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Election focus group (pt. 1): Democracy faces challenges, but optimism remains strong
E-Team_Preserving Democracy (Credit: Brittney Phan for State Affairs
The Jan. 6, 2021 siege on the U.S. Capitol may have been a litmus test for our country moving forward but it’s not the defining moment for American democracy, according to State Affairs’ latest conversation with its 10-member election focus group.
The political maelstrom of the past two years is so much more complex, they say. Nonetheless, those like Steve Brown who’ve lived through previous political turmoil, say we’ll get through it.
“We’ve seen hard times before,’ said Brown, who admits he’s leery about the digital age —and the ensuing vulnerabilities that bring us to today’s elections.
With the midterms less than two weeks away, we asked the group to weigh in not only on their concerns about the voting process but their concerns about U.S. democracy and preserving its principles.
Here’s what five of the group members had to say. Part 2, featuring the rest of the group’s comments, will be published Thursday.
Yana Batra, 18, Democrat and Georgia Tech freshman; first time voter
Do you have concerns about democracy?
I do. There is a concerted attempt to dilute the ability of voters to directly elect their representatives. A lot of rhetoric being falsely pushed about things like voter fraud, and a lot of attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election are really concerning, and are really convincing folks that their vote doesn’t matter or that the outcome of an election is wrong if their candidate says so. All of that is deeply concerning and threatening to democracy.
Furthermore, that directly ties in with a lot of the attacks we’re seeing on public education lately. Public education is a cornerstone of democracy. Public education was originally created in order to help newly-freed slaves integrate into society and actually become full-fledged American citizens. Only through an informed electorate can we actually have representative democracy. So I think on a lot of different fronts, democracy is definitely being attacked right now.
What does preserving democracy mean to you?
Preserving democracy means ensuring that each new generation of voters knows their vote is fairly cast and fairly representative. It means Congress strengthening voter protection acts in order to give state courts and the federal court the ability to actually strike down voter suppression legislation like we’re seeing. It means revisiting things like the Electoral College to ensure that every American is fairly represented, and that certain areas of voters still have outsized representation and cutting down on gerrymandering, especially racial gerrymandering. All of that goes to show just how many facets of American democracy is incredibly weakened right now and how many steps need to be taken to fix it. It takes a concerted effort.
How confident are you in the election process?
I am extremely confident insofar as the security of elections. Voter fraud is such an incredible non issue. We haven’t seen any suggestion that there’s fraudulent votes being cast in any of these elections that we’ve had recently.
That said, I think the integrity of elections [is called into question] when you look at Georgia’s [Senate Bill] 202 legislation or when 60,000 voters in Virginia were directed to the wrong polling place, and are therefore going to have a much harder time tracking their vote.
So the fact is that voters are being directed to the wrong precincts. And voters, especially black voters, are being stricken from voter registration lists for minor reasons. [These] Voter suppression tactics do make me think that the integrity of elections as a way to determine the will of a body of people is definitely less than it should be.
Steve Brown, 58, Republican lives in Peachtree City with his wife; empty-nester
Do you have concerns about democracy?
We’ve seen hard times before. As a child of the 60s, we had some subversive groups that tried to do things with the government. There was violence and there were various other things. We got through that. So from a historical perspective, I don’t really see it.
One thing that does bother me though is when you look at these polls of high school and college-age young people. The results will really open your eyes when they say socialism and communism might be a better way to go. They admire the Communist Chinese government as a possible model to follow. It’s really eye-opening.
I would guarantee you the majority of them couldn’t tell you the horrors of the era of the Mao Tse Tung leadership. All they see is what they see today and that’s unnerving. They can pull you out of your house overnight and your family never sees you again and that’s the end of it.
From a future perspective, eventually things change. My daughter had all these grandiose thoughts about how things work until she had to get into the work world and pay taxes and she saw how much money was going to taxes.Then she kind of changed her mind a little bit.
What does preserving democracy mean to you?
The only way we actually preserve democracy is we have a government that’s worthy of democracy and that’s primarily on the federal level. But, you have to have people in those federal government positions who respect the Constitution, who see the value in having a republican democracy, and are willing to make good decisions rather than the self-interested ones.
Unfortunately, I would dare say probably since the Carter administration, may even before that, you’ve had senators and congressmen of both stripes making moves in the stock market and doing everything else in their own self interest. That’s why they’re all multimillionaires working a job that pays $200-something-thousand a year.
How confident are you in the election process?
We have got to be careful. Any digital device can be hacked. You have to have things in place. Security measures and whatnot to ensure that that doesn’t happen. That’s one of the dangers of handling elections through digital means.
There are certain governments that still do what we did traditionally in terms of the way we voted, and that’s paper ballots. I’m getting a little worried that some states are getting loose with it. Some states are allowing illegal aliens to vote in their local elections. I think that’s incredibly dangerous. It doesn’t bode well for the tax-paying legal citizens in those jurisdictions. But the digital format is the most dangerous format.
They had a commission [Federal Election Reform] on voting [in 2004]. It was [former president] Jimmy Carter and [former Secretary of State James A.] Baker [III]. They had actually said mail-in ballots were — at that time you didn’t have digital voting — were the most dangerous. Well, of course, what’s the bulk of our voting now? Looks like it’s mail-in and digital. So, you know, there’s always room for concern. And there are people who want to disrupt things. There will always be people who have these malevolent thoughts about what they can do to destroy things we hold dear. That’s a bad combination. You’ve got things that can be hacked easily and then you’ve got people who want to do it. So we should always be on our guard. Unfortunately, what we saw in the last election is you got people who now distrust the people who are conducting the election, and it used to be a sacred process.
Kendall Edwards, 28, farmer and precision agriculture consultant for a local tractor dealership; lives in Oscilla; single
Do you have concerns about democracy?
I don’t know that it’s just democracy as much as it’s society as a whole and the way the world is now compared to 10, 20 years ago.
I don’t see how we got to a place where both sides are just pinned up and there’s no middle ground. It’s either Republican or Democrat. There’s no in-between. It’s just not how the world is in all actuality. It’s not Republican or Democrat. There’s always a middle ground somewhere.
It’s been this way since the back end of the Obama administration’s last term. You started to see this really pinned-up Republican/Democrat kind of politics where there was no middle ground. There was no working together for the good of the American people.
Then it was amplified when the Trump administration was there in ways that I wouldn’t have thought it would have got to. We’re at a no-turning-back point.
Here in Ocilla where I live, I’ve been pushed to get into politics and I love it. I enjoy politics and the beauty in it. But if you’re going to be a good politician, you’re not going to be a politician for long. If you’re someone who’s actually working for the benefit of all, not just one side, or if you’re actually looking at this thing as a two-way street not a one-way avenue, you’re not going to be a politician for long. And that’s where we’re at now.
I’m not going to say democracy is completely lost because we still have the right to vote. We still have our government in ways you’ll have to answer to us all. Although the government isn’t answering as much to the American people because the American people are so divided in the message they’re sending to the politicians and what they want and what they are willing to accept compared to what they’re not willing to accept. So that is completely divided in a way that the American people don’t have any control now. We’re completely run by the government because of our division which [the government] incited. So I don’t think we’re lost completely but it is definitely a different look.
What does preserving democracy mean to you?
People see people as people and not as a party and being open-minded as we deal with politics, whether that’s from a politician’s standpoint or a voter’s standpoint. Being able to say, ‘Hey, that isn’t exactly the way I see it but it’s not wrong.’
How confident are you in the election process?
I feel pretty comfortable that the person I vote for is the person getting my vote.
Keith McCants, 40, Democrat and factory worker married with three children; lives in Richmond Hill
Do you have concerns about democracy?
Yeah, I do. Given what happened on January 6, I think there’s a real possibility that it could happen again, especially if you look at who’s being elected. You’ve got some of the most extreme radical politicians, mostly Republican politicians, that have been elected nowadays. So, given that and everything else that’s going on, yes, I’m very concerned. Ever since the 2020 election where there were lies being told about the election being stolen and about how Donald Trump wanted to be a strong man. And you have an entire party that’s pretty much falling in lock-step with him and they really haven’t disassociated themselves from him. So yes, I’m concerned about the state of our democracy in the United States. It’s something I’m keeping an eye on.
What does preserving democracy mean to you?
It means we all can live free. We all can live fair. We have freedoms here that most countries do not have. And with democracy being under a microscope I don’t want to see our rights go by the wayside because of a few bad actors who feel like things aren’t going their way.
We don’t need to keep electing these extremists like [U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 14th District] Majorie Taylor Green and the congresswoman in Colorado, Laura Boebert. We can’t afford to elect these extremists. We should prevent them from taking office and giving them a platform. That’s one way we can preserve and protect our democracy.
How confident are you in the election process?
Despite everything that’s being said and what’s been going on, I think our election process is going to be okay. There’s some things that kind of raise my eyebrows, like you can be charged with misdemeanors. Here in Georgia, for example, if you give someone a bottle of water you could be charged with a misdemeanor. That’s just a way to discourage voters. You’re going to have a few who are going to challenge election results or people who are voting but overall I think our process is going to be fine.
Marla Thompson, 65, married college professor who lives in Riverdale; registered Democrat but votes according to issue
Do you have concerns about democracy?
Yes. People might think living in an autocratic society is the way to go as long as they are the ones in control. Removing minority voters off the rolls without justification is one of my concerns.
Members of the GOP have been proven to lie, cheat or sell their firstborn just to gain or maintain power. Election deniers have already said if they don’t win, they will challenge and not certify the results.
Finally, there is a disinformation campaign that is front and center. You don’t know what to believe. Some people believe what they hear without doing their own research. Misinformation is a threat to democracy. Those are my concerns.
What does preserving democracy mean to you?
Every tax-paying, legal citizen is given a fair opportunity to participate in the democratic process, which means equal access to voting, jobs, promotions, housing, education and the United States’ financial system, without reprisal or being excluded because of their skin tone, race, gender, religion, personal beliefs, socioeconomic status, or their zip code.
[Having] the ability to make a choice about their health care, without government intervention. The ability to love who they choose to love. The ability for me and my family and folks who look like me to walk out of their front doors, sit at a restaurant, get any and all services we can afford, or drive without being harassed because I look different than the person in authority. The ability to be free, without fear of intimidation, or the ability to live like white people in this country. Wouldn’t that be a novel idea? Or the ability to be who I am if I decided to be an LGBTQ person.
How confident are you in the election process?
I’m a little more confident in 2022 than I was in the last governor’s election because the current governor was running for the position and he was the secretary of state controlling the levers of democracy and deciding who would win.
I am concerned about voter suppression, more so this year than previously because Dominion, the voting machine makers, are suing the previous [Trump] administration who alleged that the machines were manipulated with absolutely no proof.
It was proven that the last voting period was the most secure in years yet the Georgia Secretary of State imposed the most restrictive laws in the country, limiting people from voting, cutting down on the number of drop boxes, leaving the drop boxes in a building and the building closes at 5 o’clock. And arresting people if they give somebody standing in line a refreshment or some water.
Last year, we had 21 voting locations in the area where I live. They’re down to nine. And seniors and limited ambulatory people who may not be able to get to the polls or walk up the stairs to the polls, have to go through three or four more steps than last year if they want to get an absentee vote and mail-in ballot.
The microscope is on Georgia and everyone is watching.
Want to participate in the conversation? Share your thoughts on social media:
Twitter @StateAffairsGA
Facebook @StateAffairsUS
LinkedIn @State Affairs
Contact Tammy Joyner at [email protected] or on Twitter @lvjoyner.
Catch-up with our E-Team:
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GEORGIA VOTES: INFLATION REMAINS TOP OF MIND FOR GEORGIANS (PT. 2)
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ELECTION FOCUS GROUP: ON HEALTH CARE COSTS, MEDICAID EXPANSION AND ABORTION RIGHTS (PT. 2)
ELECTION FOCUS GROUP (PT. 2): DEMOCRACY FACES CHALLENGES, BUT OPTIMISM REMAINS STRONG
CONCERNS OVER CRIME CRITICAL IN MIDTERMS FOR ELECTION FOCUS GROUP (PT. 1)
CONCERNS OVER CRIME CRITICAL IN MIDTERMS (PT 2): ELECTION FOCUS GROUP
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Latest Stories
‘It is nothing short of insane:’ Bill to criminalize squatting signed by governor
ATLANTA — Today Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation criminalizing squatting, the illegal practice of entering and residing on someone else’s property without their consent.
The Georgia Squatter Reform Act makes squatting a misdemeanor criminal offense, punishable by up to a year in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both. It also speeds up the timeline to evict a squatter, giving landlords and law enforcement more tools to establish that someone is trespassing and to demand that they leave.
“It is nothing short of insane that there are some who are entering other people’s homes and claiming them as their own,” Kemp said in a post on X after signing the bill at the state Capitol. “Thanks to our legislative partners, I was proud to sign HB 1017 — once again making it clear that illegal squatters are criminals, not residents.”
Over the past few years, squatting has become more prevalent in Georgia, with trespassers breaking into vacant homes, claiming tenancy and refusing to leave.
A 2023 survey of institutional investors in single-family rental homes who are members of the National Rental Home Council found there were 1,200 illegally-occupied homes in and around Atlanta. Realtors told State Affairs they’ve encountered squatters in homes for sale and rent in Gainesville, Valdosta and Albany.
Until now, law enforcement in many jurisdictions treated the issue as a civil matter, telling property owners to file eviction actions in court, which could take months or even years to resolve.
The new law directs local law enforcement to issue citations and arrest people accused of squatting if they don’t provide a valid lease or proof of payment within three days. If they do produce such documents, it moves eviction proceedings to magistrate courts, and requires cases to be heard within seven business days after filing.
If the judge deems documents they present to be forged or fake, those accused of squatting could be charged with a felony. And judges can impose more fines based on the fair market value of rent that landlords lose.
On hand in the governor’s office for the signing was Rep. Devan Seabaugh, R-Marietta, the lead sponsor of the bill.
“Currently in Georgia law, we’re giving squatters tenant rights,” Seabaugh previously told State Affairs. “And my bill would take that away. It basically says, ‘You’re an intruder, you’re a criminal, and we’re going to treat you like a criminal.’ ”
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State troopers are stretched to fight drugs and curb highway deaths
ATLANTA — When Cpl. Anthony Munoz straps on his bullet-proof vest each day and pulls out of the Department of Public Safety headquarters in Atlanta, Munoz never knows how his shift will unfold. What is for certain is that the traffic — of cars, criminals and contraband — is constant.
And what is also true is that there are not nearly enough state troopers on the road to catch them all.
A 13-year veteran, trooper Munoz, 45, is part of the department’s Criminal Interdiction Unit, whose main focus is suppressing the robust illegal drug trade flowing through Georgia. Last year the eight-member team made 1,309 arrests, including 76 felony drug arrests, and helped other agencies seize $24 million worth of contraband.
In 2019, the unit had 25 members.
Capt. Greg Shackleford, the troop commander, said that in 2020 the unit was split up and half the team was sent to Georgia State Patrol posts around the state, which were hurting for staff, to conduct the Department of Public Safety’s core functions — traffic enforcement and responding to car crashes.
The split has translated into Munoz and the rest of his team now spending most of their time monitoring Interstate 20 just south of Atlanta, and Interstate 75/85 west of the city. He said they regularly support the investigations and busts of other local and federal agencies, and frequently join the governor’s crime suppression details, which have included taking down car thieves and street racers.
All this leaves his team with less time to develop intelligence on their own drug cases and to snare more traffickers. It also means the troopers no longer have time to monitor roads in rural areas in south Georgia where, Shackleford said, many drug traffickers driving trailers full of drugs and contraband enter the state on highways coming from Florida and Texas and now ride around unchecked for hundreds of miles.
Chronically understaffed
The Georgia State Patrol remains chronically understaffed. While the state’s population has grown, and with it the number of motorists, car crashes and criminal activity, the number of state troopers has hovered stubbornly between about 750 and 850 for over a decade, giving Georgia the unwanted distinction of having lowest number of troopers per capita in the country.
The average number of state troopers per capita in the U.S. is 21; for Georgia, it’s eight. And the outlook for changing that is not great, Col. William “Billy” Hitchens, the public safety commissioner, told legislators during hearings last fall — Unless the state makes bold moves in improving compensation. He said Georgia State Patrol has “aimed to reach 1,000 troopers for as long as I have been employed,” which is 30 years.
The state saw its trooper numbers plummet to 745 during the pandemic in 2021. The agency is now back to 845 troopers. The current trooper school started with 61 candidates, and if recent history is a guide, about 70% will graduate in September and put on the badge.
While “things are moving in the right direction” this year in terms of recruitment, said Hitchens, he said too many veteran officers are either resigning or retiring early.
Between 2018 and 2023, 48 troopers left the agency on a full-service retirement, meaning they had served for 30 years. During the same period, 341 troopers resigned, retired early or departed for other reasons. As it costs the department $153,397 to train a trooper, those who left early cost the state $52 million, said Lt. Col. Josh Lamb, director of administrative services for the Department of Public Safety.
Fewer troopers means more highway deaths
Fewer troopers on the state’s roads impact everyone, say law enforcement officials. .
“As our trooper strength decreases, traffic fatalities increase,” said Hitchens.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data shows a direct inverse relationship between trooper staffing and the number of fatalities in Georgia. At its low ebb in 2021, with 769 troopers, 1,925 people died on Georgia roads. More recently, in 2023, with 820 troopers, Georgia saw 1,647 fatalities, an 8% decrease over 2022.
“We are concerned with traffic patterns, the way people drive, and we enforce the law out there,” Hitchens told State Affairs. “When you start losing personnel, whether it’s the state, or cities and counties, one of the first things that may be taken away is traffic enforcement. Because they’re responding to other calls — robberies, domestics, you name it. And when troopers stop doing it, there are just fewer people out there reminding you, ‘Hey, that’s dangerous. Slow down.’ ”
The state patrol wrote 408,574 citations to motorists last year, but issued even more warnings — 510,265. Hitchens noted that mere trooper presence on the highway is a strong deterrent.
“It doesn’t have to be you that gets stopped,” he said. “Those 50 cars that ride by during that time and see that patrol car, go ‘Ooh, I don’t have my seatbelt on … I’m playing with my phone,’ and it just impacts that behavior. But the less officers you see on the road, the less you have people changing their driving behavior.”
Along with encouraging safer driving, DUI enforcement has become a higher priority for the department. A “Nighthawks” squad of 22 officers patrols after midnight in areas of the state where data analysis shows high incidences of alcohol and drug-induced crashes and violations. The state patrol made 16,409 arrests for driving under the influence in 2023.
Hitchens said the work of such special units is compromised when they’re pulled into other duties due to statewide manpower shortages. The three Nighthawks units, for example, are often pulled into other traffic stops and crime suppression details in Atlanta, Macon and Columbus. And drug interdiction officers have had to cover vehicle crashes and multiple public protests over the Atlanta Public Training Center (dubbed “Cop City”) and, more recently, conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza.
Besides securing troopers, Hitchens said the department is struggling to recruit dispatchers, who are the lifeline for troopers and officers who patrol alone and depend on dispatchers to provide critical information quickly. Today, the department has 129 dispatchers who work at nine regional call centers. They need 169 to be fully staffed.
A tough sell in the ‘Cop City’ era
Hitchens told lawmakers that heightened public criticism of law enforcement over the past few years has played a role in the department’s ongoing challenges to recruit and retain officers.
“People without understanding of what it’s like to be involved in a rapidly evolving life and death situation started scrutinizing officers, cities started defunding their police departments while demanding greater accountability and more training, both of which cost money,” he said. “Following the George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and Breonna Taylor instances, the media and some leaders in our community nationwide began to demonize the police.”
Hitchens said that since the death of Manuel Teran, a protester against the planned Atlanta Police Training Center who was allegedly shot by a Georgia trooper during a firefight on the forested property in 2023, and the sometimes violent public demonstrations that ensued, “that dynamic just got worse. For a long time with ‘Cop City,’ it was constant protest, and you know, that weighs on you.”
Munoz, who was patrolling with other local law enforcement on the perimeter of the training center site the day Teran died, said the public’s jaundiced view of that episode and other recent struggles between police and citizens that have gone viral on social media can be frustrating.
“I know that a lot of the narrative out there is not true at all,” he said. “There are millions and millions of police encounters every day. And those [violent] ones are fractions of a percent of incidents, and whether a trooper or officer responds the right way, it all boils down to compliance. If you just comply, you’re presumed innocent, you’ll have your chance to make your case, and the facts will come out. Don’t argue, don’t fight, don’t resist. We don’t want to fight you.”
Noting that he has a wife and four children he wants to come home to, Munoz said, “We’ve been pounded with de-escalation in training, and that’s what we practice. I’m sure there are officers out there now that freeze and that say, ‘Do I do my job? Or am I going to be put in prison, because I reacted in a certain way?’ So we do carry that, and it’s a heavy, heavy burden.”
Last year three House Democrats introduced House Bill 107, the Police Accountability Act, which proposes an end to qualified immunity for law enforcement officers and would have required body-worn cameras for all peace officers. The bill did not advance out of committee, but Hitchens said taken together with the public unrest and anti-police sentiment since 2020, it all had a demoralizing effect on his officers.
“All of these factors are forcing officers to become fatigued with our profession,” he said. “They feel that support is ending and the job is not worth the risk.”
According to the Georgia Peace Officers Training and Standards (POST) Council, the number of officers with basic council certifications in Georgia dropped to 5,956 in 2023 from 6,666 in 2017.
“I don’t think there’s a single law enforcement agency in Georgia that is fully staffed,” said Chris Harvey, deputy executive director of Georgia POST. “And they have a very hard time getting qualified people on board. … There just aren’t enough quality people that are interested in doing this job.”
While some agencies have raised salaries and added signing bonuses, he said, “I can tell you that it’s not a solved problem. Because I don’t think it’s primarily a money issue. I think it has a lot to do with the difficulty of doing this job these days. I’m not sure it’s ever been harder to work in law enforcement. The amount of scrutiny along with the amount of violence that police officers encounter on a regular basis, they generally feel like they’re out there alone. If they make one mistake, they’re gonna pay dearly for it. … It’s a tough sell.”
Father and son patrol leaders fight for trooper compensation
For Hitchens, his push to recruit potential state troopers and convince state leaders to increase pay and benefits for troopers is supported by an unlikely suspect — his dad.
House Appropriations public safety subcommittee chair Rep. Bill Hitchens, R- Rincon is a former trooper who served in the Georgia State Patrol for 28 years, and was later appointed by former Gov. Sonny Perdue to serve as public safety commissioner from 2004 to 2011. The elder Hitchens has served in the House since 2013.
At the House Working Group on Public Safety meeting last fall, Rep. Hitchens noted that the state patrol has maintained around 700 troopers since he joined in 1969, when the state population was about 4 million. “Now it’s 11 million people … and we have a lot more murders, stolen cars and merchandise,” the elder Hitchens said. “Where we fell down, I don’t know. It’s just we’ve never grown. … And now we’re at a breaking point.”
The younger Hitchens was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp as deputy commissioner for public safety in 2020, and then as commissioner in 2023. As commissioner he oversees the Georgia State Patrol, the Motor Carrier Compliance Division, the Capitol Police Division, and other special law enforcement units, including the crime suppression, SWAT and canine teams.
The son and father team have successfully fought for substantial pay raises for troopers, whose salaries have increased over the past three legislative cycles by nearly $17,000. That includes a 4% cost of living increase and a $3,000 bonus for law enforcement officers approved by the General Assembly in the fiscal year 2025 budget. The starting salary for a new trooper will be $63,684 as of July 1, if the governor approves it in the budget, as expected.
Dispatchers will also get a boost in next year’s budget, with new pay step increases that can take them from a starting salary of $39,000 to up to $56,000 as they earn promotions.
Col. Hitchens said those pay bumps seem to be turning the tide on recruitment. The number of applicants and graduates rose for the last few trooper schools held over the past year. Other changes the department made to trooper school requirements have also helped, including allowing people to go home more often during training, permitting access to mobile phones at night, and allowing people with arm tattoos to train and serve, if they cover them with long sleeves.
“We tried to make changes in training that we felt like really didn’t help people stay,” said Hitchens. “And we didn’t make it kinder or gentler. I mean, in this job that you sign up for, there’s got to be a certain level of discipline, there’s got to be a certain level of respect, with high physical training standards, that’s still there. But the things that we could change, we decided to do.”
Both men remain concerned about how to stem the trend of early retirement, and agree that sweetening the retirement package is the key way to combat it.
Currently most troopers qualify for a pension equal to 1% of their final pay for every year of service, and can also participate in a 401(K) savings plan while they serve, which the state matches up to 9%, depending on their number of years on the force. But Col. Hitchens is pushing for a more generous “defined benefit” retirement plan, with a 3% pension, which he said would double what most troopers get when they retire. Instead of earning about $25,000 a year on average, they would receive about $52,000.
Presently, the average tenure of a state trooper is 10 years, nowhere close to the 30-year careers Hitchens and other leaders want his officers to pursue.
And he knows it matters to them, as retirement benefits emerged as the number one retention issue on a recent agency-wide, anonymous survey.
“Every other agency is increasing their hiring packages, raising pay and offering better benefits, from retirement to free health care,” Hitchens said, noting that the Atlanta and Sandy Springs police departments offer substantially higher pay and 3% defined benefit plans.
“We’re in a competitive bidding process, and we have to offer a reward that’s worth the risk our people are taking with their lives and liberty.”
The tenure of senior officers also matters because of the crucial role they play in mentoring new recruits.
“When we have our young troopers, the men and women that come into the field, they’re excited,” said Shackleford, the troop commander, who spent much of his 36-year public safety career in SWAT before taking over Troop K, which includes the crime suppression, criminal interdiction, K-9, SWAT and dive units. “They see the fast cars, they want to get into something. And the problem is, it’s just like a puppy. A puppy’s gonna get into something and make a mess. So we need the older ones to kind of calm them down and guide them a bit, show them how to see and assess a situation.”
Such role modeling of behavior, said Hitchens, “is very important, especially with de-escalation. A senior officer, having dealt with so much of that, has that confidence and the competence to carry out [their] job in a way that I think a lot of younger, less experienced officers don’t have yet. And that’s how you learn and morph over a career,” said Hitchens, adding that that transfer of knowledge and practice from veterans to recruits “benefits the public as well.”
Rep. Hitchens co-sponsored two bills related to bolstering retirement plans for law enforcement that passed out of the retirement committee during the last session. One passed in the House, but did not get a vote in the Senate. Other lawmakers balked at the cost.
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Have questions or comments? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected]
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In hot water with your HOA? A new law buys you time to fix the problem
The Gist
Georgia homeowners living in communities governed by homeowners’ associations now get time to fix a covenant violation before the HOA can take legal action, thanks to legislation signed into law Monday.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed House Bill 220 at the Capitol, continuing his flurry of bill-signings across the state. To date, Kemp has signed about three dozen bills since sine die, which marked the end of the 2024 legislative session, his spokesman Garrison Douglas told State Affairs. Sine die ended in the early hours of March 29. The governor has until May 7 to sign, veto or take no action on a bill. If he takes no action, the bill automatically becomes law.
What’s Happening
HB 220 requires community-governed associations to notify in writing a home or condo owner of a covenant breach — such as painting their house a color not approved by the association, and give them time to fix it before going to court or taking some other legal action.
Rep. Rob Leverett, R-Elberton, sponsored the bill which included parts of an HOA bill promoted by Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta. James had been trying for two years to get some HOA-related legislation passed.
While the HOA portion of HB 220 does not go as far as James’ proposed single legislation, it’s a start, she and others say.
Why It Matters
An overwhelming majority of new subdivisions being built in Georgia now will have HOAs, experts told State Affairs. In fact, new homes that are part of a homeowner association are growing fastest in the southern and western part of the United States. An estimated 2.2 million, roughly 22%, Georgia residents live in a building or home overseen by anHOA or some other type of community association, according to the Community Association Institute.
Lawmakers such as James have heard complaints in which HOAs have terrorized homeowners and threatened to take their property, all while homeowners have had little to no legal options. In some cases, homeowners have lost their homes after falling behind on HOAs fees, even if they never missed a mortgage payment.
What’s Next?
While HB 220 is now law, Senate Resolution 37 has yet to be appointed. The resolution, sponsored by James, creates the Senate Property Owners’ Associations, Homeowners’ Associations, and Condominium Associations Study Committee. Committee members will be appointed by the President of the Senate, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.
Lawmakers appointed to the committee will delve further into HOA issues before presenting recommendations to the Legislature when it convenes in January.
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All you need to know heading into the May 21 primary
Gist
Georgia’s primary is less than a month away and there’s a lot to unpack.
The May 21 primary will be the first time some Georgians will be voting in new districts for state and congressional candidates. They’ll also be voting in local races for sheriff, judges, school board or county commission members. Primary winners who have challengers will go on to compete in the Nov. 5 general election. Georgia is an open primary state, meaning voters can choose the party ballot they wish to vote for.
This year, Georgians who want to vote absentee in the primary could face possible challenges due to mail delivery delays.
What’s Happening
North Georgia and metro Atlanta are seeing significant mail delivery delays. The holdup, according to media reports, appears to be at the United States Postal Services’ new Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto. The problem has led to dangerous situations in which people are not getting critical medication.
Georgia’s U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff recently grilled USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on the delays. Ossoff told DeJoy during an April 16 hearing that on-time delivery rates were abysmal. He said 66% of outbound first-class mail had been delivered on time while 36% of inbound mail had been delivered on time in the last three months.
DeJoy blamed the problem on the difficulty in condensing operations at the facility.
With the approaching primary, state lawmakers are concerned the ongoing mail delays could disrupt the election process.
Mike Hassinger, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, told State Affairs that Georgia voters are ready.
“Georgia voters are already registered,” he said. “They know how they like to vote. More than half of them vote early. About 5% vote absentee by mail, just in general, and then the rest are voting on election day. So we’ve been able to set up systems that are familiar with Georgia voters so that the percentage who might be worried about their absentee by mail ballots are relatively small.”
Why It Matters
Georgia emerged as one of the country’s most important political battleground states during the 2020 election. The Peach State will once again play a key role in deciding who wins the 2024 presidential election in November.
In the May 21 primary, Georgia voters will whittle down their choices for who they send to Congress and to the state capitol next year.
Under a federal court-approved redistricting process last year, Georgia now has new congressional and state district electoral maps. Those maps created one majority Black seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, five new majority-Black districts in the state House and two in the state Senate.
The redistricting resulted in new seats, intriguing matchups and former politicians returning to the fray. You can see the newly drawn maps here.
What’s Next?
Here’s what you need to know to ensure a smooth voting process:
To vote early.
Early voting is April 29 to May 17. Find your polling place here.
To vote absentee.
Here’s what you can do to avoid problems if you vote absentee:
- Get your absentee ballot application done early. You can request an absentee ballot here.
- Track your application through Georgia BallotTrax. You must have a valid absentee request on file with your county board of elections in order to see your absentee ballot status in Georgia BallottTrax.
- If you’ve been having mail delays, place your completed absentee ballot in an official drop box during advanced voting instead of using the United States Postal Service. Check your county voter registration and election office for drop box locations. And yes, your absentee ballot counts. It is counted in the final tally not just close races.
- If you change your mind about voting absentee and decide to vote in person, take your absentee ballot to your local elections office where they will void it.
- If you need to contact your county election office, find that information here.
Have questions, comments or tips? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
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