Month: March 2019

Georgia’s voting system reform efforts will go beyond the ballot.

State legislators held committee hearings this week on House Bill 316, which will ultimately lead to the replacement of our outdated touch-screen voting machines. Much of the debate focused on how Georgians will cast votes — via a new touch-screen device or a hand-marked paper ticket.

But just as encouraging as the ballot discourse was the inclusion of several other important voting system updates in the bill. Those improvements include changes to how the Secretary of State’s office purges voter rolls and how county election officials close or relocate voting precincts and handle absentee ballots.

The bill also calls for Georgia to enroll in a multi-state voter registration database, known as the Electronic Registration Information Center or ERIC, to help identify voters who move out of state or die between elections. ERIC is a state-funded nonprofit organization founded with assistance from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

These initiatives address many of the issues that turned the November 2018 election into a bare-knuckle brawl regarding voter suppression — a dispute that attracted national attention.

Georgia saw a record number of voters cast midterm ballots, but the top-of-the-ticket race between then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams, a staunch voting rights activist, exposed many shortcomings and irregularities in the voting system.

This editorial board called on the Georgia General Assembly to consider widespread reforms on issues, such as voter registration, voter rolls, precincts and election oversight immediately following the midterm. Many of the changes were simple and straightforward and aimed at cleaning up the system with a pragmatic, rather than a partisan, eye.

House Bill 316 does just that. The bill is a work in progress, and we applaud legislators for including these provisions in the initial draft and encourage them to retain and perhaps expand on them as the bill moves forward.

Political ‘sweeteners’

The package that will eventually reach Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature won’t read like the bill as it exists today.

The voting system provisions are likely to remain intact, however, as they act as concessions by the majority party, the Republicans, to gain support from Democratic lawmakers on the broader initiative. To use legislative slang, the sidebar updates are “sweeteners” meant to ease passage of the touch-screen ballot-marking machines favored by the GOP leadership.

All the sweeteners were cherry-picked from bills authored, sponsored and filed earlier this session by Democratic lawmakers. Leaders from both parties, including Speaker pro tem Jan Jones (R-Milton), House Majority Leader Jon Burns (R-Newington) and House Minority Leader Bob Trammell (D-Luthersville), signed off on the larger bill.

HB 316′s author, Rep. Barry Fleming (R-Harlem), opened this week’s committee hearings by saying, “The bill before you is somewhat a bipartisan effort.”

So expect the sweeteners to stay.

Common-sense measures

Politics aside, the proposed changes significantly improve the system.

The purge process updates will have a statewide impact. Under the current statute, registered voters who fail to cast ballots in two consecutive federal elections can be dropped from the rolls. Voters who regularly skip midterm elections — of which there are many — can be purged should they miss just one presidential election.

HB 316 would extend the grace period from two elections, or three years, to three elections and five years.

As for precinct changes, local governments would be required to give 30-day public notice ahead of shuttering or moving polling locations and would be prohibited from doing so within 60 days of a primary or general election.

This move would prevent situations like the one Randolph County voters faced last year. County officials closed seven of Randolph’s nine precincts last fall, citing Americans with Disabilities Act compliance issues with the shut polling locations.

Another point of focus is the handling of absentee ballots and Georgia’s so-called “exact match” standard. Exact match requires that voter registration data, including signatures, on file match the info presented at the polls.

For those who vote in person, any irregularity can be easily addressed at the precinct. But absentee ballots with matching issues can be rejected. One county, Gwinnett in Atlanta’s suburbs, rejected 10 percent of absentee ballots.

Under HB 316, mismatches would trigger the automatic mailing of a provisional ballot to the voter, a record that would be counted once the voter’s ID is verified.

These common-sense measures will strengthen the integrity of the state’s voting system. We encourage all Georgians to encourage their legislators to adopt these changes.

Skidaway is poised to secede from the sovereign state of Chatham.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a resolution Friday that will put the creation of the city of Skidaway Island on the voter ballot. The referendum will be decided in a March 19 special election.

Should the item pass, Skidaway would become the first new Chatham County municipality since 1974, when Bloomingdale residents opted for cityhood. The next most recent incorporations happened in 1957 in Port Wentworth and 1939 in Garden City.

Should Skidaway incorporate, don’t expect nearly two decades to elapse before the next new local municipality goes up for vote.

Skidaway is the litmus strip. The city charter blessed by the legislature allows residents to keep their Stephens-Day property tax exemptions, one of the main sticking points for those feeling uneasy about incorporation.

The House approved the bill, complete with the Stephens-Day language, by a 164-1 vote; the Senate passed it 43-4. Blocking future new city charters, such as one for the proposed Chatham Islands, based on the property tax exemption will be difficult.

With that hurdle removed, incorporation efforts could very well sweep the county. The debate will be fierce on the far side of the Skidaway Narrows over the next five weeks. After election day, the incorporation discussion will be just as intense off island.

Unwarranted fears driving debate

The larger impact is one reason why we encourage open, earnest discourse regarding Skidaway incorporation.

The Skidaway push began for a valid reason — the federal government’s unresponsiveness to storm debris cleanup following Hurricane Matthew.

The dialogue has mutated since. Many proponents are motivated by unwarranted fears of annexation or consolidation. Residents can veto annexation directly, while leaders at the state and local levels have rejected the notion of consolidating the city and county governments.

Yet angst over what might happen continues to drive conversations on Skidaway and beyond. And that’s a disservice to all, especially with so many legitimate considerations.

The Chatham County Commission is currently tasked with governance of Skidaway and the county’s many other unincorporated areas. Residents are designated as living in a “special services district” and are taxed to pay for infrastructure maintenance and improvements, county police and recorder’s court services.

Other services provided by municipal governments elsewhere, such as fire protection and garbage pickup and recycling, are privatized. Hence, unincorporated residents pay low taxes.

The question for Skidaway residents — and for others in the unincorporated areas in the future — is simple: Are you satisfied with the return on your special services district tax investment?

If not, would a smaller, municipal government do better? And at what cost?

Discuss incorporation realities

Those considering incorporation are largely worried about the wrong “what if?”

The concern shouldn’t be annexation or consolidation, but instead about the consequences of fluctuating tax revenues.

Much of the unincorporated areas, including Skidaway and the Chatham Islands, are dominated by residential properties. The locales have little land available for new commercial or industrial development. The tax digest in those neighborhoods is largely dependent on residential property values.

Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of homeowners pay property taxes based on a frozen value — that’s what Stephens-Day does.

That’s the catch with Stephens-Day. As long as you are in an area with growth potential, new development can offset cost increases. The less opportunity for growth, though, the less flexibility a government has in making up revenue shortfalls.

In most instances, the choice is cut services or raise the millage rate. And the smaller the municipality, the greater the pressure.

Likewise, the relatively small number of businesses in those areas means less leverage when it comes to sales tax revenue negotiations.

All that said, small, well-run entity can operate with incredible efficiency. A small municipality can set priorities and adjust to changing conditions much more easily than a larger government. Self-rule is attractive in that way.

Pragmatic conversations about these realities of incorporation should be the pre-election focus on Skidaway. The same goes for the other unincorporated pockets of Chatham County.

Let’s remember, too, that what’s right for one area is not necessarily the answer everywhere. Success or failure on Skidaway, with its many private roads and where a quasi-governing body already exists, should not boon or doom incorporation efforts somewhere else.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp recently expressed his opposition to drilling off our coast, citing concerns about the state’s tourism industry as well as Georgia’s military.

Kemp’s stand brings the governor’s office in line with the Georgia General Assembly. Legislators considered resolutions last year protesting the federal government’s plans to open up the U.S. East Coast to seismic testing and energy exploration. Yet Kemp’s predecessor, Gov. Nathan Deal, declined to take a position on the issue, and the resolutions failed to garner widespread support.

Kemp followed through on a campaign pledge to oppose drilling off the Georgia coast. Emboldened by Kemp’s stance, a dozen legislators gathered at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta last week to underscore the importance of passing anti-drilling legislation in the Georgia House and Senate.

Rep. Carl Gilliard (D-District 162) reintroduced the 2018 resolution. The Resolution to Oppose Offshore Oil & Gas Exploration discourages seismic testing and oil and gas drilling off of Georgia’s coast. The bill has been assigned to the House Natural Resources and the Environment committee.

“Why do we want to stand against offshore drilling?” Gilliard asked. “Because of the economic support that we have for the many jobs our coast creates.”

Sen. Lester Jackson (D-District 1) along with Golden Isles legislators, Rep. Don Hogan (R-St. Simons Island) and Sen. William Ligon (R-Brunswick), agreed, emphasizing the fact that protecting Georgia’s coast is not a partisan issue.

“This is a Georgia issue,” said Jackson, who reintroduced anti-drilling legislation in the Senate. “So that’s why you see with me bipartisan support — Democrats and Republicans from all facets of Georgia.”

Our shoreline is home to winding estuaries, tidal saltmarshes and wide-open ocean that provide a vital habitat for a wide range of species, from shrimp to North Atlantic Right Whales. Our coast is directly connected to 23,000 jobs and approximately $1.3 billion in economic impact, from dolphin tours on River Street to seafood restaurants on Tybee Island.

We continue to support efforts to oppose seismic testing and other energy exploration off Georgia’s coast.

Learning from BP Deepwater Horizon

Offshore drilling runs the risk of damaging or even destroying Georgia’s coastal ecosystem.

The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 affected up to 1,300 miles of coastline in Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. Widely considered one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history, the BP spill released an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude oil, making it the largest marine oil spill ever.

The disaster and subsequent cleanup efforts, which included toxic chemicals, had significant, long-term effects on the environment and virtually shut down the tourism industry in surrounding states. A 2014 study published in the journal Science indicated that toxins released by the oil spill killed fish by inducing cardiac arrest. Additional studies found extensive deformities in sea life across the region, including fish with lesions, shrimp without eyes and crabs without claws.

In 2016, a research team reported that 88 percent baby or stillborn dolphins within the spill area had abnormal or under-developed lungs, compared to 15 percent in other areas. A 2012 study of sand on contaminated beaches and marshes found that the volume of organisms that are low on the food chain dropped dramatically since the spill. Further impacts on the marine environment is still largely unknown.

Across the Gulf Coast, tourism took a major hit, with many people cancelling trips to the impacted coastal areas. In Louisiana alone, visitor spending dropped by $247 million in the wake of the BP oil spill.

Balancing energy needs and quality of life

President Donald Trump is a major proponent of offshore drilling off the coast of the continental U.S. However, it’s critical to balance America’s energy needs with our quality of life here in coastal Georgia. It’s not worth threatening our thriving coastal economy, which is supported by tourism, the seafood industry and a healthy marine ecosystem.

Fortunately, our state and local legislators understand the importance of protecting Georgia’s coast. Let’s support their efforts to pass state legislation ensuring the long-term health of Georgia’s coastal ecosystem.

The future economic health of our region may very well depend upon it.