Will Georgia Pass a Hate Crimes Bill?

Like many of you, I watched as Atlanta and so many other cities across the country erupted with raw rage and grief at the racist murders of black men and women. The murderers who committed these crimes did so with the knowledge that our justice system is rigged to protect them.

Let that sink in. We ask people of color to trust their lives and freedom to the government, to the police, to their neighbors, and we betray them again and again and again.

Racism is so deeply ingrained in our communities that sometimes it stares us in the face and we don’t even see it. Grady Memorial Hospital, for example, is named after Henry W. Grady, who publicly stated in 1888 that, “The supremacy of the white race of the South must be maintained forever.”

Last December, a group of Georgia State University students asked for the downtown statue of Henry Grady to be relocated to the Atlanta History Center. Their activism hit a brick wall when they learned that the legislature’s majority party had recently passed a law making it illegal to relocate most monuments. Instead, the students had to settle on asking for a contextual plaque to be placed on the statue. To my knowledge, that plaque has never been placed.

In two weeks, the legislature will convene to finish the 2020 legislative session, and I am committed to pushing forward the stalled Hate Crimes legislation, HB 426. It passed the House with bipartisan support and currently is being held up in the Senate Judiciary Committee by Committee Chair Sen. Jesse Stone. Sen. Stone lives in the same small town of Waynesboro where Ahmaud Arbery is now buried.

Passing and implementing a Hate Crimes bill will not end racism – that is a complex issue whose roots lie deep.

But passing the Hate Crimes Bill will give us one more tool to reject and penalize racist actions.

Black lives matter. The anger and pain black people and other communities of color feel right now matters.

For our society to find healing and peace, those of us in powerful and privileged positions have to earnestly and in good faith rebuild a trust that we have repeatedly broken.

We all can start this work in a small way today.

Email or call Sen. Stone (jesse.stone@senate.ga.gov or 404-463-1314) and demand that he move the Hate Crimes bill out of the Judiciary Committee with his full support for its passage in the State Senate. Tell him to do this in memory of his neighbor, Ahmaud Arbery. Tell him to do this because the loss of black lives matters.

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Time to Take Stock

Red Poppy

My grandmother, born in 1894, was active in the American Legion, so my mom carried on that tradition. I remember going with mom to our local bank to hand out paper poppies, handmade by veterans to raise money for veteran healthcare. Mom taught me to approach the businessmen by saying, “Poppy, sir?” The gentleman would hand mom some spare change, putting the poppy into the buttonhole on his lapel. Photo Credit: Marc Merlin

The poppy, like Memorial Day, reminds us to reflect on the legacy of our fallen soldiers. But this Memorial Day weekend the Boy Scouts aren’t out putting flags on graves. Kids have already been out of school since March. And families aren’t excitedly waiting for the gates of swimming pools to swing open so they can take their inaugural summer splash.

Like many of you, I’ve been “sheltering” for about two months. As a friend says, “I can only think four weeks at a time.” So we’ve been at this about 8 weeks, two four week “chunks”, and we’re about to start a third chunk. Time to take stock.

Some Really Good Stuff

Last March, I wrote that we have all “the right stuff” to get through this. Some of that “stuff” is beginning to reveal itself:

Bringing it all together: South Georgia farmers have been hit hard. School and restaurant closures mean no one’s buying their crops. Bring together those farmers, DeKalb county, $40,000 of federal CARES Act money, and you get 600 boxes of Georgia-grown produce and 600 boxes of frozen chicken distributed to families in need. Bringing it all together means crops don’t get wasted and people don’t go hungry.

COVID Treatment: Two treatment options for hospitalized COVID patients are showing promising outcomes, antibody blood plasma treatment and the antiviral medication Remdesivir. Georgia has received two free shipments of Remdesivir. The first went out to eight hospitals, treating 110 patients; the second to 29 hospitals for 310 patients.

A New Vote-by-Mail System: As Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensberger, said during a recent conference call with legislators, “It usually takes 6, 7 or 8 years to put a (Vote-by-Mail) system like this in place.” Utilizing Georgia’s existing absentee ballot program, almost half-a-million people have already cast their ballots by mail for the June 9th primary. Georgia received 10.8 million in CARES Act dollars designated for elections. The scary thing is that seven million dollars have already been spent (4 million on printing and postage alone), and we still have the November election to get through, when many health professionals are predicting a second wave. Call your congressperson and tell them we need federal assistance to continue Vote-by-Mail in the November election.

You still have a little more time to request a ballot if you do it quickly! Secretary Raffensberger said they are now processing Vote-by-Mail applications in “real” time (2 – 4 days). Print the application, fill it out, and either mail it or email it to your local elections office. If you don’t have a printer, or if you have any questions regarding voting, call the Voter Protection Hotline at 1-888-730-5816. 

Early In-Person Voting has started. Click here for early voting hours and locations. Gwinnett county posts polling place wait-times on-line!

Click here for Vote-by-Mail Dropboxes. Click here for dropboxes in DeKalb. If you choose to mail your ballot, I’m told you generally need one stamp, but two for Gwinnett (Gwinnett’s ballot is longer since it’s printed in two languages).

The Democratic Party of Georgia advises Voting-by-Mail for your safety. Also, the Secretary of State’s office is asking people who started the Vote-by-Mail process to stick with it, if possible, rather than switching to in-person voting. If you show up to vote in person after requesting a ballot, a poll worker must cancel that ballot, which takes time and leads to longer lines. If you have an absentee ballot and need to vote in-person, it helps to bring the ballot with you (although this is not mandatory).

Room for Improvement

Test Kits: Georgia continues to work on ramping up testing, with over 100 test sites now located across the state, and 200,000 test kits promised from the feds (30,000 have arrived). Unfortunately, Georgia has been artificially inflating test numbers by including antibody tests in the totals. (More about this below). It is currently recommended that 2 percent of the population be tested every month. In DeKalb that means we should be testing 15,000 people per month. Clearly, we have a long way to go. DeKalb’s Board of Health director reports we don’t even have a system in place in DeKalb to know exactly how many are being tested, because we don’t yet have a county level sharing platform. Some businesses, such as Emory and MARTA, have begun doing their own testing, which is not recorded in any official capacity.

Contact Tracing: The State’s Contact Tracing program has hired and on-boarded 500 tracers. These tracers are now following 3300 COVID positive individuals and 9000 of their contacts. By mid-June they will have 1000 tracers. Johns Hopkins estimates needing 7 tracers per 100,000 people. The State has promised DeKalb 60 tracers, slightly above the recommendation.

Quarantine: COVID-positive people are asked to quarantine at home, but many people do not have a way to isolate themselves at home, and live with vulnerable family members. This week, I spoke with Insurance Commissioner John King, Doraville’s former Chief-of-Police. Gen. King is heading up the response in Hall county’s hotspot. I’m happy to report that Gen. King has secured the floor of a hotel for quarantine space. However, Gen. King said it’s hard to convince people to use it. Many of Hall county’s COVID positive people are young males who work in the poultry plants and are asymptomatic. They just don’t see the need to quarantine. As Gen. King said, preventing spread of the virus is all about getting the message out through people who are trusted and known in a community. The key word is trust. None of this works without trust.

The Really Ugly

Data Manipulation: Speaking of trust, last week the Governor’s office came under fire for manipulating data to make it look like cases had been in decline for two weeks. This week they were under fire again for including positive antibody tests in the numbers for total tests, making it look like we are testing more people than we are. And as if that’s not enough, I’ve noticed that my calculated hospitalization numbers have not shown the drop the Governor’s office reported this week. In fact, my hospitalization totals, calculated from the cumulative totals on the Dept. of Public Health website, have increased during the last week. The Governor’s numbers do not include people who are “under investigation for coronavirus.” And according to NBC news, even if they had a positive COVID test before being admitted, they are still “under investigation” until they have a hospital administered positive test. With labs backed up, it’s quite possible that some people could be discharged before test results return. A quote from the Scottish poet Andrew Lang seems apropos: “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts — for support rather than for illumination.”

Hospital Lay-Offs: Much has been said about how we need to protect our healthcare workers. But now that the surge is over, instead of getting a little rest, healthcare workers are being laid off. This is because hospitals are reporting losses of hundreds of millions. Patient volumes are down. Emergency rooms are at 34% utilization, way down from normal, and people are coming in more sick due to delayed care. In-patient beds normally stay 80 – 90% full, but they are down at least 25%. In a for-profit healthcare system, these losses are not considered sustainable. What if our nurses, already in short supply, decide it’s just not worth it, and leave the profession? Without them, we are toast. A for-profit healthcare system during a pandemic is not sustainable.

The Opportunity

COVID is about to break our healthcare system. 

Georgia’s unemployment rate hit 11.9% in April. More than one out of every ten workers is without a job, worse than anything we saw during the Great Recession. Many of these workers have also lost their health insurance. In 36 other states, these workers can sign up for Medicaid, but not in Georgia, because we did not expand Medicaid. When you see underutilization stressing the financial viability of Georgia hospitals, you are seeing the effects of people afraid to seek care. Not because they’re afraid of catching COVID, though many are, but because they know they can’t afford the care. If you end up hospitalized with COVID, it will cost you an average of $78,000. How many people have that much spare change?

We can create policy that takes the profit out of healthcare. We can expand Medicaid in Georgia. We have an election coming up this November and it’s a big one. Get your friends to vote like their lives depend on it. Because they do.

Healthcare Heros

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Time to Get Out the Vote!

Action One:
Help Someone Apply to Vote-by-Mail

This week is “Vote-by-Mail Week”, and the Democratic Party of Georgia (DPG) set a goal of helping 70,000 voters apply for Vote-by-Mail ballots. On Friday they had already assisted 67,859 people, so they increased their goal to 80,000. Help blow-the-top off their goal by reaching out to people you know today.

Each person you get to apply for Vote-by-Mail this week will be more likely to Vote-by-Mail in November, which will help us deliver the votes to defeat Donald Trump. The DPG has on-line resources that explain how to Vote-by-Mail.  Check them out — I especially like the video!

Voter Protection Hotline: 1-888-730-5816: Applied, but haven’t received your ballot? Can’t find a ballot dropbox? Call this hotline for any questions related to voting. This service is the single most important effort I have ever seen the DPG accomplish in the twenty years I have been involved in Georgia politics. One Senate 40 constituent called the hotline this week because she had not received her ballot. She was patched through to the DeKalb Elections Office, where she found out they had no record of her request (she had faxed her request and they had some faxes that had not come through clearly). The lesson? Be tenacious!

Action Two:
Donate to a Food Bank

I have a long list of people I’m helping to obtain their unemployment benefits.  Some of them have been waiting for weeks and their situations are heartbreaking. It’s frustratingly slow.  I’m practically stalking the Department of Labor’s Commissioner, Mark Butler, trying to get updates and information — even begging him to personally help. During a Senate Democratic Caucus conference call, he literally told me to send him an email, and “put it in red,” so he could find it among the thousands of emails he is getting. I’m happy to be “The Senator in Red,” if it helps people get the cash they need to pay rent and put food on the table.

During a normal, pre-pandemic month, the Department of Labor is staffed to process about 20,000 claims. In April alone, they processed over one million. They don’t have the funds to staff up to meet the demand, and one of their offices has been hit by COVID.

These are the people who need the help of food banks on a temporary basis to feed their families. The Atlanta Community Food Bank estimates that they are serving 30 – 40% more families than they did before the pandemic, and that the financial support from donors has been “unbelievable.” Stimulus money continues to be slow to reach the people who need it. Consider making a monthly contribution to your local food bank, or donate to the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

Action Three:
Call the Governor’s Office

Last week I told you about a huge Softball Tournament scheduled in Dalton, potentially drawing a crowd of up to 5,000 people from various states. When I called the Governor’s office to ask if this event might violate the bans on large group events, I was told the Governor would soon be announcing a “clarifying Order.”

The Order was announced on Tuesday, May 12th. It’s 30 pages long and loosens some restrictions for daycare, restaurants, summer camps, and swimming pools. But it keeps in place a ban on large group gatherings where social distancing cannot, or is not, adhered to.

I can report that the Softball Tournament was cancelled. Wednesday of this week, I received the following correspondence from the Governor’s office: “We strongly discourage large gatherings like this. If they choose to move forward then they need to ensure proper social distancing guidelines are taking place. If there is a violation then people need to contact local law enforcement. Again, we strongly recommend that they don’t take place because of the difficulty of social distancing in these events.”

The lesson of the story: Phone calls can make a difference. The Governor’s phone number is 404-656-1776

Action Four:
Know your Tests and Be Cautious

I have noticed confusion about the different kinds of COVID tests, and private clinics throughout the district have signs out front advertising “COVID Tests Here.” So I asked Senate 40 resident Mark Perloe, MD, to write up a summary to help people navigate this confusing testing landscape. Thanks, Mark! Here’s what he has to say:

“It has been suggested that increased testing for COVID-19 will help us move past the pandemic. Unfortunately, too many questions remain about the implications of test results and how to act on them. This is further complicated by a multitude of different test types and companies offering test kits. And a negative viral test today does not mean you won’t be exposed and develop COVID-19 a week or two later.

There are two types of tests being offered. The first type of test, offered at no cost through your local Health Department, looks for the presence of viral RNA particles by using a sample obtained from high in your nasal passages. The results are usually reported in 2-3 days. If the virus is found, you will need to quarantine for a period of two weeks after your symptoms resolve. This type of testing is rather uncomfortable, but it is the most accurate method to determine the presence of the virus. A similar type of test to detect the presence of the virus uses a cheek swab or saliva sample. It has been reported that up to 30% of people shedding virus may test negative by this method. So, if you have tested negative with this less aggressive sampling, you should go ahead and quarantine.

One to three weeks after the initial infection, a second type of test looks for COVID-19 antibodies. While a positive result shows that you have been exposed to the corona virus and that your immune system is mounting a response, unfortunately, it does not indicate that you are immune to reinfection. Your immune system may have produced antibodies for other types of corona virus [the common cold virus] which affect the accuracy of antibody tests. Additionally, a positive antibody test may not remain positive a few months later. It also does not address whether you still carry the virus and might infect someone else who is less able to fight off the infection.

While this may sound rather bleak, the speed at which our understanding grows offers hope. Scientists are improving testing methods and access to testing has increased. Research teams around the world are working to develop a safe and effective vaccine against the corona virus. Until such time as we have testing that easily identifies those who carry the virus and those who are immune, we should all act with caution and practice physically distancing, and avoid large gatherings. Frequent handwashing, remembering to avoid touching your face, and remembering to keep that face mask on when in public can help life begin a new normal.”

For more information, visit the CDC website.

Action Five:
Pay your State Taxes Now if you Can

I am carefully watching monthly state revenue reports. Surprisingly, March revenues were up, but April was down by 1.03 billion. Much of this decrease is due, however, to the shifting of our income tax deadline from April 15th to July 15th. Georgia currently has 2.7 billion dollars in its “rainy day fund,” half of which will be needed to pay for State operations through the end of the current fiscal year, June 30th. If you are able to pay your 2019 state income taxes before June 30th, it will help the state make its budget for this fiscal year.

Despite having very little information about the behavior of the economy, the Governor will need to set a revenue estimate for the 2020 – 2021 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The State Economist, Dr. Jeffrey Dorfman, will advise the Governor using projections. Dr. Dorfman told the Joint House & Senate Appropriations Committees to expect revenue to lag the first quarter (July – September) when he expects revenue to dip around 10%, or 600 million dollars, before the economy picks up in the fall. For this reason, the Governor has asked all departments to cut their budgets by 14%, which is severe enough to require employee furloughs.

The 155th Georgia General Assembly will reconvene its suspended session next month. Right now the Speaker of the House and the Lt. Governor are squabbling as to whether that date will be June 11th or 15th. But what we do know is that we must go back in June to pass the 2020 – 2021 budget so the State can operate.

Like most states, Georgia must pass a balanced budget, meaning we cannot spend more than the revenue we bring in. For that reason, Georgia cannot spend money to generate economic stimulus the way Congress can. This is why we need national leadership.

Action Six:
Support a Local Candidate

In 2018 we added a significant number of Democratic votes and voices to the Georgia legislature, bringing about moderation and balance, but we need more votes to be able to put a stop to reckless governing. To help find a candidate to support, access the Georgia 159 Together Voter Guide, an amazing spreadsheet that tells you who’s running and which districts are flippable (click on GA House & GA Senate tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet).

What if the Governor’s revenue estimate is too high? The Governor gets to slash the budget with no legislative oversight as the year moves along, just as he did in 2019 when he told departments to cut by 4% because there “might” be an economic downturn. I have only recently observed Georgia leaders overestimating revenue. Rather, our fiscally conservative state has had a long history of underestimating revenue, allowing the legislature to target additional spending if and when it comes in higher than expected.

Georgia’s government is structured to have a strong Governor and a “weak” citizen legislature. And during this emergency, the Governor has extraordinary powers. For instance, the state received millions of dollars in CARES Act stimulus money. Though much of this money must be distributed according to formulas, the State has a pretty big pot of federal money to allocate to COVID related expenses. Legislatures in some states, like North Carolina, have participated in the appropriations of these funds. I have asked the Governor’s office for the accounting of how these funds have been spent, but have yet to receive them.

When the legislature reconvenes next month, it will not be business as usual. Most of the bills we passed on March 12th, Crossover Day, will remain “on the table.” Because physical distancing is not possible in the House and Senate Chambers, legislators will distribute themselves throughout the Capitol complex, only to return to the Chamber when they are called in small groups to vote. This process will be very slow, thus our calendar of bills and amendments will be limited. I don’t expect healthy debate to occur, and the most important part of Democracy, participation by the people, is certainly jeopardized.

We have a Governor who campaigned on slashing government. Remember the ad where Kemp says, “I’m Brian Kemp. I’m so conservative, I blow up government spending,” while viewing a literal explosion in the background? This Governor is not going to be crying over slashing the very services our State government provides —  education, healthcare, transportation, parks, nursing home care for the elderly, and services for the developmentally diabled. If this upsets you, promote Vote-by-Mail now, and find a candidate to support. We might be physically distanced, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get things done.

 

May 15 Capacity In Use Available
Ventilators 2,840 852 1,988
ICU Beds 2,963 2,082 881
ER Beds 3,348 966 2,382
General Beds 15,146 10,492 4,654

source- Georgia Hospital Association

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Curve Balls and Motherhood

Curve Balls & Motherhood

There’s a dose of bittersweet about Mother’s Day this year. Missing are the usual celebratory brunches, ornate corsages proudly worn at worship services, and lively family gatherings. Yet I can’t recall a year when it’s been more important to love our mothers, as the last few months have sent many of them a curve ball. Those in long term care facilities suddenly stopped getting visitors. Homeschooling became the norm for moms who didn’t sign up for it. Wanda Cooper-Jones, mother of slain Ahmaud Arbery, grieves this Mother’s Day, along with all the other moms whose sons have been murdered for being black. Many of our mothers and grandmothers have recently departed. But held within all this bittersweetness, there’s more love than any corsage can hold. Reach out to a mom today, even if she’s not yours, and shower her with love. She needs it.
Asiatic Dayflower

 In honor and memory of our moms, who love and care for us even when we don’t know it.

You have to be quick to catch a glimpse of this small, yet powerfully blue flower, known as the Asiatic Dayflower. It only shows its glory for one short day — truly bittersweet.Photo credit: Marc Merlin

Batting Average

Testing Update: When I first started tracking Georgia’s testing, we were testing about 800/day, while New York was at 18,000/day. Now Georgia is averaging about 10,000/day and has over sixty test sites across the state. In the early days, it took up to 10 days to get test results. Now rapid tests get results in 30 minutes and tests that require lab processing are available in a day or two.

All Georgians Can Get Tested: This week the Governor announced that anyone can get tested — no symptoms required. Unfortunately, the media made it sound like everyone should get tested, which is not the case. While we have enough tests to meet the need, we don’t have enough tests for 11 million Georgians to get tested on a regular basis. But if you want to visit someone who is medically vulnerable, and are willing to quarantine yourself while you wait for results, getting tested could give you some assurance that you won’t unknowingly share the virus.

Hospitals Take A Seventh Inning Stretch

Except for hotspots like Albany and Gainesville, and possibly a new one in Hancock county, hospital admissions have continued to decline. Administrators are very cautiously opening up essential and elective procedures that were put on hold during the surge. Every new patient is being tested for COVID prior to undergoing procedures. For the Atlanta based WellStar system, this means 300 potential patients were tested last week — four unexpectedly tested positive.
May 8 Capacity In Use Available
ICU Beds 2,976 2,089 887
ER Beds 3,348 1,010 2,338
General Beds 15,137 10,259 4,878

source- Georgia Hospital Association

Extra Innings

Contact Tracing: Dr. Kathleen Toomey, Commissioner of the Department of Public Health, calls Georgia’s contact tracing program a “logistical deployment.” In an effort to build a team of 1000 tracers, 300 new jobs have been posted, 1000+ people have applied, and a second wave of 300 more jobs will soon be posted. Since traditional tracing approaches prior to the shut-down failed to keep up, this new tracing program will employ non-traditional approaches in order to embrace the massive task. Georgia has entered a contract with the MTX group, in coordination with Google, to assist with voluntary symptom self-reporting, which will free up valuable time for contact tracers to do other things. The Google app Georgia is using does not include location tracking.

Augusta University Health*: Here’s something I need your feedback on. During Gov. Kemp’s press conferences, he has spoken proudly of a partnership with Augusta University Health Express to provide free, statewide COVID-19 video and telehealth screening and referral to testing through a downloadable app. Legislators have been asked to share this app with the public, so I tried it out myself several weeks ago. For various reasons, I was not comfortable with it. The app asks for a very detailed medical history, including security information like birthdate. You’re then asked to choose a provider based on a photo, and finally, you are asked to create a log-in for a health portal to store and access your records. At Gov. Kemp’s most recent press conference, he announced a 1 million dollar contribution in private funding from Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl to support this service. A recent AJC article describes some start-up problems. If you are interested and can look at the app, I’d love to know what you think about its usefulness to the general public.

*Augusta University is the new name given in 2015 to the Medical College of Georgia and Augusta State University, which merged in 2013.

Play Ball! – or Not? (stay tuned)

As spring rolls into summer, the question of summer recreation comes up. Will summer camps meet? Will swim teams swim? The Governor’s office recently clarified that only government run swimming pools are closed, along with amusement parks and live entertainment venues. We’re still waiting to determine the impact of all this activity — will the lack of social distancing cause another surge?

A constituent brought to my attention a huge Girls Softball Tournament that is planned for next weekend in Dalton. We’re talking upwards of 5,000 people from various states crowded into four ball-parks — many very happy to be playing softball in Georgia, since they can’t yet hold tournaments in their own states. Crowded bathrooms, dugouts, and spectator areas that don’t allow for social distancing. Cash being passed around for concessions. Hands reaching for ketchup and mustard in common condiment areas. You get the picture. Lots of germ sharing.

I brought this to the attention of the Governor’s office, inquiring as to whether this activity falls under the still closed “live entertainment venues”. Friday I got a response: “The Governor will be announcing a clarifying Executive Order next week.” Stay tuned.

Voting During a Pandemic, Addendum

I received lots of follow-up questions about elections last week. Between elections being postponed, recommendations to Vote-by-Mail, and new voting machines for in-person voting, there’s a lot to be confused about.

Voter Registration Deadline is May 11 (Monday) for the June 9th Primary. Most voters can update their registration online at “My Voter Page.” (did you bookmark it last week?)

Early Voting: In-Person voting begins May 18th. You can vote at any early voting location in your county. Find a list of times and locations here as soon as they become available.

Democratic Party of Georgia Voter Protection Hotline: 1-888-730-5816

Do I Need to Vote in June? For those of you who voted in March, yes, you need to vote again because the June 9th election has lots of additional races. Everyone needs to vote in the US Senate primary, and depending on what county you live in, there are other races such as US House, county commission, school board, sheriff, and lots of judges and offices of the courts. If you voted in March, your previous votes in the Presidential Preference Primary still hold and you will not need to cast those votes again (and they should not be on your ballot).

How Do I Know My Vote-by-Mail Ballot Will be Counted? Trust in our election system has been eroded no matter which way you choose to vote. All I can say is that there are lots of people working to make sure your vote is safe. Voting-by-Mail keeps YOU safe. The Democratic Party of Georgia is recommending everyone Vote-by-Mail for the June 9th election.

How Do I Request a Vote-by-Mail Ballot? If you have your Red, White & Blue “Secure the Vote” application form that was mailed to you over a month ago, you can still use that. If you don’t have that, print a copy off the Secretary of State’s website. If you don’t have a printer, call the Democratic Party of Georgia Voter Hotline at 1-888-730-5816 and they will mail you a ballot request form.

How do I complete the Application to Vote by Mail? The Democratic Party of Georgia has several resources available to guide you through the process, including a step by step guide and an instructional video.

Where is my Ballot? Many people requested a ballot over a month ago but still have not gotten it. Ballots are being mailed by an outside mailing house, after the requests are processed by the counties.  We are seeing delays in mailing out the ballots and status updates on My Voter Page are not necessarily in “real time”.  Call the Voter Hotline at  888-730-5816 if you think your ballot should have arrived by now.

How many stamps do I need? Ballots in different counties weigh different amounts. I understand Gwinnett’s is heavy enough to require two stamps. DeKalb’s is light enough for only one stamp. It has been widely reported that ballots will be delivered even without postage, but I wouldn’t depend on that. I’ve already heard reports that Gwinnett might not deliver them if they don’t have any postage. If you want to be super safe, call your Local Elections Office to find out where they have Ballot Dropboxes. You can find that number here.

Inner Envelope/Sleeve: Once you receive your Ballot, the instructions tell you to seal your ballot inside the “inner envelope.” These instructions are not accurate. Instead of an envelope, there is a privacy “sleeve,” and you do not need to seal it. Here’s some additional information on this topic.

DeKalb Sheriff’s Race: If you live in DeKalb and did not vote in March, there will be two separate Sheriff races on your ballot and they will look pretty much the same. This is actually correct. One race is to elect a sheriff to fill an unexpired term (from the election until the end of the year) and the other one is to elect a sheriff to the term that starts in January.

What if I request a ballot but later decide to vote in person? If you still have the ballot, try to take it with you to your polling place so the poll worker can cancel it. If you forget to take your ballot, or have not received it yet, the poll worker can still cancel it. You will need to sign an affidavit saying you have not already voted.

Get in the Game!

Here’s a fun challenge. During the next three weeks, see how many people, especially young people, you can get to apply for a Vote-by-Mail ballot. Go ahead and print out the application, get some envelopes and stamps, and make it easy! Once people get in the habit, they’ll be more likely to Vote-by-Mail in November. Make a point to follow-up so you can help at each step of the process. Every year, there are too many registered voters who don’t vote, especially people under forty. This is not the year to skip the election!
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Voting During a Pandemic

Voting During a Pandemic

In 2019, the legislature appropriated well over 100 million dollars in bond funding to purchase new, state-of-the-art touch screen voting machines. I opposed the purchase of these machines for a long list of reasons, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine what a bad idea touch screen voting would be during a pandemic.

These new machines were supposed to be rolled out for the March 24th Presidential Preference Primary, but it was abruptly terminated and postponed until the May 19th General Primary, due to community spread of the virus. The election was then postponed again until June 9th.

The virus will still be lurking in June, so how do you safely vote during a pandemic? Vote-by-Mail — the same process we have always had, known by the name of absentee ballots. Before 2005 you had to state a reason for voting absentee but now anyone can Vote-by-Mail by personal choice. If you have never voted by mail, now is the time to prepare, because there are several steps involved.

Check Your Address: First, you need to make sure the address on your voter registration is up-to-date. Do this by looking up your record on My Voter Page. This is a really easy-to-use site. You should bookmark it and check your registration well ahead of any election. You must make any changes to your registration 30 days prior to the election, so your deadline for this step is Monday, May 11th. Do it now!

Request a Ballot: Second, you must request a Vote-by-Mail ballot every time you vote (there are exceptions, including those over 65, disabled, or military who can check a box to apply for a ballot only once per election cycle). Most people were mailed a Vote-by-Mail request form about a month ago — it had a Red, White & Blue “Secure the Vote” logo (scroll to the bottom of this email to see a picture). If you still have this request form, you can use it. Or, you can request a ballot by using the My Voter Page —  did you bookmark it? Once you find the request form, you need to print it out, fill it out, and either mail it to your local elections office or take a picture and email it. There is no fixed deadline for requesting a Vote-by-Mail ballot, but your voting ballot must be received by the final day of voting, June 9th, so do this right now!

Complete Your Ballot: Third, wait for your ballot to arrive. You can get updates on My Voter Page — did you bookmark it? Once it arrives, fill it out, put a stamp on it and mail it back in, or find an official dropbox and save the postage — do it in plenty of time for it to be received by the last day of voting, June 9th. Check My Voter Page to make sure your ballot was received. You did bookmark it, right? You will be in good company voting by mail. Already, the Secretary of State has received ballot requests for the 2020 Primary from as many people who voted in the 2016 General Primary overall!

Let me know if you have questions, and I’ll have a volunteer reach out to you to help. If you prefer, you can still vote in person using those new touch screen machines — just don’t forget your hand sanitizer and mask.

Targeting our Interventions

Each week I listen to a conference call provided to elected officials by the WellStar Health System, getting updates from both hospitals and Public Health Directors. It’s been an invaluable resource.

Black & Hispanic Communities: This week we had a special guest — Dr. Jeffey Hines, who works for WellStar and specializes in gynecologic oncology. Dr. Hines not only spoke insightfully about why black and hispanic communities across the nation are being hit particularly hard by this virus — he also shared some concrete COVID-19 containment action steps.

Dr. Hine’s short, yet powerful presentation got me thinking, and I haven’t stopped since. I can’t stop because Georgia is not taking the necessary actions to help the people this virus is hitting the hardest.

Hall County is showing signs of being Georgia’s next new hotspot. Recently, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that almost 400 poultry workers across the state had tested positive for the virus. Gainesville has been called the Poultry Capital of the World. And President Trump has now signed an Executive Order aimed at preventing supply chain shortages, keeping meat processors open and workers as risk.

This illustrates the daily peril so many of our essential workers, many of whom are brown and black, face everyday. They risk their lives to go to work so that the rest of us can have what we need. And when they get sick, they are told by our leaders to self isolate in their homes. Never mind that they don’t have rooms to isolate in, nor a separate bathroom, and that they live alongside their vulnerable grandparents who have also been mandated by our leaders to shelter-in-place to avoid getting the virus. This is a major reason Dr. Hines says this population ends up getting hit harder by this virus than others. Yet our containment policies are written for the “others.”

A couple of weeks ago, a constituent shared an article with me entitled “Coronavirus Advice from Abroad: 7 Lessons America’s Governors Should Not Ignore as they Open Up their Economies,” asking me to share it with Governor Kemp. One of the lessons presented in the piece was radical, advocating that the sick be isolated from their families for 14 quarantine days. This was a lesson from Italy, where multi-generational living is commonplace. However, lessons from Taiwan during the 2003 SARS outbreak found that this type of quarantine was often viewed as being sent to jail, and people ran away, so they learned that you have to treat people really well. Put them up in the Hilton, feed them good food, check on them often, and let them watch movies. This is the kind of policy that can protect those being hit hardest by this virus.

One might think this would be a hard sell in Georgia. But it’s not really that far-fetched from what I’ve seen Georgia already do. We housed over 200 sick homeless people in a hotel in downtown Atlanta and provided public health professionals to care for them. And early last March when there were only a few cases of the virus, Georgia set up a quarantine site at a State Park where people could go if they couldn’t self isolate at home. At some point, land was identified for the construction site for a larger quarantine facility. What happened to this effort? Certainly we can’t quarantine every sick person, but perhaps we could return to this idea so that our essential workers don’t have to put their families at risk in order to keep life more “normal” for the rest of us.

Six Lessons from Other Countries as we Open the Economy

The “Lessons for Governors” article continued with six other lessons. Let’s take a look and see how Georgia is doing.

Build an Army of Contact Tracers: The Georgia Department of Public Health has shifted its focus the last couple of weeks to developing and recruiting an “army” of contact tracers, much like the state of Massachusetts has done. They currently have 500 public health employees across the state who have been temporarily reassigned to contact tracing roles. In addition, new positions for 300 contact tracers have been posted, and hiring will begin soon. Student internships will be offered to 175 Master of Public Health students for school credit. Public health has also partnered with Google, though the Google app is not a replacement for contact tracing. Georgia’s contact tracing program has already been rolled out in three communities and will go statewide next week. No one in public health has any experience with an effort this large, and I’m sure there will be hiccups, but I applaud public health for having the vision to give this a try.

Prepare to Test Constantly: Gen. Tom Carden, Director of the Georgia Dept. of Defense, has been put in charge of testing. Over 50 drive-thru testing sites have been set-up, and more are being added. Over the last few weeks, the number of tests conducted each day has ranged from 3000 to around 19,000, although data graphs do show signs of “batching” — holding test results from one day to the next, making some daily totals look larger than they are. Testing is improving, but Gen. Carden has refused to state an ultimate daily goal. When pushed, I have heard him say that testing 10% of the population is not realistic, and that trying to test 11 million Georgians is like trying to boil the ocean. When pushed further, Gen. Carden said he’s going to push testing until the system breaks. Let’s hope not.

Protect, Protect, Protect Healthcare Workers: For our healthcare workers, COVID-19 is a marathon, not a sprint. Ensuring they have the proper PPE is undoubtedly important, but as a potential second wave looms, it’s critical we bolster their morale so they don’t quit their jobs. Low wage healthcare aides need to be paid more. And they might need to be put up in a hotel if they get sick so they don’t have to endanger their families. It means continuing all the community support we’ve been laying on them — the meals, the cards, the cheers. Put simply, without our healthcare workers, we’re toast. We’re doing okay so far, but we have to keep it up.

Normal is not the Goal: The legislature is going to go back in session sometime during the next six weeks to finish the 2020-2021 budget. When we do, we’re looking at having to work in an environment where it’s not possible to physically distance ourselves. The chambers just aren’t big enough. The Senate Democratic Caucus has discussed splitting into two groups so only half of us are in the chamber at once, but we’re hearing the Majority Party wants things to look “normal” — that’s their goal. Wearing masks is a powerful way to communicate that things are not normal.

Keep your Eyes Peeled for the Second Wave: This requires good data, and right now, I’m not trusting Georgia’s data. Last week I reported how changing the way cases are recorded would result in the 14-day downward trajectory of COVID-19 cases Georgia needs to meet the Gating Criteria put forth in the Open American Up Again plan. That graph came out this week, and as Dunwoody resident Robert Wittenstein said, “It is more brazen and outrageous than I expected it to be. That sharp decline during the “14-day window” is a result of their backdating cases combined with our current protocols of only testing folks with symptoms.  If you are getting tested, it means you have symptoms, and if you have symptoms, it means you were infected over two weeks ago!” We data geeks need to hold our Georgia leadership accountable so that their desire to make “normal” their goal does lead to being blind to a second wave. We owe that to our healthcare workers too.

Clear Communication is Critical: I still participate in a weekly conference call with the Governor’s office. Sixteen questions are selected and turned in prior to each call. The last couple of weeks, the Governor’s staff has pretty much refused to answer many of these questions, to the point where it’s like, “why bother?”  Lots of room for improvement with this lesson.

Vote Like You Mean It

It’s 2020 — the year of the big November election we’ve all been working toward. But we can’t go out and register voters, we can’t host gatherings to nurture the communities we’ve all grown to love. So what do we do? Vote-by-Mail is a tremendous opportunity to change the way we vote, to a process that makes so much more sense to so many people. It’s still not as easy as it should be, but it’s basically the “hand-marked paper ballot” so many have been fighting for. So during the next couple of weeks, tell everyone you know, especially young people, to go to My Voter Page (remember, you bookmarked it) and to request a Vote-by-Mail ballot. Let’s see how many people we can get to vote this June, just like we increased voter turnout during the 2018 General Primary. This is how we “practice” for 2020.
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