Political expedience

Paper ballot trial set: U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg has scheduled a trial to begin Jan. 9 in a lawsuit seeking to replace Georgia’s voting machines with paper ballots. Totenberg said, though, that even if the plaintiffs prevail in the trial, she won’t order Georgia to use hand-marked paper ballots. She said it’s not within her power to mandate a new statewide voting system that would replace equipment manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems. Totenberg will try to determine whether Georgia’s touchscreen-and-paper voting system has major cybersecurity flaws that violate voters’ constitutional rights.

Board of Regents sets its leadership: Harold Reynolds will serve a third one-year term as chair of the Georgia Board of Regents, which oversees the 26 schools in the University System of Georgia. Reynolds, who was appointed to the board by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2020, is the chief executive officer of the BankSouth Holding Co. in Greene County. The board also named T. Dallas Smith, the founder and chief executive officer of the Atlanta-based commercial real estate firm T. Dallas Smith & Co., as its vice chair. He will replace Erin Hames, who chose not to seek reappointment as vice chair but will remain on the board.

Targeting foreign ownership of farmland:

State Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper is pushing for legislation to restrict or ban “foreign adversaries” from buying U.S. farmland. “Chinese ownership of U.S. agricultural land is increasing at an alarming rate, and this increase poses a significant threat not only to the livelihoods of American farmers and producers but to America’s national security,” Harper, a Republican, wrote in commentary for James Magazine. Fifteen states have passed legislation this year restricting or regulating foreign ownership of agricultural land or other sensitive properties, according to the Congressional Research Service. Harper isn’t the first Georgian to express concern about Chinese ownership of American farmland. Democrat Stacey Abrams raised the issue in the final days of her 2022 run for Georgia governor.