Griggs hopes to tackle variety of issues

May 17—U.S. House District 1 Democratic candidate Joyce Griggs has quite a few issues she wants to address if elected to Congress.

Criminal justice, rehabilitation, police training, gun restrictions, abortion rights and climate are areas in which she believes the federal government should take swift action.

Griggs is a veteran, having served in the U.S. Army for 33 years before retiring as a lieutenant colonel. She worked as an intelligence officer.

The middle child of 10, she grew up in the rural community Bethel, North Carolina. She and her siblings helped her mother with farming work, while her mother also worked several other jobs to make ends meet.

"We had a mom who kept us together, which was beautiful," Griggs said.

Her mom would bring home old magazines and books given to her, and Griggs consumed them voraciously. She worked two jobs and ultimately attended North Carolina Central University, earning degrees in sociology and counseling. She worked as a counselor at another college for a while before joining the Army.

"They chose me as an intelligence officer ... I traveled throughout the world and worked with national-level intelligence agencies," Griggs said.

Currently, she is facing fellow Democrats Wade Herring and Michelle Munroe in the ongoing primary. The winner will challenge Republican incumbent Buddy Carter, unopposed in the primary, in the November general election.

Criminal justice reform is very high on her priority list, particularly when it comes to marijuana.

The punishments for marijuana possession and dealing are very often an overreaction. The production and use of weed should be entirely decriminalized, she said. Prisons sorely need more and better programs geared towards rehabilitation to reduce recidivism.

Many, many other issues feed into this one, however, starting with education. Pre-K education should be publicly available and free, she said. Kids who can't afford college or would need large loans should be steered toward technical colleges and trade schools.

"There's a slew of trades that are still needed," Griggs said.

Another pillar of reducing the prison population is making sure police are adequately trained in both application of the law and combating racial bias, she continued.

It's hard to say how much training is enough, she said, but Griggs suggested that police officer training should be standardized across the country and at a near the level of federal law enforcement.

Addressing the nation's carbon output to slow global warming is high among her concerns. Climate change is "a conglomerate of problems" encompassing racial justice, national security, agriculture and coastal flooding, she said.

"It affects everything. It impacts everything," Griggs said.

On election law, Griggs said it makes sense to ask for ID, but the new law also makes it harder to apply for an absentee ballot.

"People are becoming intimidated by these new crazy laws they're trying to pass, and it shouldn't be that way," she said. "It should be so easy to vote ... voting should be as easy as drinking water or brushing your teeth."

She'd also like to see campaign funding from political action committees and spending limited in campaigns. It's her opinion that big-money politicians and candidates who have massive advertising budgets are unfairly advantaged in races. This also serves to further polarization between the two sides of the nation's de facto two-party system, she said.

Seeing a third party succeed in more elections would be welcome, Griggs, said but it's almost impossible as things stand, she said.

On abortion, Griggs said a woman and a significant other should be able to make the decision. She felt it was a privacy issue ultimately.

But she did not outright oppose a recently leaked draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court that would overturn the court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision — which effectively legalized abortion nationwide. The states or, even better, the popular vote of each state's electorate should decide abortion laws.

Her stance on this topic is a result of her opinion that the federal government has too much control of individual citizens' lives. It's much easier for citizens to influence politicians in Atlanta than in Washington, D.C., she said.

"From the White House to my house, I think there's too much overreach by the federal government in a lot of issues of our lives," she said. "... We need some federal regulations and things in place, but I think the states or voters should ultimately decide."

She also believed the person who leaked the decision should be punished to the fullest extent the law allows for doing so.

On the topic of guns, Griggs said she isn't looking to get elected to abridge individual rights but felt the nation needs some restrictions on individual ownership of firearms to address crime and simple accidents.

From mass shootings with stolen guns to minors getting their hands on legally owned guns and shooting others, she believes it's a problem the government needs to take swift action on. If nothing else, she'd like to see Georgia's recently passed concealed carry bill repealed and requirements for licensing and training as prerequisites for gun ownership imposed.

"I think it needs to be regulated more, bottom line," Griggs said.

Other things she wants to address are the shrinking number of rural hospitals, homelessness, hunger, Medicare and Social Security.

"If we can send a lot of money to other places, let's take care of home first. I think we should help other nations, we do a lot of humanitarian work in other places, but don't we have a lot of homeless people here?" Griggs said.

Early voting is underway, and Glynn County residents can cast their ballot at three locations from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until Friday — the Glynn County Board of Elections' office at 1815 Gloucester St. in Brunswick; the Ballard Community Building, 30 Nimitz Drive in Brunswick; and Fire Station No. 2, 1929 Demere Road, St. Simons Island.

Election Day is May 24. For more information or to find your polling place, visit www.mvp.sos.ga.gov or glynncounty.org/elections.