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(11/08/20 1:26am)
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, are headed to the White House after a nail-biting result count that kept the nation in limbo for several days.
Biden and Harris defeated incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and Vice President Michael Pence Saturday morning. Biden currently holds 279 electoral votes while Trump holds just 214. Only 270 are needed to win the Electoral College and thus the presidency.
Biden also won the popular vote by a margin of more than four million votes. This is the fourth presidential election in a row, and the seventh of the past eight, in which a Democrat won the popular vote, according to the New York Times.
2020 election goes down in history
The news of his election comes 48 years to the day after Biden’s first win in the United States Senate, where he represented the state of Delaware. At 78, he will be the oldest person to occupy the White House and the first president from Delaware, CBS reports.
The Biden/Harris ticket garnered the highest number of votes of any candidates ever recorded in the United States, with more than 74 million as of Nov. 7, breaking the record previously set by Democratic President Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as Vice President. The Trump/Pence team received the second-highest number of votes of any ticket, as this election saw the highest voter turnout the country has ever seen.
Trump is the first incumbent president to lose reelection in more than 25 years and the third since World War II, according to the New York Times. Although the president is attempting to take battleground states like Pennsylvania and Georgia to court over allegations of voter fraud denying him a second term, no evidence of wrongdoing has surfaced, and courts have rejected nearly all of his lawsuits. His actions are not likely to change the outcome of the election.
Biden and Harris ran on a relatively mainstream Democratic platform, pledging to uphold civil rights, take action to address climate change and improve the economy. But what more likely won them the election was their vow to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic — which many blame Trump for allowing to ravage the country — and their promise to govern for all Americans during an era where political divisions run deep. Biden preached unity and healing throughout the campaign, reaffirming his stance time and time again that “there will be no blue states and red states ... just the United States.”
Many voters found Biden’s message refreshing after four years of a president who often refused to disavow white supremacy and who has been accused of racism, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia.
In a sharp contrast from Trump’s controversial track record with marginalized groups, this election has proved historic for representation. Vice President-elect Harris will be the first female Vice President, the first Asian American Vice President, the first Black Vice President and the first Vice President to graduate from a historically Black university.
Her win means that a woman of color has become the highest-ranking woman in the history of American politics. The Biden/Harris administration also committed to selecting a racially diverse cabinet with LGBTQIA+ and female representation.
Many Americans focus on change
In what many news outlets have considered a symbol of national repudiation of Trump, several states flipped from Republican to Democratic compared to the 2016 presidential election. Two states that rarely side with Democrats especially surprised the nation as their races remain too close to call: Arizona and Georgia.
Biden has a narrow — yet steady — lead in Arizona. If he wins the state’s 11 electoral votes, he will become the first Democrat to do so since 1992. While the Associated Press has called Arizona for President-elect Biden, not all media outlets agree, and votes continue to be counted.
Similarly, the state of Georgia, which has 16 electoral votes, threatens to flip Democratic in what would also be the first time since 1992. Experts attribute Georgia’s possible flip to the efforts of Black community organizers, activists and prominent figures such as Stacey Abrams, who after narrowly losing her bid for governor in 2018 dedicated herself to addressing voter suppression.
Although Biden does not need the electoral votes from either Arizona or Georgia, winning those states would suggest that much of the country is undergoing major political shifts towards the left, either in spite of or in response to the Trump presidency.
Further suggesting that Americans are looking for change, progressive policies prevailed in many states — even some that Biden won narrowly or not at all.
New Jersey, Arizona, South Dakota and Montana voted to legalize recreational cannabis, South Dakota and Mississippi legalized the drug for medical purposes, Oregon legalized psilocybin (“magic mushrooms”) for therapeutic use and decriminalized small amounts of harder drugs like heroin and cocaine, Florida voted to up its minimum wage to $15 by 2026, and Colorado voters rejected a bid to ban abortion after 22 weeks.
Future of the Senate remains uncertain
Additionally, the GOP-controlled Senate has a chance to flip Democratic, and the decision could ultimately come down to Georgia.
Democrats have already flipped two seats in the Senate. Republicans flipped another, bringing Democrats’ net gain to just one. That means the Senate is hanging at 48-48 with four more seats left to fill.
North Carolina and Alaska have yet to announce winners, although both appear to be leaning towards Republicans as votes continue to be tallied. The two remaining Senate seats will come from Georgia, where the races were so tight in the general election that no candidate received 50% of the vote, triggering automatic runoff elections.
Republican Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to fill Sen. Johnny Isakson’s vacancy after he retired due to health reasons in 2019, will attempt to defend her seat against Democratic challenger the Rev. Raphael Warnock in the special election runoff.
Meanwhile, the general election runoff pits incumbent Sen. David Perdue, a 70-year-old Trump ally with support from top Republicans nationwide, against Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 33-year-old investigative journalist who has lost two elections in the state since 2017.
If three or more Democrats win Senate seats in the remaining four states, the Senate will flip Democratic. There will then be a trifecta of Democratic control in the White House, the House and the Senate. If three or more Republicans win, the GOP will retain control of the Senate, probably jeopardizing some of Biden’s more liberal plans.
If Georgia elects both Democratic candidates and Alaska and North Carolina elect one Republican each, the Senate will be tied at 50-50, and Vice President-elect Harris will serve as a tiebreaker on the Senate floor.
The Georgia Senate runoff elections will take place Jan. 5. To vote in the runoff, eligible Georgians must register by Dec. 7. Registered voters will be able to request absentee ballots starting Nov. 18.
Results from Georgia and other uncalled states will continue to roll in over the coming days and weeks.
Joe Biden will be inaugurated as president Jan. 20, 2021.
(11/07/20 9:22pm)
Mercer University canceled its spring break, which was set to take place midway through the spring 2021 semester, according to an email to students from Mercer President Bill Underwood Nov. 3. The move is another part of the university’s plan to manage COVID-19 on campus.
“One of the factors enabling the University to successfully complete the fall semester was the elimination of the Labor Day holiday and fall break,” Underwood said. “The spring semester academic calendar has likewise been adjusted for most programs to eliminate long breaks and minimize the risk of community spread of COVID-19.”
Instead of a week-long break in the middle of the semester, the Macon undergraduate campus will observe four midweek breaks throughout the semester. These breaks are scheduled for Feb. 10, Feb. 23, March 5 and March 30.
“These days will serve as a midterm reading days to prepare for exams and assignments,” according to Mercer’s coronavirus webpage. “Faculty are encouraged to be available for office hour assistance.”
Additionally, while Labor Day was not observed this fall, both Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Good Friday will be observed in the spring.
Students will also not attend class April 15, which the university announced has “tentatively” been set aside for Breakthroughs in Engagement, Arts and Research Day. Classes are traditionally canceled on BEAR Day to encourage students to support peers delivering research presentations.
The 2021 spring semester will start Jan. 7. Students will be required to undergo a coronavirus test prior to returning to campus, according to Underwood’s email. Tests were also required for students returning this fall.
In the meantime, the university has also encouraged students, faculty and staff to receive tests prior to leaving campus at the end of the semester Nov. 24.
Mercer will administer tests in Macon at Heritage Hall in the University Center Nov. 19-20 from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 - 4 p.m., Nov. 21 from 10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. and Nov 22 from 8:30 a.m. to noon, according to marketing communications website The Den.
In Atlanta, tests will be available 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 2 - 4 p.m. Nov. 19-20 at the Student Health Center in Sheffield.
“We want to offer this testing so that it gives students and their families peace of mind knowing that students can go home for the Thanksgiving holiday with a COVID-19 result,” Vice Provost Kelly Reffitt said.
Tests can be scheduled through MyMercer by going to the “Action Items” page.
Full spring academic calendars are available for both Macon and Atlanta on the university registrar’s website.
(10/19/20 4:28am)
This story won Best of SNO on Oct. 23, 2020.
Nearly a third of Georgia voters who will vote in the 2020 general election are under 35 years old, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. That’s a growth rate of 68% for the age group since 2016.
College student voter registration in particular surged from 19% in 2014 to 40% in 2018, the AJC reported. And Mercer University students vote at a much higher rate than regional undergraduate populations. In 2018, Mercer’s student body voting rate reached 49.8%.
According to The Macon Telegraph, that’s significantly higher than the average voter participation at Middle Georgia colleges and universities, which sits at just over 40%.
First-time voters at Mercer are ready to continue the trend. Students who will cast their first presidential vote next month told The Cluster what issues matter most to them as they weigh their options.
Climate action, poverty alleviation and LGBTQIA+ rights
Senior Adae Brown, an artist studying computer science, said they plan to vote for a candidate who will combat the climate crisis and take action to alleviate poverty.
“What I was looking for mostly was environmental support, you know, help with the environment,” they said. “Along with, I guess, poverty, and what candidates would help break the cycle of poverty for different people, especially people of color. As a person of color, that's very important to me.”
As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, Brown also considers rights for gay and transgender folks to be critically important policy points. And as a person of color, they said voting is a duty they take seriously.
“I was also raised where voting was a very important part of growing up and part of being an American, because (of) the Civil Rights Movement … all of the lives lost and all the work behind that movement,” they said.
Health care policy and immigration reform
Zaira Khan, a senior, made up her mind early: she would vote for any Democratic candidate with a chance to beat Trump in the election.
She said her identity as a Muslim woman influences what matters to her in her first presidential election. Specifically, she wants to elect a candidate who will support immigrants and put an end to what many have referred to as “Muslim bans”—the Trump administration’s policies limiting travel to and from majority-Muslim countries like Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
“Just being a woman of color, of course, I know that a lot of Trump’s policymakers and the people around him and their supporters just really don’t like the fact that I exist and that I’m an American citizen,” Khan said. “It really is an issue that has been near and dear to me because it’s really hard to turn on the news and see how much people dislike people like you.”
But immigration isn’t the only issue Khan cares about. As a public health major, she’s also concerned with health care policies. Khan has been particularly passionate about reducing health care costs, especially for those with chronic health conditions, since the COVID-19 pandemic began to highlight disparities in the health care system.
“It's really important for me that health care is kind of accessible and kind of open,” she said, “so people aren't basically left to die because they can't get the care that they need.”
Campaign personas and women’s rights
Morgan Simmons, a sophomore, came to Mercer from Texas. Since she lives near the Mexican-American border, she’s seen conservative immigration policies at work, and reform has become important to her.
But one of the most pressing issues, she said, is climate change.
“So obviously, that's something that I'm looking for, probably to go back into the Paris Agreement,” she said, referencing the global pledge under which the United States said it would cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26% by 2025. President Donald Trump decreed in 2017 that the U.S. would no longer uphold its statement.
Simmons also said she would want a candidate who supports the Equal Rights Act, a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing women’s rights that has been ratified by 38 states but has struggled to become the law of the land.
Overall, Simmons said she would value a candidate whose campaign persona reflects the attitude of a leader.
She hopes to vote for someone she considers “a person of good character, as opposed to someone who's in it for political gain.”
Upholding patriotism and the U.S. Constitution
Abhinav Prakash, a sophomore and self-identified conservative, said that he’s concerned about several issues in 2020. These include defending the Second Amendment to the Constitution, lowering taxes for small businesses and the middle class, preserving an ethical version of capitalism and reducing government surveillance of Americans’ daily lives.
He also supports reforming Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, and he said that affirmative action policies at colleges and universities should be reimagined or eliminated.
“Social Security is a necessity for poor regions in the U.S., but I believe that the current system is abusable and that a reform is necessary to ensure that Americans cannot take advantage of the government for receiving personal gain,” he said. “The use and practice of affirmative action is somewhat outdated, and therefore, it should be removed or reformed to stop Ivy League schools from filtering out high-achieving students based on a factor of racial identity.”
Despite his conservative leaning, Prakash said another issue he weighs heavily in this election is what he sees as much-needed criminal justice reform. He’s particularly concerned with the legalization of cannabis, because of reports that Black individuals receive longer sentences than other races for drug possession despite using drugs at the same rates.
“Incarceration rates and murders by officers are incredibly high on Black individuals, and therefore, some judicial reform needs to be put in place to prevent this from occurring in the future,” he said. “Although I am conservative, I believe that the legalization of marijuana can help lower these incarceration rates of Black people.”
In terms of global affairs, Prakash wants to see the U.S. retreat from the United Nations. He said the country contributes too much money to the organization for too little gain. And here at home, he said patriotism and nationalism have become “demonized” values. He wants to support a candidate who upholds those attitudes.
“Nationalism is something that has been converted into a sense of right and wrong, and being patriotic should not be frowned upon in the United States,” he said.
(10/17/20 7:40pm)
Mercer University announced 10 new cases of COVID-19 across its campuses in its weekly testing summary posted Friday.
Of those 10 cases, eight are among students. Five are students on the Macon campus, two are students on the Atlanta campus and one is a student on the Savannah campus. The other two positives are faculty or staff members, one in Macon and another in Atlanta.
The 10 positive cases come from a total of 520 tests conducted between Oct. 9 and Oct. 15. That’s a test positivity rate of just 1.92%.
The positivity rate measures the percentage of individuals who were tested and received a positive result. A positivity rate between 3-12% indicates adequate testing of a population, while a positivity rate under 3% is considered a target number for curbing the spread of a disease. Mercer’s test positivity rate has been on a downward trend since mid-September.
Testing remained consistent from last week, from 528 tests to 520 this week. This week’s number of tests was the lowest since the report released Sept. 4.
In the past three weeks, the number of new positive cases across Mercer’s campuses has remained relatively stable, hovering between 10-13 per week.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Mercer has documented 279 total positive cases among students, faculty and staff across all campuses.
Members of the Mercer community are directed to call Mercer Medicine at (478) 301-4111 or the Student Health Center 24/7 hotline at (478) 301-7425 if they begin displaying symptoms. Students who are enrolled in a course in which a student has tested positive will receive an email notifying them of their risk.
Caitlyn Patton contributed reporting.
(10/10/20 3:14am)
(10/10/20 3:07am)
(10/09/20 6:30pm)
Mercer University announced 12 new cases of the novel coronavirus between its Macon and Atlanta campuses, according to its weekly testing summary published Friday. This is a marginal increase of two cases compared to last week.
Between Oct. 2-8, 10 students on the Macon campus, one faculty or staff member on the Macon campus and one student on the Atlanta campus tested positive for COVID-19.
These 12 positive cases came from a total of 528 completed tests, indicating a positivity rate of 2.272%.
The positivity rate measures the percentage of individuals who were tested and received a positive result. According to public health experts from Harvard University, a positivity rate between 3-12% indicates adequate testing of a population, while a positivity rate under 3% is considered a goal in curbing the spread of disease. Mercer’s test positivity rate has consistently fallen under 3% in recent weeks.
However, testing fell from 594 tests to 528 tests this week — a decrease of 12%. This week’s number of tests was the lowest since the report released Sept. 4.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Mercer has documented 281 total positive cases among students, faculty and staff across all campuses.
Members of the Mercer community are directed to call Mercer Medicine at (478) 301-4111 or the Student Health Center 24/7 hotline at (478) 301-7425 if they begin displaying symptoms. Students who are enrolled in a course in which a student has tested positive will receive an email notifying them of their risk.
Caitlyn Patton contributed reporting.
(10/06/20 4:55am)
Sophomore Emma Gilliam was at a birthday dinner with a group of sorority sisters Sept. 18 when one of them picked up her phone, scrolled through Twitter and suddenly turned to Gilliam: “R.B.G. is gone.”
The fact that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died didn’t truly register with Gilliam until later that night when she was on the phone with her mother. Talking through the news with her, Gilliam said she sobbed.
“It's just so hard, because you don't want to think that someone that you've idolized is gone,” she said. “Especially when they've been so impactful.”
Justice Ginsburg was the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and championed gender equality throughout her legal career. Prior to her appointment to the Court in 1993, she argued landmark cases like Reed v. Reed, the 1971 case that set the precedent for striking down laws that discriminated “on the basis of sex.”
[pullquote speaker="Emma Gilliam" photo="" align="left" background="off" border="all" shadow="off"]She's affected every single person … No matter what race, your gender, background, she just cared about everybody — and she fought for everybody.[/pullquote]
She continued fighting for women’s rights after her appointment: she wrote the majority opinion in 1996’s United States v. Virginia which required the Virginia Military Institute to open its doors to women and dissented on issues like employment discrimination in Ledbetter v. Goodyear. In the 2000s, she became a pop culture icon known among liberals as “The Dissenter” or “The Notorious R.B.G.” with her likeness plastered on everything from bumper stickers to T-shirts.
For Gilliam, Ginsburg’s legacy runs far deeper than merchandise.
“No one knows, like, the cases that she's litigated, the important cases that she's dissented and written opinions on,” she said. “But she's affected every single person … No matter what race, your gender, background, she just cared about everybody — and she fought for everybody.”
Gilliam’s reverence for Ginsburg dates back to her freshman year of high school. Concerned that many of the people who supported her didn’t know about her impact beyond her iconic image, she presented an in-depth project about Ginsburg’s life and legacy at a state history competition in her home state of Pennsylvania.
Because she was so vocal about her respect for Ginsburg, friends and family flooded her phone with text messages when the news broke that the justice had died.
“After she passed away, I had a lot of family and friends texting me, ‘did you hear the news?’ like she was my family member that had passed away or my close friend,” Gilliam said. “I was sad because I wish that she could have spent her last couple of years just not thinking about hearings and cases and just being able to relax. But my mom basically told me that it's what she loves to do. You know, it's what she dedicated her whole life to … and that gives me comfort that she died doing something she loved.”
Gilliam said that she hopes to honor Ginsburg through her career. She majors in law and public policy, serves as a justice on the Honor Council and plans to attend law school. She said she wants to practice family law and represent victims of child abuse and domestic violence. But she doesn’t want to rule out the possibility of becoming a judge — or serving on the high court herself.
“I would love to sit right in the middle seat of the Supreme Court,” Gilliam said. “That is my dream.”
Grappling with the oversimplification of a complex individual
Savannah Curro, a sophomore organ performance major from Boston, Massachusetts, also cried when she heard the news of Justice Ginsburg’s death. But her relationship with the justice — and with members of the political left who idolize her — is less cut-and-dry.
[pullquote speaker="Savannah Curro" photo="" align="right" background="off" border="all" shadow="off"]I think R.B.G. cannot be boxed in, and that's another thing to really admire about her.[/pullquote]
“Something I have been struggling with actually, just sort of reflecting on her legacy, is that there’s been a lot of focus on what she meant for reproductive rights, and for abortion rights,” she said. “That sort of obsession, I think, on the left personally makes me feel very uncomfortable because it’s sort of a deflection away from what I view as the bigger issues.”
Curro describes herself as a progressive Christian whose stance on abortion is “very middle of the way.” She said that many of the people who idolize Ginsburg don’t focus on some of the rights she secured for women that Curro considers more foundational, choosing instead to highlight her choice to uphold abortion rights.
Some of those more basic liberties, she said, include the cascade of rights women won after Reed v. Reed, such as the right to obtain a credit card in their own name, the right to sit on a jury and the right to keep their jobs if they become pregnant.
Ginsburg won favor with many people like Curro who appreciate her dedication to women’s rights but hold some conservative views, too. Ginsburg famously befriended the late Justice Antonin Scalia, her ideological opposite who wrote the dissenting opinion to U.S. v. Virginia and opposed same-sex marriage; she maintained progressive values but maintained her religious faith; she was fiercely dedicated to the preservation of the U.S. Constitution; and she often voted with conservatives on the Court.
To Curro, Ginsburg’s ability to walk the line between feminism and religion while respecting the Constitution resonates. She said that religious women like her are often boxed in by societal expectations of how they politically align. And as a self-identified feminist, she hears the same rhetoric from other progressives about what a feminist should believe.
“When you’re living in these lines between the ideas society has for you of what religion should be, what feminism should be, you know, what conservatism is, what liberalism is, and kind of going beyond that … it can be difficult living between those different definitions,” she said. “I think R.B.G. cannot be boxed in, and that's another thing to really admire about her.”
(10/03/20 4:00am)
Mercer University will administer flu shots on campus in late October, according to an email to students from the university provost’s office Oct. 2.
“This year, more than ever, it’s important to get a flu shot,” a flyer attached to the email said. “The combination of flu and coronavirus carries higher health risks. Protect yourself, your friends and your colleagues by getting vaccinated for the flu.”
The vaccine will be available Oct. 21 and Oct. 28 in the Connell Student Center Lobby from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. Shots will also be administered Oct. 22, 23, 26 and 27 in Heritage Hall of the University Center from 7 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
No appointments are necessary to receive a shot, and most insurance plans will cover the full cost of the vaccination, according to the email. The university will even offer an incentive to students who take advantage of the vaccines: entry in drawings for gift cards and special parking permits.
Health officials agree that flu shots are safe, effective and more important than ever as the United States faces a “twindemic” — concurrent outbreaks of the seasonal flu and COVID-19. While the flu shot will not prevent COVID-19 since it is a coronavirus strain and not an influenza strain, flu prevention will help individuals avoid becoming sick with both illnesses at once and reduce the burden on health care resources.
"This fall, an important reason to get a flu vaccine is to do your part to help conserve scarce medical resources as health care workers continue to fight COVID-19," said Susan Bailey, president of the American Medical Association. “We need to realize that we are all interconnected, and during this pandemic, getting vaccinated is a step to protect our individual and collective health.”
Anyone over the age of six months should receive a flu shot and should do so by the end of October for maximum effect during flu season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(10/02/20 4:31pm)
Mercer University announced 10 new cases of the novel coronavirus between its Macon and Atlanta campuses in its weekly testing summary published Friday. That’s the lowest number of positive cases reported in a weekly update this fall.
Between Sept. 25 and Oct. 1, six students on the Macon campus and four students on the Atlanta campus tested positive for COVID-19.
These 10 positive cases came from a total of 594 completed tests, indicating a positivity rate of just 1.68% — the lowest since Mercer began reporting case numbers Aug. 21. The positivity rate measures the percentage of individuals who were tested and received a positive result.
Overall, the number of positive cases decreased significantly from last week, from 14 new cases to 10, while testing jumped slightly since last week from 571 tests last week to 594 tests this week.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Mercer has documented 269 total positive cases among students, faculty and staff across all campuses.
Members of the Mercer community are directed to call Mercer Medicine at (478) 301-4111 or the Student Health Center 24/7 hotline at (478) 301-7425 if they begin displaying symptoms. Students who are enrolled in a course in which a student has tested positive will receive an email notifying them of their risk.
Caitlyn Patton contributed reporting.
(10/02/20 4:00am)
Take note: Monday is the last day you can register to vote in the general election Nov. 3 if you’re a Georgia resident. The deadline is the same whether you want to vote absentee, in-person early or in-person on Election Day.
If you’re not a resident of the Peach State, you can check the deadline for voter registration in your home state on this state-by-state guide from vote.org.
Nationally, college students report low voter participation rates, although the percentage of college students who vote rose from 19% in 2014 to 40% in 2018. More college students than ever are projected to vote this year, according to POLITICO. And since young people make up such a large percentage of the population, the 18-29 age group could have a major impact on the results of the election.
Not sure how to register?
Got two minutes to spare and a phone in your hand? Then you have everything you need to register to vote. Visit vote.org or the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page.
But first, make sure you’re eligible.
In Georgia, you must be 18 years old by Election Day to register. If you’re not 18, but your birthday falls on or before Nov. 3, you are still able to go ahead and register now.
You must be a United States citizen and a legal resident of the county you’re registering in. That means most Mercer students should register in the county they call home, not Macon-Bibb (except for those who are legal residents of Macon).
And if you already registered to vote but your family moved counties before Oct. 4 — 30 days before the election — you may need to re-register if you’re no longer a legal resident of the county you initially registered in. Check your My Voter Page to make sure your registration is still active.
“You also cannot be serving a sentence ‘for conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude,’ and you cannot have been found ‘mentally incompetent’ by a judge” in order to register, according to Atlanta Magazine.
Once you’re registered and good to go, check out the My Voter page to access a sample ballot, find your polling place or request an absentee ballot.
OK, I’m registered. But how do I vote?
There are three ways to ensure your voice is heard in the upcoming election: voting in-person on Nov. 3, voting early or voting by mail (also known as voting absentee).
Voting absentee
Absentee voting is a popular choice this year. As of Sept. 30, 1,352,070 Georgians requested absentee ballots — five times more than in 2016, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, every state in the nation will allow absentee voting for any reason in 2020, according to usa.gov.
Georgia voters can request a ballot on the Secretary of State’s absentee ballot request portal or by mail after printing an absentee ballot request form from vote.org and mailing it to the county registrar. Make sure you act fast if this is the route you take, as ballots must be received by the registrar on or before Nov. 3 in order to be counted.
When you receive your ballot, make sure you fill it out exactly as the instructions indicate, or you risk your vote not being counted, according to previous reporting by The Cluster.
Early voting
Voters can also choose to vote in-person if they feel that voting by mail leaves too much room for error. And it doesn’t have to be on Election Day. For shorter lines and more flexibility, many states — including Georgia — offer early voting. This year, the early voting period runs from Oct. 12-30, although dates and hours vary by county. County-specific information is available on the Secretary of State’s website or your My Voter Page.
Voting on Election Day
If you prefer to vote in person on Election Day itself, find your assigned polling place on your My Voter page and prepare to be there between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m on Nov. 3. As long as you’re in line before 7 p.m., you will be allowed to remain in line and cast your vote, according to the Secretary of State’s guidelines. Just be sure to bring a photo ID (and your Social Security card if this is your first time voting).
For more information on when, where and how to vote in the 2020 general election, visit vote411.org, the My Voter Page or your county registrar’s website. And above all, don’t forget to register by Oct. 5.
(10/01/20 5:44pm)
Ashley Pemberton is a second-year student double-majoring in Journalism and Art. Her work has been featured in “BlackGirlsAnime” and “That Green Tea.” She hopes to create work that inspires others and cultivate a space in which everyone can exist openly and freely.
(09/30/20 4:00am)
Homecoming usually entails a themed student spirit week, elections to Homecoming Court, a highly-anticipated football game and the chance for hundreds of Mercer University alumni to return to campus to gather with former classmates and celebrate their alma mater.
This year, however, the threat of COVID-19 has thrown a wrench in those plans.
When the Southern Conference canceled all fall conference sports competitions Aug. 13, including the Homecoming game, Mercer had to choose a new date and an out-of-conference opponent, according to Jill Kinsella, associate vice president for the Office of Alumni Services and executive director of the Alumni Association.
“With a new game against Abilene Christian University scheduled for Oct. 31, the university is taking that opportunity to allow some of the usual student-focused traditions, such as Homecoming Court, to proceed,” Kinsella said.
The Homecoming celebration was previously scheduled to take place Nov. 6-8 but has been shifted to Oct. 29-31 to reflect the revised football schedule, according to a press release from Mercer University.
“After much discussion and consideration, and at the risk of disappointing those who were looking forward to November, we have decided that our Homecoming 2020 plans for alumni and friends were not feasible due to the current environment,” Kinsella said in the release.
Because Homecoming typically draws hundreds of people to campus for large gatherings, Kinsella said that many of the events previously planned for the alumni had to be cancelled.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has, of course, caused many of our alumni to be cautious about travelling and socializing,” she told The Cluster. “Social distancing would have been very difficult to achieve for that many guests, so we are foregoing the traditional indoor alumni events, including class reunions, the Half Century Club Luncheon, the Annual Alumni Awards Dinner, the Annual Alumni Career Speaker Series and others.”
Some groups of alumni may independently host small, socially-distanced gatherings, she said, but none have been confirmed.
Mercer has not yet decided on protocols for alumni regarding ticketing and tailgating for the football game.
Overall, she said alumni—while disappointed—have responded well to the event cancellations.
“There has been widespread support for our decision to forego those events this year,” she said. “They appreciate the safety considerations, and they trust that we will make up for lost time when we are able to gather again.”
Kinsella’s office plans to host a normal Homecoming again in 2021.
“If there is an opportunity to gather before then, we will certainly consider it,” she said. Further Homecoming updates will be posted to Mercer’s Homecoming webpage as they occur.
(09/26/20 5:27pm)
Mercer University and its students have been busy since the fall semester began. Here’s a rundown of some of the top news stories from campus and beyond.
Mercer breaks ground on Columbus, Ga., medical school campus
As part of its ongoing mission to expand health care access across Georgia in rural and underserved areas of the state, Mercer broke ground on its new medical school campus in Columbus Sept. 3.
The university, with the help of funding from the city of Columbus and the state of Georgia, will build a 85,000-square-foot, two-story facility, complete with classroom and office spaces, as well as simulation, research and cadaver labs and a vivarium, according to a university press release.
Mercer held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site, 1701 First Ave., the morning construction began. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and House Speaker David Ralston were in attendance, along with university and city officials.
Kemp said that Mercer’s new medical school campus symbolized its commitment to helping the state fight COVID-19.
“This new medical campus is a great example of Mercer’s ongoing partnership in that fight and its commitment to caring for people not only in this area but all of Southwest Georgia and rural Georgia, in particular,” Kemp said. “At a time when all lives are looking to our health care system for guidance and support, I, for one, am very grateful for that.”
Mercer’s expansion of medical education into Columbus began in the 1970s, when the school sent a select number of third- and fourth-year medical students to perform clinical rotations at Piedmont Columbus Regional and St. Francis Hospitals. Over time, medical school enrollment grew to 40 upperclassmen students, with the university beginning to teach classes there in 2012.
The creation of a free-standing Mercer University School of Medicine campus in Columbus will allow the program to enroll 240 medical students in the city. Construction is expected to wrap up in late 2021 or early 2022 with the first class of first-year medical students set to start at the new location in the fall of 2021.
Tarver Library announces commuter lounge
Commuter students will now have a convenient place to spend time between classes, thanks to Tarver Library’s newly-installed commuter lounge.
Opened in late August, the commuter lounge is located on the main floor of the library past the circulation desk and computer area. Already fitted with lounge chairs, study tables and a microwave for heating meals—a perk that will likely appeal to the many commuters who forgo a campus meal plan—the lounge will soon add lockers for students to store their books, too.
Access to the lounge is reserved exclusively for commuter students. The door will only open for commuters who scan their Bear Card, according to an email sent to students by the Office for Student Success Aug. 28.
The commuter lounge will remain open during Tarver Library’s regular business hours: Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 2-10 p.m.
Students phone bank for Joe Biden
Mercer's newly-reestablished chapter of Young Democrats phone banked for Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden via Zoom Sept. 8.
The chapter was restarted by juniors Kylie Brown and Sheridan King after much of its previous leadership graduated.
“We decided to recharter our chapter because we understand that this election may be the most critical election our nation has ever seen,” King said. “We wanted to ensure that students have the opportunity to stay informed and engaged with the political process.”
One step of that goal was organizing a phone banking opportunity in support of Biden. With the help of Mercer alumna Hoor Qureshi, who now works on the Biden/Harris campaign, King and Brown made sure that each of the approximately 10 participants had the necessary resources to participate in a phone bank. They knew that for some, this would be their first time getting involved politically.
“We knew that it would be a great way to engage the students as well as educate them on the Biden/Harris campaign,” King said. “Making phone calls allows you to understand more about the candidates’ campaign and what voters are actually looking for in a candidate. Overall, it’s an extremely rewarding experience.”
(09/23/20 5:38am)
A raging pandemic, police brutality, catastrophic wildfires and a contentious presidential election: every time we log on to social media or read our favorite news site, we’re bombarded with these emotional stories and painful images of the world around us. But it’s tough to stay away, even when the content we consume is stressful. The desire to be informed citizens can cause us to push through the negative feelings and keep on scrolling.
However, studies have shown that watching the news and exposing ourselves to social media can be detrimental to our mental health. A growing body of research suggests that daily consumption of news negatively affects mental health, especially when the person watching the news finds it relevant to their own life. Social media is a top offender, too—even more so during a crisis. In fact, a recent study by researchers in China found that the prevalence of depression and anxiety ran much higher in people who consumed social media frequently during the COVID-19 outbreak compared to the population who consumed it prior to the outbreak.
It’s helpful to limit our consumption of news and social media during such a tumultuous time, but it’s not realistic just to tune out all news and pretend the stressors don’t exist. Here are a few ways to stay informed while managing your mental health.
Catch yourself when you’re ‘doomscrolling’
You may have heard the term “doomscrolling” recently. Merriam-Webster actually wrote about it this year, but stopped short of adding it to the dictionary. The company defines doomscrolling as “the tendency to continue to surf or scroll through bad news, even though that news is saddening, disheartening or depressing,” which is exactly what many of us have been doing throughout 2020.
Doomscrolling isn’t just casual surfing, according to Healthline. It’s an obsessive relationship with negative news that leads to heightened anxiety but makes it a struggle to tear yourself away from the screen. When you feel yourself starting to get anxious, try switching apps to something lighter. A mobile game or a text to a friend can ease you out of your scrolling spiral.
Limit the time you spend online
Don’t give up on the news for good, though. We’re living in hugely important times right now. While the world can feel uncomfortable or even terrifying, that means we may finally be able to start moving forward on some of the systemic issues we face as a nation. It can be tough to balance staying informed and staying mentally well, though, so try putting a timer on it. Half an hour on reputable news sites (more on that later) should be enough for you to glean what’s most pressing.
And when it comes to social media, Dr. Patricia Celan, a psychiatry resident at Dalhousie University in Canada, told Healthline that she recommends just a short stint every day.
“Instead of trying to stop doomscrolling, limit it,” Celan said. “Set yourself a timer every time you decide you’re about to start scrolling for updates, stopping at five to 15 minutes. That way you can feel informed while letting go before you begin to feel overwhelmed.”
Find a few news sites that you trust
It’s no secret that the social media industry is a major player in news dissemination, but it’s also where your grandma shares fake news and where your friends post screenshots on their stories and call it activism. Perusing social media is not a reliable way of getting objective, factual information. To combat that, try selecting a few reputable news organizations to rely on instead.
Some of the most well-respected outlets include Associated Press News, Reuters or NPR for national and global news, and you should subscribe to your local newspaper for close-to-home coverage, too. You could also find an unbiased podcast or newsletter that delivers the most important stories of the day and let that be your main source. Try The Daily or TheSkimm.
Check in with yourself before you consume….
It’s unfortunate that we live in an era where we need to do this, but take some time to assess how you feel before you check the news or scroll through Facebook. (Are you in the right headspace to receive information that could possibly hurt you?) Seriously, though, it’s important to make sure that you have the emotional bandwidth to handle potentially disastrous stories or watch traumatic videos.
...and after you consume
Ground yourself after you read the news, especially if you came across something anxiety-inducing. Try spending time in nature, going on a socially-distanced walk with a friend, cooking a meal, reading a lighthearted book or practicing self-care in whichever way works best for you. It’s important to mentally refresh so you avoid sitting on negative emotions all day.
Do something to help the causes you care about
It’s normal to question whether unplugging is the best idea right now. If we stay away from social media, we’ll be uninformed, and then we can’t really help make change, right? Well, consider this: sharing social media posts or forcing yourself to watch traumatizing videos isn’t actually helping, and raising awareness means nothing if there is no follow-through. Sometimes, that performative activism can even harm marginalized communities.
You can take a break from the posting and doomscrolling and still help out, which can alleviate your fear of ignoring the crises by unplugging. Sign petitions to support the Black Lives Matter movement, email your representatives about the COVID-19 response you want to see, donate to relief funds for those affected by dangerous weather and register to vote. These steps will make a much greater impact while protecting your mental health. Besides, how can you expect yourself to fully engage if you’re too stressed to stop scrolling?
(09/18/20 4:09pm)
Mercer University announced 36 new cases of COVID-19 between the Macon and Atlanta campuses in its weekly testing summary posted Friday.
Of the 36 total positive cases, 33 are among students on the Macon campus. One case is a faculty or staff member on the Macon campus, and two cases are among students on the Atlanta campus.
The 36 positive cases come from a total of 608 tests completed over the week of Sept. 11-17.
For this week's period, the positivity rate — the indicator that looks at what percentage of COVID-19 tests come back positive — was 5.9%. The positivity rate is considered by public health experts to be an important measure for gauging levels of community spread.
The update shows an increase in cases from the previous week. Between Sept. 4 to Sept. 10, the university announced 17 new coronavirus cases and 567 COVID-19 tests — a 2.9% positivity rate.
This week's 36 new cases makes this week's release the third-highest case number update since the start of the school year.
Mercer has documented 245 total positive COVID-19 cases since the onset of the pandemic.
Members of the Mercer community are directed to call Mercer Medicine at (478) 301-4111 or the Student Health Center 24/7 hotline at (478) 301-7425 if they begin displaying symptoms. Students who are enrolled in a course in which a student has tested positive will receive an email notifying them of their risk.
Caitlyn Patton contributed reporting.
(09/06/20 6:06pm)
(09/02/20 2:43am)
Mercer University quietly changed its COVID-19 protocols in a document posted to its coronavirus page Tuesday. The document is an updated version of one that was released in June.
The updates reduce the amount of time a student who tests positive for COVID-19 must be fever-free before ending their self-isolation and removes a previous suggestion that a student test negative twice before ending self-isolation.
The new document also includes specific guidelines for "immunosuppressed" people who test positive and clarifies the amount of time in which a student can expect to receive test results from Mercer Medicine if they are tested for the coronavirus.
“These changes to Mercer’s COVID-19 protocols are a result of updated guidance from the CDC,” said Kyle Sears, director of media relations for Mercer, in an email to The Cluster.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released updated guidance Aug. 26.
Students no longer encouraged to test negative before ending self-isolation
The initial document recommended that a student who tests positive but does not exhibit symptoms either self-isolate for 10 days or self-isolate until they test negative twice.
The suggestion to test negative twice has been removed in the update.
Symptomatic students are also not advised to receive a negative test before ending their self-isolation. In the first version of the protocols document, students were directed to remain in self-isolation until at least 10 days passed and their symptoms improved. In addition, they must either remain fever-free for 72 hours or test negative twice, 24 hours apart, without a fever. The recommendation to receive two negative tests was removed in the updated protocols document.
Symptomatic students allowed to end self-isolation after 24 hours without fever
Students who have symptoms were initially asked to remain fever-free for 72 hours without fever-reducing medication before emerging from their 10-day self-isolation period. The updated document walks back that requirement to 24 hours without fever-reducing medication.
Symptomatic students are still expected to self-isolate for at least 10 days “with improvement in respiratory symptoms” after testing positive.
The updated protocols specify that immunosuppressed students should self-isolate for 20 days rather than 10, whether or not they develop symptoms.
Test result turnaround time clarified
The university opened a COVID-19 testing facility on the Macon campus in July.
In the original protocols document, the university advised that “specimen collection needs to be completed by noon for return of report within one business day. Specimen can be collected after noon, but report may take up to two business days.”
The revised document no longer specifies how to receive results on the shorter timeline.
The only guidance on turnaround time on the updated document is a statement that “test results are returned in most cases within one to two business days.”
Sears said that “this change reflects the fact that tests aren’t always processed over the weekends.”
New protocols reflect updated CDC recommendations
Mercer’s updated protocols follow guidelines recently put forth by the CDC. The CDC directs symptomatic individuals to self-isolate for at least 10 days and end their quarantine after they have been fever-free for 24 hours without medication and have experienced improvement in their symptoms.
The agency also advises that “most people do not require testing to decide when they can be around others.”
This statement is a reversal of the CDC’s previous position that anyone who had been exposed to someone with COVID-19 should seek testing.
Updated CDC recommendations may reflect pressure from White House to reduce testing
Some experts are concerned that the CDC’s abrupt changes are a result of pressure from the White House to reduce the number of tests performed in the U.S. after President Donald Trump repeatedly implied this summer that the U.S. should conduct fewer tests in order to report smaller case numbers.
“Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far more than any other country, and ever expanding. With smaller testing we would show fewer cases!” Trump tweeted June 23.
He later said that the tweet was “tongue-in-cheek,” according to The Hill, but he said again in July that reducing the number of tests would appear to reduce the number of cases.
“Think of this, if we didn’t do testing, instead of testing over 40 million people, if we did half the testing we would have half the cases,” Trump said, as reported by CNBC. “If we did another, you cut that in half, we would have, yet again, half of that.”
Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, said in August that the recent changes were recommended by the White House.
"These updated guidelines, coordinated in conjunction with the White House Coronavirus Task Force, received appropriate attention, consultation and input from task force experts," Redfield said in a statement released to CNN.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which houses the CDC, denied that the guidelines were recommended by the White House, according to the Washington Post.
"This Guidance has been updated to reflect current evidence and best public health practices, and to further emphasize using CDC-approved prevention strategies to protect yourself, your family, and the most vulnerable of all ages,” said HHS spokesperson and federal testing czar Brett Giroir.
The evidence Giroir referenced is still unclear. The standpoint that asymptomatic people do not need to be tested runs counter to the CDC’s data on asymptomatic transmission.
The CDC reports that up to 40% of all COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic and that asymptomatic carriers are 75% more likely to transmit COVID-19 than symptomatic carriers.
Carlos del Rio, infectious disease specialist and associate dean of Emory University School of Medicine, told Politico that the CDC has not provided any evidence that asymptomatic people do not need to be tested.
“Asymptomatic people transmit, and if you don’t isolate them and you don’t identify them, transmission will continue,” del Rio said. “I’m worried we are not diagnosing the people that we need to diagnose.”
Students encouraged to check Mercer’s website for policy updates
Sears confirmed Tuesday that the updates to Mercer’s protocols were not announced via email or any other mass dissemination method aside from being uploaded to Mercer’s COVID-19 website that day.
“We have been consistently encouraging students, faculty, staff and parents to check Mercer’s COVID-19 site daily. We’ve added a tab at the top of the page that lists the latest updates so they can be easily identified,” Sears said.
(08/28/20 4:30pm)
This story was updated at 11:03 p.m. Aug. 28 to include information obtained from a Bibb County police report.
A Mercer University student was shot while driving back to the Macon campus with two passengers Thursday night.
The three students, all 18, were returning to campus around 9:45 p.m. when they heard what they thought was a car backfiring as they neared the intersection of Montpelier and Pio Nono Avenues, according to an incident report from the Bibb County Sheriff's Office obtained by The Cluster.
However, the driver of the car realized that the noise had been gunfire, and she had been shot in the arm.
"The bullet grazed the left side of her chest and entered her left arm near the elbow before exiting on the other side of her arm," the report said.
The driver did not stop the car and drove to Greater Zion Hill Baptist Church, where she felt it was safe to stop and call 9-1-1. She was taken via ambulance to the Medical Center at Navicent Health, where she was treated and later released.
The two passengers were uninjured.
Bibb County Police found two bullet holes on the passenger side of the driver's vehicle and logged the incident as three counts of aggravated assault and one count of criminal damage to property.
In an email early Friday morning, Mercer University President Bill Underwood informed students of the shooting.
“The Office of Student Life and Counseling and Psychological Services are providing support to the affected students,” Underwood said. “The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.”
According to 13WMAZ, there are currently no suspects. Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to contact the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 478-751-7500.
(08/22/20 4:00am)
Back-to-school preparation usually involves buying textbooks, decorating a new dorm room and reuniting with friends. For Mercer University undergraduates returning to campus this fall, though, a new task was added to their list: getting tested for COVID-19.
Undergraduates were required to undergo a test prior to moving into student housing or attending class as part of Mercer’s plan to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus during the transition back to in-person operations. Mercer opened a testing laboratory on the Macon campus June 19 to facilitate these tests and more.
The lab, operated by Mercer’s School of Medicine and affiliated primary care practice Mercer Medicine, staffs three technicians and can conduct about 740 tests per day with results released within two business days, according to a university press release.
“This is really a monumental accomplishment for Mercer University that was made possible by a major team effort,” School of Medicine Department of Biomedical Sciences Chair Dr. Robert McKallip said. “For an academic institution to be able to go in two months from essentially nothing to having a high-complexity diagnostic lab up and running, it really is an unbelievable feat.”
Mercer’s testing facility is a satellite of Atlanta-based molecular and anatomical pathology laboratory Ipsum Diagnostics and is funded in part by a grant from the Griffith Family Foundation, a local organization founded by Mercer alumnus Benjamin Griffith to support nonprofits benefiting Macon-Bibb County.
According to the press release, about $750,000 has been invested in the lab. Mercer Medicine bills a patient’s insurance provider for the test, though McKallip said no one will be denied a test if they cannot pay and that most insurance providers will cover the full cost of a test.
Mercer’s testing facility staff were trained by Ipsum Diagnostics to conduct nasal swab tests and analyze the results.
Mercer senior C. was tested at the University Center Aug. 10. She opted to remain anonymous when discussing her health. C. said the testing process was simple, private and mostly socially distant.
“Everyone in line had masks on,” she said. “I entered the U.C. and was greeted by friendly staff and my temperature was taken. I then stood in a line of about five people inside and presented my insurance card to a nurse. I was given a card with my ID number and name and given a test that I gave to a nurse who was in a gown, mask and face shield. The nurse administered the test behind a room divider for privacy. They did the nasal swab and that was it.”
However, C. said there was a delay in receiving her test results. She was told that she would get her results back within 24 hours, but more than 48 hours passed before she received her negative result.
C. said that many of Mercer’s health and safety initiatives, including testing, seem “better than other universities,” but flaws remain.
“On paper it seems to work, however, many students and professors don't wear masks around friends or continue to go out to dinner or bars. Some classes require you to share a table with other students. Auditoriums are crammed with 100 students sometimes only a foot apart leaning over to talk to each other,” she said.
As the fall semester begins, Mercer’s lab plans to hire more technicians and staff, which McKallip said will allow the facility to process “considerably more” tests. Eventually, increased testing capacity will allow Mercer to expand its operations.
“The goal here is to serve Mercer as well as Central and rural South Georgia communities where Mercer Medicine has clinical sites,” McKallip said.
Mercer announced Friday that 103 students tested positive out of 4,229 students who were tested between July 20 to Aug. 19 across Mercer's four campuses. Out of 263 faculty and staff members who received tests following potential exposure to COVID-19 during that time, 15 also tested positive.
A previous announcement from the university revealed that 35 students out of 316 who received tests between July 31 and Aug. 3 were positive for coronavirus.
Residential students who test positive but cannot return home to self-isolate are able to isolate in designated campus housing with a private bedroom and private bathroom access.
Students can make an appointment to get tested by calling Mercer Medicine at (478) 301-4111 or the Student Health Center’s 24/7 hotline at (478) 301-7425.