- Associated Press - Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Recent editorials from Georgia newspapers:

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Oct. 15

The Valdosta Daily Times on nonviolent felony offenders having voting rights:

Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.

But when the time ends is it time served? Or do felony offenders keep doing time with the loss of rights, such as voting?

The Valdosta Daily Times and SunLight Project reported Sunday that thousands of felony offenders may see their voting rights restored sooner rather than later.

Lawmakers are considering loosening Georgia’s disenfranchisement laws.

A Senate study committee on revising voting rights for nonviolent felony offenders has the standing to recommend the change that would allow nonviolent offenders to cast a ballot as soon as their time is served.

Georgia is one of 22 states that revokes an offender’s right to vote during incarceration and while on probation or parole and before they pay off all fines and fees.

As of April, the Department of Community Supervision oversaw more than 200,000 released inmates, 75% of those they considered to be nonviolent felony offenders. Those nonviolent felony offenders - 166,001 people with drug, property or other nonviolent offenses - would be able to cast a ballot if voting rights were expanded.

While law experts say the loosening of enfranchisement laws - laws giving or taking away the right to vote - has been a trend across the country for the past decade, national criminal justice advocates say Georgia’s possible revision does not go far enough.

Though legislators are weighing restoring voting rights to felony offenders, the committee must determine what offenders shall regain those rights and what offenses should keep felons from voting again.

But the idea of restoring voting rights seems to be gaining traction in other areas and here, with legislators and the public.

Florida residents voted last year to restore voting rights for felons.

A Valdosta Daily Times online poll asked should Georgia non-violent felons regain their right to vote when they are released from incarceration?

As of early Monday morning, readers answered yes about two to one: 356 readers voted yes, non-violent felons should regain their right to vote; 186 readers voted no, non-violent felons should not regain their right to vote.

Others make the argument of restoring voting rights, or not, based on a perceived notion of knowing how felons will vote. Some believe all felons will vote Democrat, for example.

As the SunLight report noted, experts and politicians alike can only theorize if expanding voting rights to the more than 160,000 nonviolent felony offenders will change election results. Some argue revising laws on a state level could have changed the outcome of historical elections, but others say the question should not be put on the table.

“In reality, people don’t know how people will vote,” Nicole Porter, director of Advocacy for The Sentencing Project, said. “No one has a crystal ball.”

But felons and election officials do need a clearer way of seeing who can and cannot vote and when they can vote. Legislators must at least better define what felony offenders can vote, what crimes bar offenders from voting upon release, and can they vote upon release or after parole and probation.

For a lot of offenders doing the time lasts much longer than the sentence and may not be comparable to the crime. If nonviolent felony offenders have paid their debt to society, their voting rights as citizens should be restored.

Being free includes having rights.

Online: https://www.valdostadailytimes.com

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Oct. 14

The Savannah Morning News on Georgia Southern University students burning a book that discusses white privilege and identity in American society:

The video of the Georgia Southern biblio bonfire reminds more of Faber College, circa 1978, than Berlin, Germany in 1939.

It’s more social hour prank than social values protest, with college-age adults laughing and drawing attention to themselves, not to any cause or narrative. Participants seem oblivious to the fact that in torching a copy of Jennine Capo Crucet’s tome on identity in American society, they underscore the book’s theme of suppression of voices.

The book burning, which took place near the Statesboro campus, is in poor taste, not at all funny and reflects poorly on those involved, both in terms of their respect for others and their cognitive reasoning.

Yet this foolishness will quickly fade from our collective consciousness. The news cycle dictates as much. Georgia Southern’s embarrassment will linger locally, but the university is committed to promoting diversity — hence the lecture that prompted the arson — and this incident will focus even greater light on those efforts.

As troubling as the bestseller BBQ is the inherent callousness of the act and what it says about societal attitudes. Intolerance is on the rise and undergirds many of our deepest divisions, particularly in politics and religion.

You need not hold a PhD in history to recognize the dangers there in.

Just hours before Crucet’s book was set ablaze, the author was challenged by a young woman attending her lecture. The audience member questioned Crucet’s credibility in discussing the experiences minorities face in attending colleges with a predominantly white student body.

For the record, Crucet is a first-generation Cuban-American and a full-time professor at the University of Nebraska.

Such denseness baffles and demonstrates the incestuous tribalism at play in today’s world.

Those who refuse to acknowledge, let alone listen to, someone who believes or thinks differently cause significant damage. Whether out of fear or ignorance, the antagonist strives to marginalize and discredit, often times distorting or exaggerating events and facts to fit their narrative.

More and more, this squashes discussion. “Pick a side” becomes the mandate. Those who don’t are ridiculed, labeled as weak or hesitant rather than what they really are: thoughtful and well meaning.

We’ve come to expect an inflated level of bitterness in our society. Young adults are not immune. College campuses have long been a venue for social and political unrest, and protests over guest speakers whose views are seen as ideologically extreme have become the norm.

Some consider the Georgia Southern incident as yet another example. They have dredged up the usual tired rhetoric about cultures clashing and whether a university should be sponsoring or hosting such potentially divisive events and policing constitutionally protected protests.

All the while, the rotten roots of the situation go unaddressed. Diversity of thought is vital to our future. Until we endeavor to listen to one another and engage in earnest debate, with the goal of greater understanding, we will grow farther apart.

That applies everywhere: college campuses, legislative chambers, even local fellowship halls.

As long as it’s easier to burn a book than to talk about what’s written on the pages within it, we will founder.

Online: https://www.savannahnow.com

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Oct. 12

The Savannah Morning News on voting for the 1% sales tax:

The push to extend Chatham County’s penny sales tax is subtly building strength like a tropical disturbance sweeping across the Atlantic.

Expect landfall - at hurricane strength - soon, as advocates begin their marketing efforts ahead of the election.

Just like with a storm, it’s time for voters to increase their SPLOST preparedness.

Early voting for the Nov. 5 election opened on Oct. 14. The ballot will include the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum, which would levy a 1% surcharge on most purchases within the county with the proceeds earmarked for capital improvement projects.

Voters have approved SPLOST on six previous occasions, the first time in 1985. The tax has allowed the county and municipal governments to invest more than $1.5 billion in roads, drainage, economic development and civics projects over the last 34 years.

SPLOST 7, as it is billed, would extend collections through 2026 and is predicted to generate another $400 million.

These basics are nice to know. The simple truth is you can’t venture beyond your residence in Chatham County without seeing a SPLOST-funded project. Many of us can find one just by looking out our homes’ windows.

Few could argue against the profound impact of SPLOST on our community.

Yet the penny sales tax has been and is a polarizing topic.

- Projects to be funded

The local governments have been quietly touting SPLOST for much of the past year. Using the tagline “A Penny Adds Up,” the county and municipalities have placed signs denoting completed projects funded by past referendums. The City of Savannah maintains a comprehensive website highlighting past SPLOST initiatives.

For voters, though, SPLOST consideration should start with the new project list. Officials must spell out how the money will be spent before the referendum goes on the ballot. Voters will need to dig deep: The list is long, and there is no high-profile project along the lines of the new arena on the bill.

Unfortunately, neither of the two largest stakeholders, Chatham County and the City of Savannah, have made these documents easily accessible to the public.

We requested the documents and you can see them by visiting the online version of this story at SavannahNow.com/opinion. We encourage the county and city officials to post these in conspicuous spots on their website.

Examining the lists, the biggest line items are a $63 million county judicial complex and $45 million worth of improvements to the Springfield Canal. The Springfield Canal work is essential for the development of the Canal District, the area surrounding the new arena site.

Other, smaller-ticket projects could make significant impacts. Savannah intends to spend $10 million to acquire and redevelop blighted properties, part of an innovative affordable housing initiative meant to revitalize struggling neighborhoods.

SEDA would likewise get $10 million to acquire and develop land to lure new businesses, as the organization did with $25 million in SPLOST 6 funds at the Savannah Manufacturing Center.

As for other highly visible projects, Savannah’s list includes $8 million for the Broughton Street streetscape, Chatham County will invest $10 million in transit authority equipment, and both governments will dedicate $3.1 million for an early learning center. There’s also money for the Tide to Town urban walking and bike trail system.

The overwhelming majority of the dollars will go toward improvements that aren’t so visible: drainage, sewer and road improvements; government-owned facilities, recreation fields and parks; and public safety vehicles and equipment, such as police cars and fire trucks.

All eight Chatham County municipalities, from Pooler to Tybee to Vernonburg, will receive a share of the revenues.

- Consider larger impact

We encourage voters to familiarize themselves with the SPLOST 7 project list.

For some, including residents in the county’s unincorporated areas as well as those in Thunderbolt, Bloomingdale and Vernonburg, the SPLOST referendum will be the only item on the November ballot.

Don’t make the mistake of only looking at projects in your immediate neighborhood - consider the larger impact of these improvements and whether they are a viable return on investment.

We, as an editorial board, are studying the proposal and will offer an endorsement before election day. In the meantime, the more you, the voters, know as the promotion campaign ramps up the better prepared you’ll be at the ballot box.

Online: https://www.savannahnow.com

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