Early voting starts at 12 noon Sunday

Clayton County voters can cast ballots in the U.S. Senate runoff starting at 12 noon today, Sunday, November 27, 2022.

The runoff is between U.S. Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, and Herschel Walker, a Republican.

You can see which bills Warnock has sponsored or cosponsored on the U.S. Senate’s website. Eleven of those bills have become law:

• S. 3580: Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022
• S. 1872: United States Army Rangers Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act
• S. 1031: A bill to require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study on disparities associated with race and ethnicity with respect to certain benefits administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes
• S. 937: COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act
• S. 848: Consider Teachers Act of 2021
• S. 578: FASTER Act of 2021
• S. 497: American Fisheries Advisory Committee Act
• S. 475: Juneteenth National Independence Day Act
• S. 452: Willie O’Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act
• S. 400: William T. Coleman and Norman Y. Mineta Department of Transportation Headquarters Act
• S. 321: “Six Triple Eight” Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021

Warnock also has been the lead sponsor on four bills that became law:

• S. 4011: Capping Drug Costs for Seniors Act of 2022
• S. 1031: A bill to require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study on disparities associated with race and ethnicity with respect to certain benefits administered …
• S. 3033: A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3900 Crown Road Southwest in Atlanta, Georgia, as the “John R. Lewis Post Office …
• S. 1675: Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act

As a political newcomer, Walker has not passed any legislation or cast votes in an elected body.

Walker has run on an anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ platform and has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and Gov. Brian Kemp. Two women have come forward, saying Walker allegedly asked them to have abortions after getting them pregnant. Walker has repeatedly mocked transgender people during campaign speeches, including one in Jonesboro, run an ad featuring a swimmer who complained about having to share a fifth-place tie with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas (in particular, she said she was upset about having to pose with a sixth-place trophy until a second fifth-place trophy could be made), and doubled down on his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric following the mass shooting at Colorado Springs’ Club Q where five people were killed.

Walker, who moved to Georgia to run against Warnock, continues to take a homestead exemption on his $3.08 million Texas house. A homestead exemption is a tax break homeowners can take for living in their primary residence. It cannot be taken on a second home, vacation home, or rental property.

Warnock cosponsored the Equality Act, voted to protect same-sex and interracial marriages, joined Senator Jon Ossoff in this year’s Atlanta Pride parade, and has said that abortion is a private decision between a woman and her doctor.

A Republican Senate super PAC has claimed that Warnock evicted several people from the Columbia Towers Apartments, which are linked to Ebenezer Baptist Church. That story came from the Washington Free Beacon, a right-wing for-profit news site based in Washington. The AJC spoke with Columbia Residential, which said “no tenants had been evicted for non-payment of rent since June 2020, several months before a federal moratorium too effect. And they said neither Warnock nor Ebenezer were involved in the building’s operations.” Clayton County GOP activist Arlene Charles, who put together the Jonesboro Walker rally, also was one of several Georgia Republicans who posed with signs outside Columbia Towers as Walker accused Warnock of evicting tenants from the property.

Both campaigns have run commercials accusing the other candidate of domestic violence.

In 2001, Walker got into a police standoff at his Irving, TX mansion, his then-therapist, Jerry Mungadze—who once claimed he could “cure” gay people’s “demonic possession” based on what color crayons they choose from a box—“rushed to the scene and talked to Walker for at least 30 minutes to calm him down, according to the Sept. 23, 2001, report. In the end, police confiscated a 9mm Sig Sauer handgun from Walker’s car and placed his address on a ‘caution list’ because of his ‘violent tendencies.’ But they declined to seek charges or make an arrest. Walker’s wife filed for divorce three months later.”

In March 2020, Warnock’s then-wife,  Oulèye Ndoye, accused Warnock of driving over her foot while their divorce was pending. Police bodycam footage from the incident showed Ndoye making the allegation. The AJC reported that “Warnock wasn’t charged with a crime, and medical officials didn’t find visible signs of injury to the foot. Warnock told the AJC in March 2020 that Ndoye’s allegations ‘didn’t happen.’” Warnock and Ndoye, who have two small children, are in the middle of a custody battle over whether Ndoye can take the children out of state while she studies at Harvard.

Warnock said Walker “crossed a line” by accusing the senator of being an absentee father, while Walker’s gay adult son, Christian, lambasted Walker, allegedly for fathering four children without taking part in their day-to-day lives, in a viral video: “He has four kids, four different women, wasn’t in the house raising one of them. He was out having sex with other women. Do you care about family values?”

More candidate information

Ballotpedia

• Raphael Warnock (D-Incumbent)
• Herschel Walker (R)

Why does this runoff matter?

Whoever wins this election is likely to give one party or the other an edge in close votes in the Senate. Republicans eked out a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, while Democrats flipped the Senate after picking up two key seats in Pennsylvania and Nevada. If Warnock wins reelection, that would give Democrats a little more insurance in case of close votes. Two Independent Senators, Bernie Sanders and Angus King, tend to vote with Democrats, and Vice-President Kamala Harris would cast any tie-breaking vote on the Democrats’ side.

What does the Senate actually do?

The U.S. Senate has special powers, some of which differ significantly from those of the U.S. House. The House controls the nation’s purse strings through revenue and appropriations bills, and the House can charge a President or other elected official with articles of impeachment. Both the House and Senate can write bills and hold public hearings.

• The Senate can declare war.
• The Senate can hold impeachment trials (the House can vote to impeach a President or other government official, similar to what a grand jury does, but only the Senate can hold formal impeachment trials, which makes them like a court.)
• The Senate can investigate the Executive Branch (White House) or major criminal activities like Watergate or the Iran-Contra scandal.
• The Senate can approve or reject any appointments to executive positions like White House Cabinet members or judicial positions like the Supreme Court.
• The Senate can judge any contested Senate election.
• The Senate can censure its own members.
• The Senate can remove a Senator from office.
• The Senate can approve treaties negotiated by the President and his representatives.
• The Senate votes on legislation, often by unanimous consent, which means that a bill or other action passes if no Senator objects to it. It takes a two-thirds vote to override a Presidential veto, to kick a Senator out of office, to convict someone who has been impeached by the House, to ratify a treaty, or to propose a Constitutional amendment for states to vote on.

When can I vote early?

You can vote on these dates and times:

• Sunday, Nov. 27: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Monday, Nov. 28: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Tuesday, Nov. 29: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Wednesday, Nov. 30: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Thursday, Dec. 1: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Friday, Dec. 2: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Your very last chance to vote in this race will be on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

It’s important to note that Clayton County will NOT have early voting on Saturday, November 26.

Where can I vote early?

Six early voting locations will be open:

Where are the dropboxes?

Please note that only three locations will have secure ballot dropboxes inside during polling hours:

• JONESBORO
  Elections and Registration Office
  Historic Courthouse
  121 S. McDonough St.
• REX
  Carl Rhodenizer Rec Center
  3499 Rex Road
• HAMPTON
  South Clayton Rec Center
  1837 McDonough Road