As the most important election of our lifetime approaches, it is critical to get this message out: “Do not wait until the last day to vote!” Request an absentee ballot now, or make a plan to vote early in-person.

I want to get this word out to 20,000 Democrats in Senate 40, but the $10,000 needed for postage and printing costs is not yet in our budget. So far, we’ve raised around $6,000 earmarked for this mailing. For every dollar you contribute, we can reach two more voters. How many voters can you help us reach with this important message?  Use this link to support this mailing: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/sd40-vote-early .

Secretary of State Releases New Absentee Ballot Request Website

If you have not yet requested your ballot for the November election, the Secretary of State’s new website, https://ballotrequest.sos.ga.gov/,  makes it easier. Just grab your driver’s license or State ID number and complete the entire process on-line. No printing, stamps, or emailing. 

If you have already requested your ballot for the November election, you do not need to request it again. If you do not have a driver’s license or state issued ID, you can request your ballot using the PDF on the My Voter Page at https://www.mvp.sos.ga.gov/

In Georgia, you must request an absentee (mail-in) ballot for every single election, unless you are over 65 or disabled, and you have checked the box to get ballots mailed to you for the entire election cycle. If you have not done this, or don’t qualify, you must submit a new request each time.

If you have any questions, call the Georgia Democratic Party Voter Protection Hotline at 888-730-5816. 

 

Why use the new website? Your ballot request will be processed by a dedicated vendor instead of your local election office. This will free up time for election staff to train poll workers.

When will ballots be mailed? The mailing of ballots will start September 15th. Please check My Voter Page to track the mailing and acceptance of your ballot. The sooner you sent your request, the sooner you’ll get your ballot.

Why Vote-by-Drop-Box? If you don’t feel safe voting in person, using a drop box ensures your ballot will arrive on time. And, since in-person voting will be crowded, Voting-by-Drop-Box helps shorten the lines so more people can vote. Drop boxes are monitored by 24-hour camera, bolted down, and emptied daily. No postage is required if you drop your ballot in an official ballot dropbox (not a mailbox). For an up-to-date list of ballot drop boxes please see the “Voter Info” page on my website at https://sallyharrell.org/vote/

 

It’s Not Too Late to Complete the Census!

Census workers are now masking up and going door-to-door in hard to count areas. Last I heard, Georgia’s total count was 3% behind the national average. And, the President bumped up the final date for door-to-door canvassing by an entire month. Visit https://2020census.gov/en/how-to-help.html, to help spread the word.

 

Virus Spread — Cautiously Optimistic

For several weeks now, I’ve been watching COVID-19 metrics improve. But with school starting back, I figured things would change. However, I still remain cautiously optimistic. The metro Atlanta area appears to be doing much better than the rest of Georgia. Based on my own observations, I find people in the Atlanta area are much better about wearing masks, so I’ve personally come to the conclusion that masks work. Now is not the time to let up on any precautions you are taking. 

 

Healthcare Workers

One of the key factors of making it through this pandemic is protecting our healthcare workforce. This means PPE, but it also means mental health. Our healthcare workers are experiencing trauma, and we must be ready to take care of them now and in the future. I will be working with the Georgia Hospital Association to enact policies to radically support our healthcare workers.

 

Students, Teachers and Parents

The lives of students, teachers and parents of school-aged children have been turned upside down. Parents are managing virtual, at-home instruction while keeping up with full-time jobs. Teachers are working long, exhausting days. Students miss their friends and their “normal” lives. Please reach out and support these families. And thank them for keeping us safe.

 

Finally, if you are able, please make a donation to help us tell 20,000 Democrats, “Do not wait until the last day to vote!”

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/sd40-vote-early

Vote by Drop Box

You don’t need to use the United States Post Office to cast your vote.

Nor do you need to vote In-Person using one of Georgia’s expensive new touchscreen machines.

As Karen Mixon, 1st Vice Chair of the DeKalb Democrats says, “Drop Boxes are one of the most powerful weapons to fight voter suppression in November. Please go ahead and apply for absentee ballot ASAP.

I agree with Karen, and so do the voting rights advocates I’ve spoken with recently. Order your paper absentee ballot today and plan to drop it in one of the new drop boxes located around the counties.

Delivering your paper ballot to a drop box not only protects your health and your vote — it frees up space during In-Person Voting (October 12 – November 3). The June 9th primary brought out crowds of unexpected Democratic voters who had to wait in lines for hours. The more people who Vote by Dropbox, the shorter the In-Person lines, resulting in less voter suppression.

Please help spread the word to your friends and neighbors to order a ballot now, and use a drop box

More on Paper Ballots and Drop Boxes

Where are Drop Boxes located? The State Elections Board issued rules that require Drop Boxes to be placed on county or municipal property with 24-hour video streaming for security. If you live in a city, it’s likely a drop box will be located at your City Hall. The Georgia Democratic Party maintains a list of Drop Box locations state-wide. Keep in mind that you must use a Drop Box located in the county where you are registered to vote.

How do I request a Paper Absentee Ballot? Right now, the best way to request a ballot is through Georgia’s My Voter Page. Enter your name, county and birthday, then click Submit. Look for the link titled “Absentee Ballot Application.” Print it, fill it out, sign it, then either mail or email it to your County Election Office. Call the Democratic Party of Georgia Voter Protection Hotline at 1-888-730-5816 if you have any questions. If you email the application, be sure to double check the email address before you hit send! These ballot requests are processed and mailed from your County Elections Office, and the mailing of ballots begins in mid-September. You can check back on the My Voter Page to get updates about the processing of your request and your ballot after you return it.

DeKalb county will soon be sending Absentee Ballot Requests to all DeKalb voters, active and inactive! Thank you, DeKalb! We expect this will help increase participation, like it did for the Primary election. To my knowledge, other metro counties are not planning on mailing applications to voters.

Also, in a few weeks, the Georgia Secretary of State’s office will unveil a new Absentee Ballot Request Website. Voters will enter their name, birthdate, and driver’s license or state ID number. Ballots ordered through this website will be processed and mailed by a private vendor in Arizona. Voters without a driver’s license or state ID can still use the forms from the My Voter Page to request a ballot from their County Elections Office.

More on Voting-in-Person

Vote-by-Mail utilization jumped from 5% of the electorate to 50% during the 2020 Primaries. This trend is expected to continue. This will help shorten lines during In-Person Voting, which starts on October 12 — just 58 days from today.

If you vote in person, you will be using new, touchscreen machines. These machines produce a printed ballot. Please carefully check that your selections are correct on this ballot. The printout is not a receipt — it is a ballot that must be scanned to tally your vote. Don’t leave the polling place with the printout, or your vote won’t be counted! Unfortunately, the scanner does not read the printed list of names — it reads a barcode that you cannot check. This is one of the reasons I voted against the purchase of these new machines.

If you prefer to vote in person, please vote during the Early Voting period. Don’t wait until the last day, when lines will be much longer.

Volunteer Opportunities at the Polls

It is expected that millions of people across Georgia will cast their votes in person between Oct 12 and Nov 3 this year. During the June primary, there were lots of technical issues that resulted in delays for voters. We need to recruit thousands of people to work the polls in order to reduce delays and make these new machines work as smoothly as possible.

There are many ways you can help if you are able:

Poll Watchers: Poll Watchers are trained and officially certified volunteers who are assigned to a polling place to watch the entire voting process while documenting and reporting any problems observed.

Poll Workers: Poll Workers are hired, trained and paid by your county of residence. Expect to work long days during Early Voting as well as Election Day. Poll Workers are involved in the inner workings of election administration.

The Georgia Youth Poll Workers Project: Recruit your kids and grandkids to help! Polling places were short-handed during the June Primary because many older poll workers could not work due to the virus. The Georgia Youth Poll Workers Project, led by Georgia State University graduate Evan Malbrough, seeks to recruit 5,000 students to be poll workers in the Atlanta area. Sign up here.

Labor Commissioner Mark Butler Spurns Legislators

This week, Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) Commissioner Mark Butler cancelled his call with the Senate Democratic Caucus, saying:

“Due to threats to protest at the Commissioner’s personal residence by members of the Democratic Caucus and the recent protests that almost started a riot at a GDOL location, we will be cancelling the meeting scheduled for August 5, 2020 at 2 p.m.”

If you had been at the GDOL location like I was, you might have been surprised to see the approximately 50 people attending the press conference described as “protests that almost started a riot,” and no legislators have threatened Butler’s residence.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner has kept the GDOL offices closed to the public since March, and tens of thousands of unemployment claims have yet to be processed. Right next door, the Department of Drivers Services is fully open and serving the public.

I attended the Democratic Caucus-organized press conference in Gwinnett last Wednesday along with constituent Douglas Weinstein and his college-aged son, Jack. A few weeks ago, Douglas called me because he was locked out of his account due to a simple PIN issue. He called the GDOL repeatedly and couldn’t reach anyone to help. Without his unemployment benefits, he didn’t have the gas money he needed to travel to Tennessee to pick up Jack from school. Instead of getting help from GDOL, he found someone with the technical skills to find his PIN in his computer’s cache so he could access his account.

The press conference I went to last week was like many others being organized by Democrats in Georgia – peaceful and constructive. Attendees share the stress of mounting debt and the fear of pending evictions. Legislators explain how they are working hard to try to fix this mess. And the local press spreads the word.

Yet Commissioner Butler calls these rallies “a threat.”

Commissioner Butler doesn’t understand how important it is to our democracy that Georgia’s citizens are heard. He also misunderstands exactly how he is responsible when he allows thousands of phone calls from Georgia citizens to go unanswered. GDOL being overwhelmed is understandable. Being inaccessible is unconscionable.

But it’s difficult to make Commissioner Butler comprehend these issues when he cancels our conference call.

Later in the week, he released another statement to WSB-TV:

“We here at the Georgia Department of Labor are very disappointed in the actions of certain members of the Georgia State Legislature. … we implemented a process for these elected officials to forward information to our office regarding older claims.”

It isn’t working.

I worked directly with the GDOL to design the process, and I have forwarded more than one hundred claimants’ problems to the GDOL myself.

Unfortunately, despite my efforts, many of the same people are calling me back, telling me no one from GDOL ever contacted them. What other choice do I have to make the GDOL pay attention but to stand with my constituents and amplify their voices through the press?

For example, my office has been communicating with a homeless veteran for about five weeks, and we turned in his name and phone number to the GDOL. He still has no benefits, and he told me he had only $2.78 left.

But Commissioner Butler would rather duck and cover than help people like this veteran who served his country.

I called the GDOL legislative liaison and begged for someone to call this man. She said they would, but the veteran tells me his phone has not rung yet. He’s scared to even take a shower for fear he’ll miss the call.

A kind constituent heard the veteran’s story and sent him enough cash to buy food for several more weeks.

Many of you reached out to me when I shared a similar story about a single mom who only had $10 left. I followed up with her, and her benefits did finally come through, so she’s okay.

The GDOL may have abandoned Georgians in need, but we don’t have to. If you are in a position to offer a random act of kindness, like sharing some money, or delivering some meals, please fill out this form (Click here to sign up) and let us know. We will keep a log of “random act of kindness” volunteers. When my administrative assistant, Keridan Ogletree, talks to people in crisis, she’ll let me know if there’s some way you can help.

Never has it been more clear that our leadership either is incapable or unwilling to fulfill their obligations to our people during this extraordinary crisis. Georgia deserves better.


P.S. Even during these trying times, I still need to fund my re-election campaign. The Governor has threatened to call another Special Session of the legislature. If he does, the law says I can’t fund raise while in session. If you can send a contribution now, it will help hold this seat, and I can keep up the “good and necessary trouble.” My campaign relies heavily on small contributions to diminish the power of special interests. If you haven’t given yet, please consider it now! Online contributions make it easy, and every amount helps. Please give what you are able. I promise I will continue to “disappoint” our Commissioner of Labor!

Hope Isn’t Cancelled

Georgia’s Governor is running our state like an authoritarian dictatorship, and it’s not sitting well with local leaders. In a recent AJC “Power Poll”, respondents made it clear that local elected leaders should be able to protect their communities with public health ordinances that are more strict than the Governor’s orders. As Doraville City Council Member Stephe Koontz stated, “Local conditions will many times require laws that are stricter than state laws. … Let us do the job the people elected us to do!” As these voices of local leadership rise in unison, it tells me that “hope isn’t cancelled.”

 

Here’s What is Not Going Well

Our hospital ICUs are teetering on full: On June 30th, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported 1,459 active COVID-19 hospitalizations. As of July 30th, that number has more than doubled to 3,200. The AJC reported Athens and Tifton have run out of critical care beds. Another rural hospital, Southwest Georgia Regional Medical Center, has decided to close its doors. Located in the town of Cuthbert, the hospital is unable to recover from the financial blow COVID-19 brought last spring. Cuthbert is in one of the hardest hit regions of the state.

Testing struggles to meet the need: All 50 states must compete for supplies, due to the massive failure of Trump’s leadership. Public labs have been inadequately funded for years, and private labs are so backlogged results come in too late to support effective contact tracing. Georgia is testing at one-third the national average (GA: 501 per 100,000 people; National Average: 1,657 per 100,000 people).

Schools and universities are about to open: When Governor Kemp allowed summer youth camps to open last spring, he unknowingly initiated an experiment about whether children can be spreaders. After an outbreak at north Georgia YMCA camps, the CDC took note. Seventy-five percent of the YMCA campers and staff tested were positive for COVID-19. The overall rate of infection was 44%, which is an undercount, because this includes 250 for whom test results were not available.

Ambulance services may become inadequate: Over the last decade, ambulance services have been privatized. Operating on a profit motive means that medical transport companies constantly strive for a sweet spot — how few ambulances can they maintain in the fleet and still arrive in time without someone dying? Every time an ambulance is “stalled” at a hospital due to admissions delays, the overall fleet is reduced which slows response times. And the ambulance companies, instead of adding to their fleet, point fingers at the hospitals. What that means is that right now, if you need an ambulance, it might not be there for you.

 

Here’s What Can Still be Done

Be Careful: Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch recently shared some advice from a local doctor, who reported that his number of weekly patients sick with COVID-19 had risen from 5 to 30. Though patients reported having been “careful,” three situations were commonly described: 1) outside cul-de-sac gatherings; 2) dining-in at restaurants; and 3) indoor family get-togethers. Now, even more than during April and May, it’s best to restrict your contact with people outside your immediate circles.

It’s Actually Not Hopeless: As more people personally know someone who has been hospitalized due to COVID-19, it’s hopeful that more people will take the situation seriously, reduce unsafe behavior, and start wearing a mask in public.

Hospitals Can Still Add Beds: In April, the Governor’s Executive Order called for surgi-centers and scheduled/elective surgeries to be temporarily halted. Though this Order ended in May, hospitals still have the option to pull that lever, making more room for COVID-19 patients. Additionally, all hospitals have “surge plans” in place, outlining how they will add beds and staff. Finally, according to GEMA data, only about half of the state’s ventilator supply is in use.

Fight the Governor’s “Local Governments Can’t be More Restrictive” Order: As the Governor threatens to sue and silence Atlanta Mayor Bottoms over her mask mandate and other restrictions, this week the Senate and House Democrats filed an opposition brief in Fulton County Superior Court. Last March, the Georgia General Assembly voted to give Governor Kemp broad emergency powers to protect the lives of Georgians. This power can also be revoked by the legislature. Brookhaven Rep. Matthew Wilson, who is taking the lead on the House side, stated in the AJC, “The governor’s lawsuit against Atlanta’s mayor and city council does the opposite of that — it puts more Georgians directly in harm’s way, all to score a few political points.” While Democrats don’t have the votes to overturn these gubernatorial emergency powers alone, pressure from cities all over Georgia, 100 of whom have passed their own mask mandates, could potentially influence Republicans to join Democrats in revoking the Governor’s emergency powers.


* I borrowed the phrase “Hope Isn’t Cancelled” from a 5/10K “on your own” Face Mask Run that donates part of your fee to purchase a front-line worker a take-out meal. And you get a t-shirt with the “Hope Isn’t Cancelled” logo. I’m planning on doing it. How about you?

P.S. Our Fundraising Committee is working hard to ensure we have enough money in our bank account to fight off any attempts by Republicans to regain Senate 40. If you haven’t contributed yet, we still need your help! Thanks to all who have donated already.