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Political Rewind: Savannah Reissues Mask Mandate; Could Scrutiny Of Fulton Elections Cue A Takeover?

Caption Savannah Mayor Van Johnson addressed the public on July 26, 2021 to announce he is reissuing mask mandates in indoor public places and city buildings.

Tuesday on Political Rewind: Cases of COVID-19 are again rising across the state, propelled by the dangerous Delta variant. In response, Savannah Mayor Van Johnson again issued a mask mandate for his city. Addressing the public yesterday, he warned rates of transmission are rising around Savannah and in neighboring counties.

"Chatham County is now considered high and highly likely to increase during the coming days and weeks," the mayor said.

Johnson was the first to impose a mask order as the pandemic took hold last year. His action now could spark other communities to assess their own measures for stopping a major coronavirus surge

But first, voting rights advocates remain concerned Republican legislators are angling to use Georgia’s new voting law to take over Fulton county’s elections. However, critics of past chaos in the county’s elections say change is needed. Our panel weighed in.

Panelists:

Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver — State representative (D-Decatur)

Edward Lindsey — Former Republican state representative

Kurt Young — Professor of political science, Clark-Atlanta University

Tamar Hallerman — Senior reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Copyright 2021 Georgia Public Broadcasting

Bill Nigut has been a program host and producer at Georgia Public Broadcasting since November, 2013. He currently hosts “Two Way Street,” a show that features long-form conversations with authors, artists, chefs, scientists and other creative people who have fascinating stories to tell. He is host and producer of “Political Rewind,” a twice-weekly political roundtable show featuring some of Georgia’s best-informed insiders weighing in on the big state and national political stories.
Emilia Brock is a producer for GPB's program, "On Second Thought."
Sam joined the Political Rewind team in 2019. He graduated American University in 2015 with a degree in journalism and spent time in North Carolina as a reporter at WCHL in Chapel Hill.