Here’s the ballot for the Nov. 6 General Election in Muscogee County
THE MUSCOGEE COUNTY BALLOT FOR NOV. 6, 2018
These are the contested races and ballot measures for the next General Election in Columbus. Whether a district race is on a ballot depends on where the voter lives.
GOVERNOR
Brian Kemp, Republican
Stacey Abrams, Democrat
Ted Metz, Libertarian
David C. Byrne, write-in
Rod Mack, write-in
Bobby Waldrep, write-in
Bobby Williams, write-in
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Geoff Duncan, Republican
Sarah Riggs Amico, Democrat
SECRETARY OF STATE
Brad Raffensperger, Republican
John Barrow, Democrat
Smythe Duval, Libertarian
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Chris Carr (incumbent), Republican
Charlie Bailey, Democrat
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE
Gary Black (incumbent), Republican
Fred Swann, Democrat
COMMISSIONER OF INSURANCE
Jim Beck, Republican
Janice Laws, Democrat
Donnie Foster, Libertarian
STATE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT
Richard Woods (incumbent), Republican
Otha E. Thornton Jr., Democrat
Sonia Francis-Rolle, write-in
COMMISSIONER OF LABOR
Mark Butler (incumbent), Republican
Richard Keatley, Democrat
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSIONER
Chuck Eaton (incumbent), Republican
Lindy Miller, Democrat
Ryan Graham, Libertarian
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSIONER
Tricia Pridemore (incumbent), Republican
Dawn A. Randolph, Democrat
John Turpish, Libertarian
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, 2nd CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Herman West, Republican
Sanford Bishop (incumbent), Democrat
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, 3rd CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Drew Ferguson (incumbent), Republican
Chuck Enderlin, Democrat
GEORGIA SENATE, DISTRICT 29
Randy Robertson, Republican
Valerie Haskins, Democrat
PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
AMENDMENT 1
Creates the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund to protect water quality, wildlife habitat, and parks.
Without increasing the current state sales tax rate, shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to create the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund to conserve lands that protect drinking water sources and the water quality of rivers, lakes, and streams; to protect and conserve forests, fish, wildlife habitats, and state and local parks; and to provide opportunities for our children and families to play and enjoy the outdoors, by dedicating, subject to full public disclosure, up to 80 percent of the existing sales tax collected by sporting goods stores to such purposes without increasing the current state sales tax rate?
AMENDMENT 2
Creates a statewide business court to lower costs, enhance efficiency, and promote predictable judicial outcomes.
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to create a state-wide business court, authorize superior court business court divisions, and allow for the appointment process for state-wide business court judges in order to lower costs, improve the efficiency of all courts, and promote predictability of judicial outcomes in certain complex business disputes for the benefit of all citizens of this state?
AMENDMENT 3
Encourages the conservation, sustainability, and longevity of Georgia’s working forests through tax subclassification and grants.
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to revise provisions related to the subclassification for tax purposes of and the prescribed methodology for establishing the value of forest land conservation use property and related assistance grants, to provide that assistance grants related to forest land conservation use property may be increased by general law for a five-year period and that up to 5 percent of assistance grants may be deducted and retained by the state revenue commissioner to provide for certain state administrative costs, and to provide for the subclassification of qualified timberland property for ad valorem taxation purposes?
AMENDMENT 4
Provides rights for victims of crime in the judicial process.
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide certain rights to victims against whom a crime has allegedly been perpetrated and allow victims to assert such rights?
AMENDMENT 5
Authorizes fair allocation of sales tax proceeds to county and city school districts.
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to authorize a referendum for a sales and use tax for education by a county school district or an independent school district or districts within the county having a majority of the students enrolled within the county and to provide that the proceeds are distributed on a per student basis among all the school systems unless an agreement is reached among such school systems for a different distribution?
PROPOSED STATEWIDE REFERENDA
A: Provides for a homestead exemption for residents of certain municipal corporations.
Do you approve a new homestead exemption in a municipal corporation that is located in more than one county, that levies a sales tax for the purposes of a metropolitan area system of public transportation, and that has within its boundaries an independent school system, from ad valorem taxes for municipal purposes in the amount of the difference between the current year assessed value of a home and the adjusted base year value, provided that the lowest base year value will be adjusted yearly by 2.6 percent?
B: Provides a tax exemption for certain homes for the mentally disabled.
Shall the Act be approved which provides an exemption from ad valorem taxes on nonprofit homes for the mentally disabled if they include business corporations in the ownership structure for financing purposes?
SPECIAL ELECTION
CLERK OF SUPERIOR COURT
Danielle Forte
Shasta Thomas Glover (incumbent)
SUNDAY BRUNCH ALCOHOL SALES
Shall the governing authority of Columbus, Georgia, be authorized to permit and regulate Sunday sales of distilled spirits or alcoholic beverages for beverage purposes by the drink from 11:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.?
This story was originally published October 7, 2018 at 3:11 PM.