Political Rewind: Atlanta mayoral race; big bills on Capitol Hill; shredded voter forms in Fulton

Caption

In this Jan. 5, 2021, file photo, Helen Thomason marks her ballot at the Lawrenceville Road United Methodist Church in Tucker, Ga. during the Senate runoff election

Credit: Ben Gray, AP

Tuesday on Political Rewind: Early voting in municipal elections across the state started today. In Atlanta, candidates for mayor will feature in a series of debates that are becoming increasingly contentious.

Meanwhile, news broke yesterday that two election workers in Fulton County were fired for allegedly shredding 300 paper voter registration applications instead of processing them.

Fulton County elections director Rick Barron said Monday that other employees reported the alleged violation and the two were quickly terminated on Friday following an investigation.

Barron said he notified the Secretary of State's office and requested an investigation. Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts also contacted the Fulton County District Attorney's office for further review.

There is no evidence that the shredding was done to target voters of one political party or another, GPB News' Stephen Fowler said.

"Georgia doesn't have party registration, so it's not like somebody shredded a bunch of Democratic applications or Republican applications," Fowler said. "It's not a partisan thing, but especially with Fulton County already under the microscope, it's really, really puzzling behavior at a really, really bad time. "

Panelists:

Tamar Hallerman — Senior reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Stephen Fowler — Political reporter, GPB News

Dr. Kurt Young — Professor and chair of political science department, Clark Atlanta University

Tia Mitchell — Washington reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution