| Get informed: Check out our interactive voter guide for the May 21 primary. |
| Welcome to the first edition of Atlanta Civic Circle’s Democracy Digest. To kick things off, we’ve partnered with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to launch an interactive voter guide for the May 21 general primary election. Early voting just started yesterday. This primary is for all races other than the U.S. president, which was March 12. We contacted over 800 candidates – for races ranging from Congress to judges and local elected offices – to get their stances on key issues. That includes a Georgia Supreme Court race with a contested seat for the first time in decades. ⇒ Find out who is on your ballot and how they responded to our candidate questionnaires. Just enter your address and choose whether you want a Republican, Democratic or nonpartisan ballot. Build my ballot |
| Find your county’s early voting locations |
| Early voting for the general primary will continue through May 17. Registered voters may cast a ballot at any early voting location in their county. On election day, May 21, you must vote at your local polling place. If you want to use an absentee ballot, you have until May 10 to request one from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office. Use these links to see where and when you can vote early in the five-county metro Atlanta area: –Fulton County –DeKalb County –Cobb County –Gwinnett County –Clayton County You can also check the Secretary of State’s website to search for early voting locations by county for the May 21 primary. |
| Watch candidate debates for hotly contested races |
| If you missed the Atlanta Press Club’s Loudermilk-Young debates on Sunday, you can watch the replays online from APC media partner Georgia Public Broadcasting. The debates included four hotly contested Congressional seats, which have attracted quite a few challengers due to redistricting. There are also candidate debates for the DeKalb County CEO race and a contested Georgia Supreme Court seat – where challenger John Barrow (a former Democratic congressman for Athens) debated an empty podium because incumbent Georgia Supreme Court Judge Andrew Pinson, appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp, did not show. Similarly, incumbent Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis left her challenger, Christian Wise Smith, alone on stage. |
| Democracy news: Emory campus protest sparks debate over free speech rights |
| The pro-Palestine campus activism that started at New York’s Columbia University just under two weeks ago has quickly spread across the country, as students demand that their universities divest from Israel over its war in Gaza. That has ignited debates around anti-semitism, Islamophobia, the U.S. government’s support of the war and the staggering humanitarian crisis it has caused for Gaza. When pro-Palestine student activists at Emory University last week tried to occupy their quad, the administration called in the cavalry. The Atlanta Police Department and Georgia State Patrol used tear gas and pepper balls to disperse the fledgling encampment and arrested 28 people. Twenty were from Emory — three of whom are professors. Emory’s College of Arts and Sciences faculty quickly rebuked the university administration for its heavy-handed policing tactics against students. That faculty is slated to hold a no-confidence vote against the university’s president, Gregory Fenves, by the end of the week. University administrators’ quick move to call in the state patrol at Emory – and again yesterday morning at the University of Georgia in Athens – sparked an outcry over campus free speech. A number of Democratic state lawmakers sharply questioned the Emory administration’s decision to call in law enforcement to forcibly disperse and arrest students, signing an open letter last week calling on state officials to de-escalate. Meanwhile, Georgia’s Republican Attorney General Chris Carr lauded the Georgia State Patrol and local university police forces yesterday for taking swift action against demonstrators: “We’re not New York or California – we won’t stand by while people illegally occupy our schools and threaten and intimidate our students,” he said. |
 Note to our readers: As voting kicks off for the May 21 general primary, Atlanta Civic Circle is finding out what local voters care about in the upcoming elections. Want to share your thoughts? Contact our Democracy reporter, Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon, at alessandro@atlantaciviccircle.org. |
 VOTER PROFILE: CHRIS RODENBAUGH Age: 35 Occupation: Works at an education non-profit Neighborhood: Boulevard Heights Political affiliation: Democrat, “but I’m open.” |
| Are you voting in the May 21 primary? Definitely. How about the November general election? Definitely. Is there a stronger word than that? What’s one thing you wish elected officials understood about your life? I live in a single family home, but I want more density and non-vehicle transit options for my neighborhood. I have a “Beltline Rail Now” sign in my yard – I am following that closely. And I am kind of amazed at how little progress we’ve made as a city in trying to have even just duplexes or ADU’s [accessory dwelling units]. I’m looking for somebody who is really thinking about equity when approving development projects, ensuring we’re building affordable housing … and that we don’t have things like parking minimums and zoning restrictions preventing smart growth in our city. So are urbanization issues the most important for you? In local elections, yes. What other issues do you care about? I still need to do research on the judicial races. I know that the judge [McAfee] overseeing the [Trump] election interference trial is on the ballot – and that [Georgia Gov. Brian] Kemp appointed him. Yet, I feel that he has managed the trial with a fair hand. Ultimately, I care more about people that are carrying on democratic norms and protecting our institutions than partisan politics. So I’m open as a voter there. I haven’t done my research yet for sheriff. [Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat has attracted three challengers -Ed.] But I’m really concerned that violence at the [Fulton County] jail is in the news on a regular basis – and I’m getting mailers talking about fixing the problem from someone who is currently in charge of it. |