Breaking Down the Georgia Ballot
Image via Wikimedia Commons.
The first week of early voting has come to a close, and turnout has been massive.
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, approximately 296,500 individuals had cast a vote by Wednesday. Election officials in Cobb county told WSB-TV they’d never seen lines so long, calling the turnout “historic.”
While the contentious gubernatorial election is the most publicized element of the ballot, Georgia voters are also being asked to weigh in on five constitutional amendments and two referenda.
Unfortunately, the language of these issues is such that if you’re not a legal scholar, you might have some trouble trying to decipher what you’re actually voting on. According to Wake Up Atlanta, a nonpartisan web-series dedicated to civically engaging and educating Asian Americans in Georgia, in 2017 the average ballot question required 20 years of formal education to comprehend.
For this reason, the group spent over 40 hours researching and translating the ballot questions voters will be presented with when they head to the polls, creating an infographic for each. They are reprinted here with permission (for easier reading, right click and hit “view image”), or they can be downloaded here.
Early voting will continue throughout the month. Check here to find your polling place and it’s hours of operation.