Moral, money issues on ballot

Democrats, meanwhile, will ask if the state should be allowed to overrule local school boards to create charter schools, if individuals should get an income tax credit for home energy use and if sales taxes should be reduced on Georgia-made products.

Both parties will also ask voters if there should be a limit on lobbyists gifts to lawmakers.

Brian Headrick, 26, of Paulding County, plans to vote in the Republican primary and has already made up his mind on several of the questions [yes to the lobbyist gift cap and casino gambling, no on abortion]. He is doubtful, however, that the outcomes will make much difference in the General Assembly.

"At the end of the day, if the results supports their idea that they want to push forward, they will use it as evidence," Headrick said. "But if it doesn't support what they already want to do then I don't think they will."

Some of the questions appear to be slam-dunk wins, especially on legislative ethics. The idea of limiting gifts to lawmakers has become a popular one in 2012 and counts as advocates good-government groups like Common Cause Georgia and the conservative activists in the Tea Party.

What little opposition has been publicly expressed has come from the third floor of the state Capitol, where top House leaders have said a cap will not limit the influence of lobbyists. Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, has promised an alternative but has yet to reveal his plans. Leaders in the Senate, including Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and President Pro Tem Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, have said the gift cap.

But, without more broad-based support from top lawmakers, it might not go far, said University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock, an expert on primary elections and state politics.

"On the ethics one, you could maybe change attitudes, but it would have to be among leadership," he said. "A number of lawmakers are already behind that and might be able to use it as leverage."

Few believe the ethics question will fail to gain a majority of the vote — even Ralston acknowledged it will almost certainly pass.

Perhaps the most controversial question on either ballot is the Republican query to voters on casino gambling. State party Chairwoman Sue Everhart will not say who suggested the question, but said it came from several activists. Top Republicans are split. Gov. Nathan Deal opposes it; Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, said he will vote in favor of it July 31.

House Majority Whip Edward Lindsey, R-Atlanta, said he does not expect anyone "to abandon" their beliefs because of the results. "But it's still something for folks to take into account and consider," he said.

But what then? There is little precedent for this wave of statewide ballot questions in Georgia. These kinds of questions are more common on county ballots, where parties can add their own questions, often in an attempt to boost turnout.

Gwinnett County, for example, had nine questions on the 2008 Republican primary ballot while Democrats had 14.

The last time there was a statewide ballot question was apparently 2004, when lawmakers themselves moved to query voters on the state flag. The state a year earlier had adopted a new banner to replace the compromise flag created under Gov. Roy Barnes in 2001. Voters overwhelmingly said they supported the existing flag and lawmakers made no move to change it further.

This year, legislative leaders said they, too, are eager to hear voters' opinions but won't commit to necessarily acting on the outcomes.

"These kinds of ballot initiatives are a way to gauge the pulse of the electorate with probably a lot more accuracy than polls usually do," Lindsey said. "Now, where we go once the voters speak, we'll have to see."

Sen. Ronnie Chance, R-Tyrone, one of Gov. Nathan Deal's Senate floor leaders, said the ballot questions will give lawmakers a sense of what a majority of voters feel — but noted that turnout is unlikely to break 30 percent of registered voters. That means the results will be somewhat limited.

"But, obviously, it's important to know what the people of Georgia are thinking."

One reason for Republican leaders' hesitancy to embrace the outcomes is that they were not responsible for the questions getting on the ballot. The state party's executive committee approved them at the state convention in May.

Democratic Party officials, however, consulted their top lawmakers for input. House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, was among them and said the goal "is to test the appetite within our communities."

Democratic Party Chairman Mike Berlon said the questions are "a useful tool" and allows the party to essentially poll its base without paying for a statewide survey.

July 31 ballot questions

The wording of the non-binding referendums on the Republican and Democratic primary ballots.

Republican questions:

Democratic questions: