Dear Friends, 

In person early voting has started in Georgia! I’ve been telling everyone I know to cast their vote early- it’s the single highest impact thing you can do to help Democrats win this election. 

And oh boy did you all deliver. We SHATTERED first day voter turnout records for previous years. Over 300,000 Georgians cast their ballot Tuesday. Compare that to 136,000 casting a ballot on the first day of early vote in 2020! The second day pushed us past 581,000 total for the two days!

We’ve got to keep it up. The more we can do to take the pressure off election day, the better off we are. From now through November 1, tell everyone you know to go vote early! 

DeKalb voters, you have 20 early voting sites to choose from. Remember, you can vote at any polling location in your county during early voting. If you wait until Election Day (please don’t!), you have to go to your assigned polling place or your vote may not count.

Please share this graphic, and more importantly, go vote!

Want to see VP Harris in Atlanta this Saturday? Sign up here.

In this Edition of the Draper Paper

• The SEB is still up to no good. Watch me give them a piece of my mind.

• This week's judicial rulings smackdown of the SEB

• Questions on your ballot

• Voting by Mail

• Do Something! Knock doors with me

Last week the Georgia State Election Board met yet again, the latest installment in its 2024 miniseries, “How to undermine confidence and sow chaos in the election you’re terrified of losing because you support a nutso candidate.” It’s a working title.

As you’re likely aware, they’ve been approving a number of eleventh-hour election rule changes over the strong opposition of election workers, their own attorney(!), and folks on both sides of the aisle with common sense. 

But during their meeting last week, they were up to something a little different. Specifically, they are back to throwing jabs at Fulton County and setting the stage for a potential takeover attempt. The Pitbulls passed a resolution to subpoena a mountain of Fulton’s 2020 documents for their inspection (yes, you read that right. They are still talking about the 2020 election). Fulton has already told them many of the documents are not available; when they say this again, the Pitbulls will continue with their running narrative that Fulton doesn’t cooperate and is not transparent, which they will point to as justification for whatever heavy-handed steps they try to take next.

The SEB also released a report of their sham “investigation” into whether Democratic counties were properly rejecting voter challenges. Spoiler alert– the report concluded Democratic counties were illegally and arbitrarily rejecting the voter challenges. 

The person who performed the so-called investigation, SEB Executive Director Mike Coan, admitted he didn’t understand the voter challenge laws, and didn’t even take into account relevant Federal laws, but nevertheless felt confident enough to publicly report his findings. They will use the results of this report to adopt voter challenge guidance to give to the counties, and that may inform legislation in 2025. The end goal is to remove eligible voters from the rolls.

After hearing the results of the “investigation,” I was deeply dismayed. It was clear the investigation was unprofessional, uninformed, and performative. I got to give the board my thoughts, and as you can see in the video, some of the Pitbulls did not want to hear it. What you can’t hear on the video is the heckling from the audience. These meetings are wild, and you’ve got to be there to believe it!

@votesaira

Yesterday I got to fight back against the MAGA-controlled Georgia Election Board, which has done everything in its power to sow chaos in t... See more

Can’t see the video? View it on IG.

If you follow the Draper Paper closely, you know I’ve been warning folks about the weaponization of the voter challenge statutes since December 2020, when over 320,000 Georgia voters were frivolously challenged days before the 2021 Senate runoffs. Since then, vigilante voter challengers with ties to the far right and the Trump camp have been filing mass (hundreds, sometimes even thousands at a time), frivolous challenges in heavily Democratic areas. Yet barely one percent of people called into question have been removed from the rolls.

It’s unsurprising that their challenges have been largely unsuccessful at removing voters. Challengers don’t know the voters they are challenging, so the “evidence” they provide in support of their challenges rarely meets the legal threshold to remove voters from the rolls. The challengers depend on shoddy tools like Eagle AI to generate their challenge lists, which draw from inaccurate and unverified data sources.      

But even though the challenges may not be successful, they still have a deleterious effect. Counties, usually Democratic counties since that’s where the mass challenges are being filed, expend precious and limited resources processing challenges, and challenged voters can be left feeling intimidated or as if they did something wrong.

My guess is that with the change of the State Election Board’s composition, the vigilante voter challengers got greedy. It was no longer enough to simply burden election offices and confuse voters, they wanted these folks removed from the rolls too. Rather than appealing voter challenge decisions they didn’t agree with to the Superior Court, the prescribed process for appealing voter challenge decisions (and who would want to allow both sides to provide evidence and arguments to a neutral arbitrator, anyway?) – they went to their buds at the SEB and demanded an investigation.  And unsurprisingly, the SEB obliged, producing this sham report within days of the request.

There’s nothing normal about the influence election deniers and conspiracy theorists are exerting on our State Election Board right now. Keep paying attention and calling it out! And keep calling out the “mainstream” elected leaders who are just allowing this to happen on their watch (ahem, Governor Kemp).

I expect there will be one more SEB meeting before Election Day.  I’ll be sure to put out the word once that meeting is announced.

When you go to vote, you’ll see at least three ballot questions on your ballot. I’ve been getting a lot of questions on these, so here are my thoughts (these aren’t straightforward!). 

Proposed Constitutional Amendment 1

What you'll see on the ballot:

Provides for a general law state-wide homestead exemption that may differentiate among political subdivisions. (House Resolution no 1022). Ga. L. 2024, p. 1191

 "Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to authorize the General Assembly to provide by general law for a state-wide homestead exemption that serves to limit increases in the assessed value of homesteads, but which any county, consolidated government, municipality, or local school system may opt out of upon the completion of certain procedures?"

The first proposed amendment would cap the amount that property assessments can increase over time and could make the approach to taxes more uniform across the state.  Counties could opt out, but would need to follow some pretty complex procedures. The impact would depend in part on how counties/municipalities made up revenue if they needed it (there is reluctance to raise tax rates, so they might implement additional sales taxes–which are generally more regressive than property taxes).  Got it?  There are pros and cons–which is why I supported the resolution during session but I am now recommending (and planning) a “no” vote.  

Proposed Constitutional Amendment 2

What you’ll see on the ballot:

Provides for a state-wide Georgia Tax Court. House Resolution No. 598. Ga. L. 2024. p. 1189

"Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide for the Georgia Tax Court to be vested with the judicial power of the state and to have venue, judges, and jurisdiction concurrent with superior courts?"

The second statewide referendum to create a statewide Georgia Tax Court which means the current "tax tribunal" would move from the executive branch of government to the judicial branch. The tax court, like the tax tribunal, would hear such things as challenges to denials of state tax refunds or tax assessments.

Advocates explain that this is really an operational change that puts tax court appeals in the hands of a court with appropriate tax law expertise and familiarity with the appeals process.  This resolution passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate; I voted to support this measure and recommend a “yes” vote.     

Proposed Statewide Referendum Question

What you'll see on the ballot:

Raises the amount of tangible personal property tax exemption from $7,500 to $20,000. House Bill No. 808. Act No. 581 GA. L. 2024, p 696

 “Do you approve the Act that increases an exemption from property tax for all tangible personal property from $7,500.00 to $20,000.00?”

The referendum question would increase the exemption on personal property, which includes business inventory and farm machinery, from $7,500 to $20,000. It would not apply to cars, trailers or motor homes.  Advocates explain that the personal property tax can be a burden for small businesses, but the bill would allow the exemption for luxury yachts too. I voted against the measure because I believe efforts to reduce tax burden should be focused on those for whom that burden is greatest and recommend a “no” vote.

And of course, don’t forget to vote all the way down the ballot! There are important City Council races (for those of you within Atlanta City boundaries–some information about those candidates here) and Dekalb County Races (some info here on the candidates for District 3). You can watch the District 3 candidate forum here (sound is a little wonky) and the Dekalb Dem Candidate forum here.

If you’re voting absentee, please return your ballot as soon as you can. While you can mail it in, I STRONGLY encourage you to drop it off in person. DeKalb voters can return their ballots at ANY early voting location (please note, this is a county by county decision). 

And remember, even if you requested an absentee ballot, you still have the option to vote early in person. Just let the clerk know you’d like to cancel your mail in ballot when you go vote. I recommend voting in person if you can.

For any concerns about voting, remember the voter protection hotline is there to help (888-730-5816). 

When Michelle Obama gives instructions, we should all listen!

Come knock doors with us this weekend! Conversations with voters really make a difference. A lot of people don’t know where to go to vote early– and your conversation gives them the tools they need. 

If you’ve been on the fence about joining us, the time to join is NOW!  We train you, partner you up if you want a buddy, and give you all the materials you need.  All you need to do is sign up and show up.  

We meet in Candler Park every Saturday at 10 am and every Sunday at 1 pm. We won’t send you too far– which means you can knock doors with us and still get back to your weekend plans.

Sign up at HD90 Canvass Launch · Democratic Party of Georgia (mobilize.us)

Yours in service,