trump-aligned MAGA brand.
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Courtesy photo
Courtesy photo
SPOTTED. Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper made the GOP pilgrimage to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to meet with the former president over the weekend.
Harper is in his first term leading the agriculture department and is frequently mentioned as a future candidate for higher office, such as governor.
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Jason Getz/AJC
Jason Getz/AJC
DICKENS ROUND 2. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens plans to run for reelection in 2025. His announcement quells speculation that he might take a job with President Joe Biden’s administration if Biden wins his own second term this year.
“I definitely want to be mayor of Atlanta — this is the best job in the world to be honest,” Dickens said during a recent meeting with the newspaper’s editorial board and as reported by Riley Bunch. “I respect and honor what happens in D.C. … It never grows old seeing the president’s plane fly into our city.”
The decision to seek four more years in office was one that Dickens’ predecessor, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, decided against after leading the city through COVID-19 lockdowns and the racial justice protests in 2020.
Shortly after Dickens won the election to succeed her, Bottoms announced she was taking a job in the White House to serve as the president’s senior advisor for public engagement. Bottoms stayed in that role for about a year.
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Steve Schaefer/AJC
Steve Schaefer/AJC
BACK IN POLITICS? Democrat Erick Allen needed three tries to win a Georgia House seat and has run an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor. Now he’s seeking a return to elected office with the Cobb County Commission.
Allen of Smyrna recently announced a run to succeed Jerica Richardson, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, for a congressional seat. Allen spent two terms in the House and lost to Charlie Bailey in the 2022 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.
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Miguel Martinez/AJC
Miguel Martinez/AJC
JUST A TRICKLE. Light turnout marked the first day of early voting in Georgia ahead of the state’s March 12 presidential primary, the AJC’s Mark Niesse, Michelle Baruchman and Maya T. Prabhu reported.
Part of the reason is lack of competition. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have won all the previous state contests they’ve competed in so far this year, and there is no indication their challengers will turn the tide.
Georgia will hold three weeks of early voting ahead of the presidential primary.
More robust turnout is expected in the May primary where candidates for Congress and the General Assembly, plus some local contests, will be on the ballot.
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Miguel Martinez/AJC
Miguel Martinez/AJC
ELECTION WATCHDOG. As Georgians cast their first votes of the 2024 election, Emory University’s Steve Suitts published an opinion column giving historical context to efforts to suppress the influence of Black voters.
Suitts draws parallels to the election law changes of recent years and the work of the State Elections Board to the Jim Crow methods prevalent in the state prior to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
An adjunct professor and voting rights expert, Suitts writes that it’s up to “more white Georgians to support the right to vote for all citizens on the belief that protecting that right is more critical than partisanship for creating a good, prosperous society and a lasting, vibrant democracy.”
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Casey Sykes
Casey Sykes
UNDER THE GOLD DOME, Legislative Day 23
- 8 a.m.: Committee meetings begin.
- 10 a.m.: The House gavels in.
- 10 a.m.: The Senate convenes.
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Miguel Martinez/AJC
Miguel Martinez/AJC
IN THE HOPPER. State lawmakers get back to work today after a long President’s Day weekend. Here are bills to watch this week:
- A revision to controversial fishing rights legislation, House Bill 1172, passed the House Judiciary Committee last Thursday and could be headed for a vote in the chamber. The original measure passed on the last day of the 2023 session and was meant to ensure Georgia fishers had access to navigable rivers and streams. The revision more clearly defines what waterways are covered by the law. State Rep James Burchett, R-Waycross, is the primary sponsor of House Bill 1172.
- Also headed to the House for action is Senate Bill 443, a measure meant to give municipalities the power to seek financial damages from organizers of unpermitted special events. The bill passed the Senate by a 47-1 vote and is in response to expenses incurred by Tybee Island, a coastal community near Savannah, during last spring’s Orange Crush beach bash, a spring break-like party for the region’s historically Black college students. The 2023 Orange Crush attracted an estimated 50,000 attendees, overwhelming the 3.19-square-mile island’s parking and public safety resources. Property damage, multiple traffic incidents, a physical assault and a road rage shooting marked the weekend. The Florida Legislature passed a similar law targeting pop-up events promoted through social media in 2022.
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Arvin Temkar/AJC
Arvin Temkar/AJC
LISTEN UP. Bishop Reginald Jackson of the African Methodist Episcopal Church joined the “Politically Georgia” radio show Monday to talk about teaming up with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church to engage their 140,000 congregants in the 2024 election.
Also on Monday, AJC columnist Nedra Rhone called in to talk about her piece on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ testimony last week and how it resonated with some Black women.
Insurance Commissioner John King, a Republican, and lawyer Charlie Bailey, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor, are Tuesday’s guests.
Listen at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And listen to Tuesday’s show live at 10 a.m. on WABE 90.1 FM, at AJC.com and at WABE.org.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden travels to California where he will spend three days meeting with supporters and fundraising.
- The House and Senate are in recess all week.
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Nathan Posner for the AJC
Nathan Posner for the AJC
WHALE DEATH. A necropsy revealed a juvenile right whale found dead off the Georgia coast last week died due to a skull fracture, likely the result of a boat collision. Right whales are among the most endangered animals on Earth, with approximately 350 remaining, and the death renewed calls for tighter speed restrictions on large boats traveling through the species’ calving grounds located off the Georgia shores.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, is opposed to such limits because of the potential impacts to Georgia Ports Authority activities and commercial fishing. He proposed legislation last summer seeking to block speed restrictions and reiterated his position following the most recent whale death.
“It’s disheartening that a young female North Atlantic right whale calf has died,” Carter said in a statement to Savannah TV station WTOC. “While the cause of death is not certain, we must protect this endangered species from extinction. Fortunately, there are promising new technologies to track the whales, which will help preserve and protect Georgia’s state marine mammal without killing our commercial boating and fishing industries.”
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TNS
TNS
DOG OF THE DAY. We are taking a short break from our daily pet feature. But our emails are always open for new submissions. Dog of the Day will return later this week.
Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and location, and cats on a cat-by-cat basis, to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Politically Georgia readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com, and adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com.
