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Life in Motion: One year ago today

By
Tania Morales
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Carlos Christo Morales

Editor’s Note: On Nov. 20, 2019, Carlos Christo Morales of Baldwin was killed in a head-on collision on Camp Creek Road while on his way to school. Morales was  17 and a senior at Habersham Central High School when he died. On Nov. 10, 2020, the Mt. Airy woman accused of causing the fatal crash was indicted by a Habersham County Grand Jury. While reporting on the indictment, Now Habersham reached out Morales’ family for comment regarding the Grand Jury’s decision. This is how his sister, Tania, responded regarding what happened, one year ago today.

It has been a whole year since we’ve heard something in regards to my brother’s case. I want to thank everyone who has had our family in their prayers. It means a lot to us. We are glad we can finally see something being done. All we ask and hope for is Justice. She hurt a lot of us, not just family. She took such an innocent soul. People need to realize that their negligence and bad actions can hurt so many people.

This past year has had our family experience many firsts. A first Thanksgiving without him. My father’s birthday without him. A first Christmas Eve when the clock turned 12 a.m. and became Christmas Day, he wasn’t there to give him a hug and tell him how much we loved him. That Christmas was the worst of all because it also happens to be my birthday and he wasn’t physically there to wish me a happy birthday and give me a hug. That first New Year was also an empty one. His birthday was also very hard. All we had left were pictures and memories. Then came Easter, Mother’s Day, my mother’s birthday, and Father’s Day. Once again, we felt so much emptiness in our hearts.

Carlos was looking forward to graduation, his sister says.

Graduation was also a tough one. He was super excited to graduate. He ordered his cap and gown as soon as they announced it. He was ready to cross that stage and begin a new chapter in life. He didn’t have that chance.

All of our family birthdays and gatherings were never the same and will never be because an essential human being is gone. There has been so much emptiness this first year and we will have to live with it for the rest of our lives.

We have had so many obstacles in life and by far, his passing has been the hardest. People who haven’t gone through loss have told us that time will heal. I don’t agree. As time goes by, we feel that emptiness even more. Everything reminds us of him, From his favorite tv show to his favorite food to his favorite song, everything.

The Morales family visited the Ford Presidential Library in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Nov. 10, 2019, ten days before Carlos’ death. Tania Morales (left) and her late brother (far right) are shown with their parents Carlos and Maria, little sisters Camila and Allyson, and brother Obertino. Obertino was injured in the accident that killed his older brother.

People who got to know him can say nothing but the best about him. He was kind, smart, selfless, caring, funny, shy, and loving. He never talked bad about anybody and when someone needed help, he was the first to help.

I could keep going on and on about how much of a beautiful and loving person he was.

So, because of all of this, I just hope justice is served and we get a bit of peace knowing that she won’t just get a slap on the wrist for her negligence. It’s so sad to see that there have been so many cases like my brothers in regards to innocent people being hurt because of the bad decisions of others taking the wheel while under the influence.

I hope that the families involved are well and they also get the justice they deserve because I understand exactly how their heart feels.

Carlos “Char”, I hope you are so happy in heaven and smiling down on us. I hope your angel wings are big and perfect. You know how much we miss and love you. Rest Heavenly sweet angel. We love you.

Georgia’s exhausting election recount reaffirms Biden’s track to electoral win

By
Stanley Dunlap
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The Georgia Secretary of State's Office says election results are on track to be certified by the 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, deadline. (Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder)

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger plans to certify the presidential election Friday after a recount of Georgia’s 5 million votes confirmed that President-elect Joe Biden narrowly edged out President Donald Trump.

The painstaking ballot hand count to audit the presidential election showed Biden received nearly 13,000 more votes than Trump in their contest for Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, prompting the Associated Press to call the state for Biden late Thursday. Lawsuits and recounts are still likely in Georgia and other states where the vote is close, but challenges so far are not reversing a presumed Biden victory.

While the audit results won’t be the official tally, the state’s election chief said it shows that Georgia’s 159 counties’ initial results for the Nov. 3 general election are accurate enough that the outcome won’t change.

Raffensperger ordered the full hand recount of the presidential race after the initial machine count of ballots showed Biden won by about 14,000 votes.

Recounting during the audit of the presidential race turned up nearly 6,000 ballots in several counties, which brought Trump 1,400 votes closer to Biden. Raffensperger said that the audit’s discrepancies are well below the expected difference between a hand count and machine count, which typically is less than 1.5%. And the vast majority of Georgia’s counties showed either no change or differed by fewer than 10 votes from their original tally. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is supposed to sign off on Biden’s Georgia electors by 5 p.m. Saturday, according to state law.

“Georgia’s historic first statewide audit reaffirmed that the state’s new secure paper ballot voting system accurately counted and reported results,” Raffensperger said. “This is a credit to the hard work of our county and local elections officials who moved quickly to undertake and complete such a momentous task in a short period of time.”

State law requires an audit after a Georgia election, but because of the close race between Biden and Trump, Raffensperger also ordered a hand count of every vote cast in the presidential election. 

Thursday night Raffensperger said the results of the massive recount in all 159 Georgia counties show that the state’s new $104 million voting system is working as designed. The Republican spent the last week fielding death threats, fending off allegations of fraud from his own party and demands from Georgia’s GOP U.S. Senators that he resign.

Still, the full-blown recount did little to tamp down unsubstantiated claims from many Trump supporters and his legal team pushing conspiracy theories that voting fraud was widespread in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan, swing states that helped propel Biden to victory.

Trump is expected to request Georgia counties to add up the ballots a third time, since Biden won by less than .5%, a process that requires running paper ballots through high-speed scanners. The deadline to request the recount is two business days after the election is certified.

The president appears poised to continue to press his case to remain in office through the courts as well. 

Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, said Thursday during an hour and a half press conference framed as an opening argument for the campaign’s multi-state legal challenge that the “recount being done in Georgia will tell us nothing because these fraudulent ballots will just be counted again,” referring to absentee paper ballots. 

Giuliani said the Trump campaign planned to file a “major lawsuit” in Georgia Friday just as state elections officials are set to certify the election results. He said the lawsuit would raise complaints filed in other states, including the access of GOP observers to see absentee ballot processing up close and a re-verifying of signatures. A record 1.3 million Georgians voted absentee during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Atlanta attorney and Trump supporter L. Lin Wood failed to convince a federal judge to approve a last-minute temporary restraining order that would stop the state from certifying the election results. Wood stood alongside RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel earlier this month vowing to look for election irregularities in Georgia. (Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder)

Thursday evening, a federal district court judge denied a temporary restraining order filed by Trump supporter and Atlanta attorney Lin Wood, that raised questions about the integrity of absentee ballots and sought to stop the state election certification process. 

The audit uncovered about 5,900 missing votes in Fayette, Floyd, Walton and Douglas counties, providing Republican Trump supporters more fodder to cast doubt on Biden’s win.

Raffensperger’s office said the votes discovered during the audit were missed in the initial machine count because county workers did not properly upload memory cards containing ballots. In Floyd, county election workers missed multiple verification steps, resulting in 2,755 paper ballots that didn’t get scanned. Floyd officials fired the election director Thursday.

2018 governor election vs 2020 presidential election

Georgia’s 2020 election win for Democrat Biden is the first time that a Republican presidential candidate did not win the Peach State since Bill Clinton narrowly edged former president George H.W. Bush here in 1992.

The election controversy playing out now in Georgia echoes the razor-thin 2018 gubernatorial election when then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams by 55,000 votes. 

In the aftermath of the election, Abrams created the voter rights organization Fair Fight, credited with playing a significant role in registering enough new voters to spark Biden’s upset victory and force both of Georgia’s sitting U.S. Senators into runoffs.

Raffenspeger’s office has fought a litany of lawsuits from voting rights groups like Fair Fight and the American Civil Liberties Union for allegedly making it hard for minorities to vote. Now, he’s getting praise by a group of Black church leaders who credit him for not succumbing to pressure from fellow Republicans and ensuring every vote is accurately counted.

Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, presiding prelate of the Sixth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and about a dozen church officials gathered Thursday at the state Capitol to urge Black people to vote in the two Senate runoffs pitting GOP incumbent U.S. Sen. David Perdue against Democrat Jon Ossoff and appointed GOP U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler against Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock. 

They said it’s not hypocritical to question the integrity of the 2018 election and support this month’s outcome. In 2018, they said, there was plenty of evidence of voter suppression in the form of an “exact match” name protocol that disproportionately affected minority voters and too few polling places in many predominantly Black neighborhoods.

“Georgia was the laughingstock of the nation in the last election,” said Rev. Timothy McDonald III of Atlanta’s First Iconium Baptist Church. “For the first time in history, the person who was running for (the governor’s) office was also responsible for counting the votes.”

Gabriel Sterling, voting systems implementation manager for Raffenspger, said on Wednesday that it’s likely there would be challenges from Democrats if Trump won a close race in Georgia.

That’s why it’s essential to have election transparency so that Georgians can trust how elections are operated, he said.

“The parties need to have faith in the outcome of these elections, whether they win or whether they lose, because that’s the bedrock of how we have a transfer of power and how people feel like they’re being governed appropriately,” Sterling said. 

Raffensperger said this week that Trump’s persistent claims that voters mailing absentee ballots created path for widespread fraud might have ultimately cost the president Georgia’s 16 electoral votes.

About 24,000 Republicans who voted via absentee ballots in the June primary did not vote in the Nov. 3 general election.

“He would have won by 10,000 votes,” Raffensperger said in an interview with Atlanta’s WSB-TV. “He actually depressed, suppressed his own voting base.” 

Georgia Recorder Deputy Editor Jill Nolin contributed to this report. This article appears in partnership with Georgia Recorder.

Locally filmed ‘A Taste Of Christmas’ airs Friday

By
Trent Crawford
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(background image by Alpine Helen White County Convention and Visitors Bureau)

(Helen) – For the second time in as many years, areas of White County and Northeast Georgia provide the settings for a Lifetime Christmas movie, and the results of the most recent filming are set to air Friday.

With the holidays upon us, the Lifetime Movie Network has begun 10 straight weeks of 24/7 holiday entertainment, and this Friday, A Taste Of Christmas premieres, a movie with scenes filmed in portions of White County.

The film is about a woman named Natalie who learns that her cousin will not be able to open her new Italian restaurant on Christmas Eve, but Natalie decides that by working together, they will make the opening happen.

A Taste of Christmas stars Anni Krueger who has appeared in several television and movie roles including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Super Dark Times. It also stars Gilles Marini (Sex and the City: The Movie) and Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). The movie was filmed in 2019 in multiple areas around White County and throughout Northeast Georgia, including Sylvan Valley Lodge off Duncan Bridge Road, and in the cities of Helen and Dahlonega.

This is the second movie spotlight placed on White County, as Helen and Unicoi State Park were featured in another Lifetime movie titled Christmas Love Letter, which aired on the Lifetime Movie Network in December of 2019.

White County Chamber of Commerce President Beth Truelove says filming went smoothly, and, “The movies that we have already filmed and that have been produced in White County really fit the feel of our entire community.”

So, mark your spot on the couch, get your cup of cocoa ready, A Taste of Christmas will debut on Lifetime on Friday at 8 p.m. The Lifetime Movie Network on Windstream is channel 380.

A Taste of Christmas will have several encore airings at the following times:

  Nov. 21 – 12:01 a.m.
Nov. 21 – 6:00 p.m.
Nov. 23 – 2:04 a.m.
Nov. 24 – 4:00 p.m.

Georgia gets another ‘F’ on preterm births

By
Andy Miller
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Georgia has earned an “F’’ grade for its rising rate of preterm births, according to a newly released report.

The 2020 March of Dimes Report Card, released this week, said the state’s rate of preterm births, often called premature births, climbed to 11.7 percent in 2019, continuing a steady climb from a bottom of 10.7 percent in 2013.

It’s the second straight year that Georgia has received a failing grade in the report.

For the fifth year in a row, the U.S. preterm birth rate increased, reaching to 10.2 percent of births, earning the nation a “C-” grade in this year’s report, compared to last year’s “C.”

Preterm birth rates have worsened in 39 states and Washington, D.C., the report noted.

Nationally, more than 30,000 babies every month are born preterm, before 37 weeks of pregnancy have elapsed. 

Being born too early is the largest contributor to infant death. And babies who survive an early birth often face serious and lifelong health problems, including breathing problems, vision loss, cerebral palsy, and intellectual delays.

Black women in Georgia and nationally have higher percentages of preterm births, the March of Dimes report shows.

Nationally, women of color are up to 50 percent more likely to give birth preterm, and their children face up to a 130 percent higher infant death rate. Disparities in preterm birth rates have increased over the past several years in the United States, the March of Dimes report said.

In Georgia, African-American women had the highest rates of infant mortality at 11.1 per 1,000 live births, while the statewide rate for all races actually declined to 7.1.

“Although there has been some incremental progress in advancing policies that will address better maternal and infant health care, this progress is not happening quick enough, and is tempered by increasing racial/ethnic health care disparities in preterm birth,” Stacey Stewart, president and CEO of March of Dimes, said in a statement.

Factors causing preterm births include a lack of health insurance. The report found that nearly 20 percent of Georgia women aged 15-44 are uninsured, and 15.2 percent of women in that age category live in poverty.

Another major factor is limited access to supportive care before, during, and after pregnancy.

Mothers with various conditions such as hypertension, preeclampsia, incompetent cervix (weakness of cervical tissues), and multiple gestation are at increased risk of delivering preterm and low-birthweight infants, said Merrilee Gober, an obstetrical nurse, attorney, and a principal of Georgia Health Advocates.

“Prenatal care allows for the diagnosis and management of these conditions and many other conditions that can affect the long-term health of both mother and baby, thereby significantly reducing the risk of low-birthweight, especially very low-birthweight, babies,’’ Gober said.

She said that in Georgia, 2,034 of 146,464 births (1.38 percent) did not have prenatal care in 2008. Ten years later, that number was 5,051 of 126,051 births (4 percent), meaning the rate has nearly tripled here in 10 years and is more than double the national rate of 1.8 percent.

Southern figures particularly bad

Seven other states, all in the South or on its periphery, also received an “F’’ grade in the new March of Dimes report: Alabama, Arkansas,  Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia.

Six Georgia counties received grades for their preterm birth rates in the report. The highest grades were for Cobb and DeKalb counties, in metro Atlanta, with a ‘‘D+’’ for each.  Among other metro Atlanta counties, Gwinnett received a “D,’’ and Fulton and Clayton counties were graded “F.’’

The city of Atlanta itself received a “D-” grade.

On the coast, Chatham County, home of Savannah, rated an “F.’’

If a woman has had a preterm birth, she stands an increased chance of having another. Intervals between pregnancies also make a difference. Georgia mothers who have less than one year of spacing between delivery and the next pregnancy have a higher preterm birth rate.

In addition, access to obstetrical care is a problem in much of Georgia. Longer distances to birthing hospitals can increase chances for preterm birth, but just 59 of the state’s 159 counties have labor and delivery units, and only about 75 hospitals in the state routinely deliver babies, the Georgia OBGyn Society said in 2018.

Polly McKinney of advocacy group Voices for Georgia’s Children added Thursday that “parental health often affects infant health.”

She said that Georgia’s current effort to lengthen Medicaid coverage for mothers’ postpartum care from two months to six months, and a growing awareness of the disproportionate outcomes for black mothers and infants, will hopefully succeed “not only in improving Georgia’s grade but most importantly in saving the lives of our mothers.”

This article appears in partnership with Georgia Health News

Georgia’s recount confirms Biden’s win

By
Now Habersham
-

(ATLANTA) – Today, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced the results of the Risk Limiting Audit of Georgia’s presidential contest, which upheld and reaffirmed the original outcome produced by the machine tally of votes cast. Due to the tight margin of the race and the principles of risk-limiting audits, this audit was a full manual tally of all votes cast. The audit confirmed that the original machine count accurately portrayed the winner of the election. The results of the audit can be viewed here.

Risk Limiting Audit Report Memo

“Georgia’s historic first statewide audit reaffirmed that the state’s new secure paper ballot voting system accurately counted and reported results,” says Secretary Raffensperger. “This is a credit to the hard work of our county and local elections officials who moved quickly to undertake and complete such a momentous task in a short period of time.”

“Georgia’s first statewide audit successfully confirmed the winner of the chosen contest and should give voters increased confidence in the results,” says Executive Director of VotingWorks Ben Adida. “We were proud to work with Georgia on this historic audit. The difference between the reported results and the full manual tally is well within the expected error rate of hand-counting ballots, and the audit was a success.”

Audit reaffirms Biden’s win

By law, Georgia was required to conduct a Risk Limiting Audit of a statewide race following the November elections. Understanding the importance of clear and reliable results for such an important contest, Secretary Raffensperger selected the presidential race in Georgia for the audit. Meeting the confidence threshold required by law for the audit meant conducting a full manual tally of every ballot cast in Georgia.

The Risk Limiting Audit reaffirmed the outcome of the presidential race in Georgia as originally reported, with Joe Biden leading President Donald Trump in the state.

The audit process also led to counties catching mistakes they made in their original count by not uploading all memory cards. Those counties uploaded the memory cards and re-certified their results, leading to increased accuracy in the results the state will certify.

Election officials say the differential of the audit results from the original machine counted results is well within the expected margin of human error that occurs when hand-counting ballots. A 2012 study by Rice University and Clemson University found that “hand counting of votes in postelection audit or recount procedures can result in error rates of up to 2 percent.” In Georgia’s recount, the highest error rate in any county recount was .73%. Most counties found no change in their final tally. The majority of the remaining counties had changes of fewer than ten ballots.

Because the margin is still less than 0.5%, Trump can request a recount after certification of the results. If he does, that recount will be conducted by rescanning all paper ballots.

State school board reverses course, backs deflating high-stakes tests

By
John McCosh
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The state school board voted to back Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods' recommendation to give nearly zero weight to high-stakes tests like the Georgia Milestones. (GA DOE Facebook)

After a large majority of Georgians surveyed supported a proposal to make high-stakes standardized tests essentially meaningless for public school students this year, the State Board of Education voted Thursday to withdraw its recommendation to count the end-of-year exams as 10% of a course grade.

Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods pushed to drop the test’s effect to .01%. State law now says the test should count for 20% of the final grade for some high school classes.

In addition to Woods, many teachers, parents, and students hoped to avoid the high-stakes, end-of-year tests as the uncertainty of a pandemic continues to upend the usual order of the school year.

Last month, the school board voted to reject Woods’ proposal to give tests like the Georgia Milestones nearly zero weight and instead give it a 10% effect on course credit. That vote was nonbinding. If the board votes to approve the .01% weight in December, districts may recalculate course grades for students who have already tested.

“I appreciate the State Board of Education hearing and responding to the clear will of the people on this issue, and hope that will continue with a vote to approve the .01% recommendation in December,” Woods said in a statement after the board vote.

“My position on this has not changed: it is logistically, pedagogically, and morally unreasonable to administer high-stakes standardized tests in the middle of a pandemic. If the federal government is going to continue insisting on the administration of these exams, it is incumbent on us at the state level to ensure they are not high-stakes and do not penalize students and teachers for circumstances beyond their control.”

In a public comment survey open from Oct. 2 to Nov. 17, Georgians selected their preferred course weight for this school year, either keeping the existing 20%, going with the board’s preferred 10%, or the superintendent’s recommended .01%. A total of 93,079 people responded, with 86.31% saying the weight should be .01%, 11.35% saying it should be 10%, and 2.34% saying it should be 20%.

Woods called for the test to count for nearly nothing after U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said she would not approve states’ waivers to cancel the test this school year. Georgia was one of the first states to apply for and receive a waiver when they were available last spring after Gov. Brian Kemp ordered school buildings shut to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Board members who argued last month against reducing the tests to a near meaningless role said the loss of year-over-year comparable data could harm students and teachers.

Test scores should not factor into whether a student advances to the next year or count against a teacher’s evaluations this year, said board member Mike Royal, but reducing their importance to nothing would undo a lot of hard work from educators.

“I’m not ready to give up on this year, I’m not ready to give up on this semester,” he said. “They are teaching and learning, and what about the districts that busted their butt all summer planning, preparing to get these kids back to school and have done a fantastic job, who wants that data?”

Making the test functionally optional would also disproportionately harm children in poverty or in other challenging situations, he said.

This article appears in partnership with Georgia Recorder

Cuttings bring the outdoors inside

By
Mitzi Oxford
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The temperatures in the past few weeks have been up and down like a yoyo. Lo and behold, a few of my container and bedding plants have refused to give up. It’s pretty astounding really BUT the few that are hanging in there are in protected areas. As we endure the frost advisories, I will continue doing what I’ve always done, bringing some of that beauty indoors to enjoy before they take their last stand!

From spring to summer and as long as I can before the flowers of this year are just a memory, I cut some of them to keep in a small vase on my kitchen window seal and to display on my bakers rack that sits between a patio window and my kitchen table. The bakers rack is loaded with plants including a jade, a prayer plant, orchids, African violets, and coral reef sedum. When the orchids and African violets are in bloom they put on their own spectacular show. For those in between times, I love the pop of color that a cutting offers.

Save this list, which includes vase life, for planting some ideal flowers for cutting and enjoying next year:

  • Zinnias (vase life: 7 to 10 days)
  • Dahlias (about 5 days)
  • Snapdragons (7 to 10 days)
  • Hydrangea (about 3 days)
  • Sweet peas (3 to 7 days)
  • Asiatic and Oriental lilies (8 to 10 days)
  • Sunflowers (7 to 10 days)
  • Tulips (up to 7 days)
  • Roses (4 to 7 days)
  • Peonies (5 to 7 days)

How to cut flowers and care for them

  • Cut flowers in the morning
  • Make the cut at an angle
  • Strip any foliage which would be under water
  • Make sure your vase is clean
  • Use room temperature water
  • Add a splash of bleach to water to keep bacteria from growing
  • Position vase away from heat or direct sunlight
  • Remove any dead or fading blooms

The flowers that I have been cutting for indoors in the past couple of weeks are not really prime candidates for cutting because their vase life is only 2 or 3 days. Better they fade away inside than being zapped by the frost outdoors.

I only have a few stragglers left to choose from but in the past couple of weeks, I’ve brought in hibiscus, new guinea impatiens, angelonia, abutilon, ivy leaf geraniums and ferns for filler. I have a couple of small vases that I use for a single cutting or smaller blooms. And I also have, occasionally, been adventurous enough to try my hand at filling a much larger vase to use as a table centerpiece.

What are your favorite cut flowers? Have you done an arrangement that you might use for Thanksgiving or other holidays? Please share with us. We all like to be inspired by flowering creativity. You can reach me at [email protected] or post on our weekly Green Thumb Gardening Facebook posts.

 

Georgia’s election audit shrinks Biden lead, outcome remains same

By
Stanley Dunlap
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Gabriel Sterling, voting systems implementation manager for Raffensperger, said Wednesday he expects the results of the full hand count audit will be made publicly available by Thursday afternoon. (Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder )

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is set to release Thursday the results of a closely watched statewide audit of the 5 million ballots cast in the presidential election.

About 20 county election offices worked into Wednesday evening to try to meet the midnight deadline for verifying the accuracy of an election that still has Democrat Joe Biden ahead of President Donald Trump by nearly 12,800 votes in a state that has not backed a Democratic presidential candidate in almost three decades.  

Gabriel Sterling, voting systems implementation manager for Raffensperger, said Wednesday he expects the results of the full hand count audit will be made publicly available by Thursday afternoon.

While there will be differences in the vote totals, the shift won’t be enough to change the outcome of the intense presidential race.

Those auditing results will not replace the actual official county results that the state will use to certify results on Friday. An official recount is expected. 

Instead, the audit’s results should help prove that the state’s highly-scrutinized new $104 million electronic voting system that includes a paper ballot trail is working, Sterling said. 

“What we’re looking to say is this count was correct, based on what we see through this audit and you can have faith in the outcome from what these scanners scanned and what the election reporting showed,” he said.

Once the state certifies the results, the losing candidate who is within a 0.5% margin of the winner can request a recount within two business days. In that case, though, the ballots would be rescanned instead of counted again by hand – which was a massive undertaking for local election workers.

In anticipation of the recount, Raffensperger sent every county registrar office high-speed scanners to recount the ballots.

Since Raffensperger ordered the full audit last week, about 5,900 votes left out of the first tally have been discovered, prompting Trump and his Republican allies to cast more doubt on the integrity of Georgia’s election. 

On Wednesday, Sterling said the audit uncovered another missing memory card containing votes, this time in Douglas County, giving Biden 156 more votes and adding 128 to Trump’s total.

Those missing votes, chalked up to human error by state election officials and others, will be added to the final results, and so far, have only trimmed Biden’s lead from about 14,000 reported last Friday to 12,781.

Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said the mistakes that have been identified during the audit are not partisan. She noted that some of the counties where errors occurred – like Floyd, where Trump held a rally just days before the election – lean conservative.

“It’s important to remember that humans make mistakes. Human error definitely happens. And things like this happen in every election,” Dennis said in a call with reporters Wednesday. 

Marc Elias, an attorney with Perkins Coie who represents the Biden campaign, argued Wednesday that a recount still would not change the outcome in Georgia.

“You could recount these ballots in alphabetical order, by machine, in random order, by hand, by counting starting with the second letter in order – they’re going to count the same way,” Elias told reporters Wednesday afternoon. 

Sterling said that the 2,755 missing votes in Floyd County were the most egregious since multiple verification steps were missed, including failing to even scan the ballots. 

Other missing votes in places like Fayette and Douglas were the results of human error as staff failed to upload a memory card, leaving thousands of votes unreported. 

Raffensperger is increasingly at odds with fellow Republicans over the integrity of an election he prepared to run for more than a year. In addition to Trump, Georgia GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue called for Raffensperger to resign days before the auditing began, claiming that illegal ballots were influencing the elections.

Loeffler’s opponent in the Jan. 5 runoff, Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock, said the Atlanta businesswoman is irresponsibly making claims she can’t prove.

“We should all agree, regardless of party, that legally cast ballots must be counted,” Warnock said Wednesday. “And we must all stand up to defend our democracy against any effort to undermine it.”

This article has been updated and appears in partnership with Georgia Recorder. Georgia Recorder Deputy Editor Jill Nolin contributed to this report. 

Jerry Carter

By
Now Habersham
-

Jerry Carter, age 73 of Mt. Airy, passed away on Wednesday, November 18, 2020.

Born in Clarkesville, Georgia, on April 28, 1947, he was a son of the late Jim & Emma Burrell Carter. Mr. Carter was an auto body worker, having worked with Akins Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ford Dealership as well as Homer McDonald. He proudly served his country in the United States Army during the Vietnam conflict. Mr. Carter was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He was an avid model car collector, loved attending car shows and old cars.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, Kenneth Carter.

Surviving are his loving wife of 33 years, Peggy Zimmerman Carter of Mt. Airy; sons and daughter-in-law, Gerald Carter of Cornelia, Stephen & Stacy Carter of Jefferson, Jeffrey & Amanda Caudell of Mt. Airy; daughter and son-in-law, Jody & Troy Tucker of Cornelia; grandchildren, Gabe Carter, Jake Carter, Jessica Tucker, Laura Tucker, Ashton Caudell, Abby Caudell and Ariel Caudell; great-grandchildren, Konnor Tucker and Kaylynn Tucker; sister, Susan Crawford of Louisiana; several nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.

Funeral services are scheduled for 2 pm, Saturday, November 21, 2020, in the Chapel of McGahee-Griffin and Stewart with Rev. Chad Parker and Rev. David Terrell officiating. Interment will follow in Mountain View Baptist Church Cemetery with military honors provided by the United States Army and the Grant Reeves VFW Post #7720.

The family will receive friends from 6-8 pm on Friday at the funeral home.

Those in attendance are asked to please adhere to the public health and social distancing guidelines regarding COVID-19.

An online guest register is available and may be viewed at www.mcgaheegriffinandstewart.com.

McGahee-Griffin & Stewart Funeral Home of Cornelia, Georgia (706/778-8668) is in charge of arrangements.

Former Lee Arrendale prison employees indicted

By
Staff Report
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Two former employees at Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto have been indicted for having unlawful sexual contact with inmates.

Destiny Wilhite (HCSO)

The Habersham County Grand Jury handed down indictments earlier this month against Destiny Paige Wilhite and Christopher Dionte Mayfield in two separate, but similar cases. Jurors indicted them on charges of violating their oaths of office and sexual contact by an employee or agent in the first degree. In addition, jurors indicted Mayfield for furnishing prohibited items to inmates.

Officer Wilhite, of Toccoa, worked at the Lee Arrendale Transitional Center. She was arrested on March 30, 2020. At the time of her arrest, she had been employed with the Georgia Department of Corrections for nearly two years, according to GDC officials.

Christopher Mayfield (HCSO)

Mayfield, also of Toccoa, worked in the Recreational Department at Lee Arrendale State Prison in a “non-security” position, according to Georgia Department of Corrections officials. He had been employed at the women’s prison in Alto since November 2017.

UPDATE: Prosecutors drop charges against former Lee Arrendale State Prison employee 

Mayfield was arrested on April 24, 2020, for allegedly engaging in sexual contact with an inmate and giving her gifts such as fast food, body jewelry, and body lotion.

The Department of Corrections fired Mayfield and Wilhite following their arrests.

 

Mary Williams

By
Now Habersham
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Mary Williams, age 63 of Alto, passed away on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.

Born in Kokomo, Indiana, on September 18, 1957, she was a daughter of the late J.L. Welborn and Pernell Taylor Welborn. Mrs. Williams had a heart of compassion towards others, helping them with whatever she could. She was known as a community caregiver and enjoyed the book ministry and giving coloring books to kids. She enjoyed the book ministry that she did with the church and with her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Pat & Dortch Williams and her husband. Mrs. Williams loved spending time with her family, children, and grandchildren and enjoyed fishing and hunting. She was a member of Habersham Seventh Day Adventist, where she was the Head Deaconess.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brothers, Ricky Joe Welborn, Stanley Welborn, and Donnie Joe Welborn.

Surviving are her husband, Rodney Williams of Alto; son and daughter-in-law, Jeff & Brandy Sanders of Maysville; son, Harley David Williams of Alto; daughter and son-in-law, Jana & Josh Wilburn of Homer; grandchildren, Cody & Katelyn Wilburn, Kristin Sanders, William Sanders, Kylee Sanders, and Kaleb Sanders; brothers, Dewayne Welborn of Clarkesville and Randy Welborn of Lakewales, Florida; sister, Susie Green of Ft. Myers, Florida; several nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Life service is scheduled for 11 am, Saturday, November 21, 2020, at Habersham Seventh Day Adventist with Elder Dortch Williams officiating.

Those in attendance are asked to please adhere to the public health and social distancing guidelines regarding COVID-19.

An online guest register is available and may be viewed at www.mcgaheegriffinandstewart.com.

McGahee-Griffin & Stewart Funeral Home of Cornelia, Georgia (706/778-8668) is in charge of arrangements.

Mt. Airy woman indicted in wreck that killed HCHS student

By
Joy Purcell
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Habersham Central High School student Carlos Morales of Baldwin was driving this pickup when a Jeep Cherokee driven by Cherrie Pulido of Cornelia crossed into his lane and struck the truck head-on. The 17-year-old Morales died from his injuries. (Daniel Purcell/Now Habersham)

It’s been nearly a year since Carlos Christo Morales was killed in a crash on his way to school last fall. Now, the woman accused of causing that fatal accident has been indicted.

On November 10, the Habersham County Grand Jury indicted Cherrie Marise Pulido on three counts, including first-degree vehicular homicide, driving under the influence (less safe), and failure to maintain lane.

Carlos Morales died two months shy of his 18th birthday.

According to the indictment, on the morning of the fatal accident on November 20, 2019, Pulido drove “while under the combined influence of methamphetamine and amphetamine to the extent that it was less safe for her to drive.”

Morales, a 17-year-old high school senior from Baldwin, died in the crash. His 15-year-old brother and cousin were with him at the time of the accident and survived.

The State Patrol says the then 37-year-old Pulido was traveling south on Camp Creek Road in a black 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee when she crossed the centerline into the northbound lane. The Cherokee struck the 2001 Ford F-150 pickup truck Morales was driving, head-on.

Morales was airlifted to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville where he later died. The crash seriously injured Pulido.

Morales would have graduated from Habersham Central High School this year.

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