Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

GOP legislator fired from his day job for pushing Georgia voting curbs bill

Barry Fleming

State Rep. Barry Fleming is now the former Hancock County attorney.

11 Alive screengrab

Sponsoring the sweeping package of voting curbs in the Georgia Legislature has cost a Republican lawmaker his regular job.

Barry Fleming has been unopposed in four straight reelections to a state House seat covering a rural stretch between Atlanta and Augusta. And this month he used his chairmanship of the Committee on Election Integrity to win passage of restrictive election legislation that, among many provisions, would limit early voting on weekends in many counties — which could cripple "Souls to the Polls," the venerable get-out-the-vote drive to get Black voters to cast their ballots after church the Sundays before Election Day.

For nine years Fleming's main source of income has been as county attorney for one of the few solidly Democratic and overwhelmingly Black communities in his district, Hancock County. But on Wednesday the county Board of Commissioners responded to a wave of protests by voting 4-0 to ask for his resignation, which he then submitted.


Fleming's bill would also curb the use of drop boxes for mail ballots, add new proof-of-identity requirements when seeking an absentee ballot, advance the deadline for requesting such a ballot, and prohibit groups from giving water, food and blankets to people in line at polling places. The measure, which passed over united Democratic opposition, must now be reconciled with a different bill passed by the GOP-majority Senate, the main feature of which would be to eliminate no-excuse absentee voting across the state.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

The twin bills are among the most prominent in a wave of 250 legislative proposals to restrict voting across the country, many of which are advancing in states that (like Georgia) have an all-GOP power structure. Republicans are reacting after a 2020 election that saw record turnout, record use of mail and early voting — and a record amount of baseless skepticism about election integrity fueled by former President Donald Trump's campaign of lies.

Three different counts in Georgia, for example, resulted in virtually identical results and no suspicions of meaningful cheating.

But Fleming said during the debate three weeks ago that his bill would "begin an effort to restore confidence in our election system," He wrote an op-ed likening absentee ballots to the "shady" part of town down by the docks where you could get "shanghaied."

Hancock's population is 71 percent Black, and President Biden carried the county by 44 points as he went on to become the first Democrat since 1992 to take Georgia's electoral votes. Both state's new Democratic senators, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, also won lopsidedly in the county in January's runoff contests.

"Hancock County is a great place. There's a great board of commissioners there," Fleming told 11Alive News after he resigned. Asked if he objected to the political rationale for his dismissal, he said: "None whatsoever. They're good people. If I can ever do anything in the future to help them I'll be happy to."

The average county attorney's salary in Georgia last year was $76,500. Members of the state House are paid $17,300 on the assumption they will be in session no more than 100 days.

Read More

The Psychology of Politics

An illustration of people and their unique minds.

Getty Images, Carol Yepes

The Psychology of Politics

Have you ever wondered why so many otherwise reasonable people are completely bananas about politics? We all know plenty of normal and decent folks who spout wacky political views. But it’s not just our neighbors who’ve gone mad. All over the country, Americans pick and choose the facts they want to believe, champion policies they don’t understand, hold contradictory views at the same time, admire immoral politicians, loathe decent ones, and so on.

What’s going on here? And why does it seem to be getting worse?

Keep ReadingShow less
Addressing Economic Inequity Among Domestic Violence Survivors

A person holding a stack of dollar bills that are flying away.

Getty Images, PM Images

Addressing Economic Inequity Among Domestic Violence Survivors

The 2024 film, “Anora,” about a young woman victimized by sex trafficking, recently won five Oscars at the Academy Awards. Perhaps, it is a signal of more awareness and less stigma surrounding the pervasiveness of domestic violence at all levels of society.

The ongoing lawsuits between actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni claiming sexual harassment and violence threat allegations around their film, “It Ends With Us,” about a relationship scarred with domestic violence, demonstrates the thin line between real life and on-screen adaptations.

Keep ReadingShow less
Layoffs at the EPA May Impact Federal Funding for Communities

Environmental Protection Agency EPA | Where James works | mccready ...

Layoffs at the EPA May Impact Federal Funding for Communities

WASHINGTON—The federal government laid off more than 60,000 workers in the first two months of 2025, while another 75,000 employees accepted a buyout and voluntarily resigned.

Among those laid off was James Clark, an Environmental Protection Agency employee who lost his job while on his honeymoon. “It’s just very sad to see someone like Elon Musk take a chainsaw on live TV and say what we do doesn’t matter,” said Clark.

Keep ReadingShow less
Congress Avoids a Shutdown But at What Cost?

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on March 14, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Getty Images, Tasos Katopodis

Congress Avoids a Shutdown But at What Cost?

On March 14, the GOP-led Senate passed a stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government running until September 30. The bill’s passage was made possible by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s last-minute reversal—shifting from opposing the measure and advocating for a shorter extension to allowing the bill to advance. His decision was purely tactical: he feared Democrats would be blamed for a shutdown.

Schumer’s move provided the necessary votes to overcome procedural hurdles, effectively thwarting a Democratic filibuster. While Republican support for Trump’s budget was unsurprising, the Democratic leadership’s decision to go along was a stunning concession. It handed the Trump administration a significant victory while further eroding Congress’s budgetary authority, shifting more spending power to the executive branch.

Keep ReadingShow less