Yes, we just had the Presidential Preference primary this week. My Presidential Preference wasn’t on either ballot, so there wasn’t much for me to talk about. But we’ve got another Primary coming up in May, this time for US House, state legislature, and county races which will be on ballots in November.
I pulled together a list of candidates who have qualified for races in both Fayette and Coweta1 using the Secretary of State’s website and maps from Dave’s Redistricting. There are 90 candidates between two US House races, three state Senate races, eight state House races, 14 Coweta county races, and 16 Fayette county races.
US House 3 will be the only race with action on both the Democrat and the Republican side, with 2 Democrat candidates and 8 Republicans. The runner up for most action will likely be State Senate 34, with 7 Democrats and one Republican. Whichever Democrat wins State House 69 (5 candidates) and State House 65 (4 candidates) in the Primary will be uncontested in November. There’s also only one candidate, a Democrat, for State House 68.
The only races where the Democrats aren’t running even a single candidate are all county races with only one Republican running. Coweta will have 8 no-contest county races in November, and Fayette will have 4.
It’s nice to know that none of the Fayette County Commission or Board of Education races are going uncontested this year. We have two County Commission races with two Democrats and one Republican, and one Board of Education race where it’s the other way around. The remaining seats all have one Republican and one Democrat.
Which ballot gives you the most voice? You’ll have to check your own races at the Georgia My Voter page.
My races are US House 3, State Senate 16, State House 68, and District 1 for both County Commission and Board of Ed. For me, US House is contested, State Senate isn’t, and all of the County races won’t be contested until November. So, I get to look at the eight candidates for US House, and decide which one I would really like to see on the ballot in November. There isn’t much else for me to vote on. But if you live elsewhere, you have to do your own figuring.
I’ve made a table here so you can check for yourself. The “only one candidate” races are filtered out already2.
Good luck with your voting strategy! I still have more research to do, to hopefully pick out candidates worth supporting, or worth avoiding. Stay tuned!
Why Coweta and Fayette? Well, I live in Fayette, and we have overlap with Coweta. Also, I’m in the Libertarian Party of Fayette-Coweta, GA, and we will be working on a voter scorecard this year.
If you really care to know what those “no contest this year” races are, they are: For Coweta, Tax Commissioner, Surveyor, Solicitor General, Sheriff, Probate Court Judge, County Commissioner Districts 5 and 1, Coroner, Clerk of Superior Court, Chief Magistrate, and Board of Education Districts 5 and 2. For Fayette, State House 68, Solicitor General, Sheriff, Probate Court Judge, four Magistrate Judge Posts, and Coroner.