In the July 31 election, Central Georgia residents will vote on more than just the dozens of races from county commissioners to U.S. Representatives.
On both the Democratic and Republican ballots, the parties are asking residents to vote yes or no on several statewide issues.
Those questions are non-binding. They're just on the ballot to measure public opinion.
On the Republican side there's five questions.
Republicans voting in the primary can have their say on whether:
- casino gambling should be allowed if funds go to education
- voters support ending unlimited gifts by lobbyists to legislators
- active duty military under 21 years of age should be allowed to have a weapons license
- the state constitution should be changed to say life begins at conception
- a person voting in the primary should be required to register their political party affiliation 30 days before the primary
State Republican Party Chairman Sue Everhart says it's been quite a while since they've asked questions on a ballot.
"I made a list of the most frequent questions that were asked and put them before the executive committee and I said let's just settle this and see if this is just a few people, " she said. "It was just to gauge how people out in the grassroots are feeling."
On the Democrats' side there are four issues, whether:
- the state constitution should be changed to allow the state to override locally elected school boards decisions on creating charter schools
- voters support ending unlimited gifts by lobbyists to legislators
- Georgia should adopt an income tax credit for home energy costs
- the state should reduce the sales tax on Georgia-made products
The state Democratic Party chairman says questions like these are an easy way to find out how constituents feel about an issue.
"It's a brilliant use of literally almost free polling because we can put these questions on the ballot and it gives us a pretty good idea what people are actually thinking," said Mike Berlon.
"It helps us to shape some legislation going in the future and it costs us next to nothing."
Both chairmen note that the questions are not binding, but they may affect how the two parties file and push legislation in next year's session of the general assembly.
According to the Bibb County Board of Elections office, early voting continues through July 27.
This Saturday, July 21, the board of elections office will also be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.