July 31 Election: Absentee ballots available
By SARAH FAY CAMPBELLsarah@newnan.com
Paper absentee ballots are now available for the July 31 general election primary and nonpartisan election.
Officials with the Coweta County Voter Registration Office started mailing out the ballots on Monday to voters who have requested them. Paper ballots can be mailed out until the week before the election.
If you’re not registered to vote, or you need to change your address, the deadline is July 2.
Cowetans should have already received their new precinct cards. All registered voters will receive a new card this year, because of redistricting. Voters are encouraged to look closely at their cards to make sure everything is correct, and to see if there are district changes. A few Cowetans will see that their precinct, and therefore their polling place, has moved.
Applications for a paper absentee ballot can be obtained from the Coweta County Voter Registration Office, located at 22 East Broad Street in downtown Newnan, or from the Georgia Secretary of State’s website, www.sos.georgia.gov/elections . You can also get a voter registration form from those locations, as well as from local libraries.
Voters can see their precinct and district information, and even view a sample ballot, on the secretary of state’s “my voter page” at www.sos.georgia.gov/mvp .
Though there are few contested races on the ballot, voters will still have to scroll past nearly a page of uncontested non-partisan races to get to the special elections — for the transportation sales tax and Sunday sales questions. There is also a referendum for Moreland voters regarding moving council members to four-year terms.
The first thing voters will see will be the primary candidate selections.
For Republican voters, there are four contested races — two local races and two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission.
There are no contested races on the Democratic primary ballot.
Voters choosing either a Republican or Democratic ballot will then get to answer questions placed by the respective parties. These are not binding questions, but are essentially opinion polls.
Voters can also select a nonpartisan ballot.
It will contain all the nonpartisan races, as well as the special referendums for alcohol and the regional Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.
Then there will be the long list of nonpartisan races. The only contested race, which is located near the middle of the list, is for a Superior Court judgeship in the Coweta Judicial Circuit. Emory Palmer and Kevin McMurry are running for the seat being vacated by Judge Allen Keeble.
For more information, contact the Coweta Voter Registration Office at 770-254-2615 or e-mail jhamilton@coweta.ga.us , or visit the Georgia Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.georgia.gov/elections .
