A federal judge has ordered Georgia to move up key dates in its federal elections calendar to give residents and military personnel overseas enough time to return absentee ballots by Election Day. State elections were unaltered. The new dates are:
March 17-21 — Qualifying period for candidates seeking federal offices.
April 19 — Deadline to transmit overseas ballots for the federal primary election.
June 3 — Federal primary election.
June 21 — Deadline to transmit overseas ballots for a federal primary runoff election.
Aug. 5 — Federal primary runoff election.
Sept. 20 — Deadline to transmit overseas ballots for the federal general election.
Nov. 4 — Federal general election.
Nov. 22 — Deadline to transmit overseas ballots for the federal general runoff election.
Jan. 6, 2015 — Federal general runoff election.
A U.S. district judge has ordered changes in Georgia’s federal election calendar starting in 2014, moving up the state’s primary by a month and essentially extending the campaign period for runoffs.
The order by Judge Steve C. Jones gives military residents and other Georgians living overseas enough time to return absentee ballots by Election Day.
But it also means Georgia may have to rework its schedule for state elections or force counties to hold more elections at a cost of millions of dollars. One of the state’s top legislators called that prospect “overwhelming.”
Jones’ order came in response to a federal lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice, which essentially took issue with the state’s practice of holding runoffs three weeks after an election.
Local officials envisioned confusion among voters asked to double their trips to the polls, since the state schedule remains unaltered. State leaders may consider fixing the problem next year by combining the ballots, which would move the primary up for all races from late July to June 3.
It is possible for the state to appeal the ruling. A spokeswoman for state Attorney General Sam Olens said his office was reviewing the order and had no further comment.
But in the interim: “It’s going to be a nightmare,” Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp said.
The issue is rooted in the country’s Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986, which established a 45-day window for overseas voters to return their ballots.
When the Justice Department objected last year to how that mandate clashed with the state’s 21-day runoff schedule, the state responded with a proposal to keep its three-week window for runoffs — but also allow overseas voters to extend their balloting time.
In other words, those voters would have been returning their votes after Election Day. The judge didn’t buy it. “If a candidate appears to have won from the unofficial results, [overseas] voters could be discouraged from sending in their ballots — under a misapprehension that their votes will not matter,” he said in the order, which was issued late Thursday.
His solution gives Georgia some of its earliest primaries in memory. It also highlights the state’s insistence of requiring a winning margin of 50 percent plus one vote vs. simply getting the most votes.
The political race most immediately affected by the decision is Georgia’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, which so far includes four Republicans likely to split a primary vote.
University of Georgia political expert Charles Bullock said those campaigns, which have been following the case closely, will likely need to raise more money because of increased costs for things like advertising. The order extends the time between an election and a runoff from three weeks to a full two months.
“Even then, it may be hard to keep voters’ attention,” he said.
Party officials across the spectrum expressed confidence candidates could meet that challenge.
GOP Chairman John Padgett said the order provided “new opportunities for the Georgia Republican Party, and I am fully confident in our ability to raise the funds and resources necessary to elect conservatives up and down the ballot.”
Nikema Williams, the interim chairwoman of the state’s Democratic Party, applauded the decision as one that “favors voters, not politicians.”
Local officials weren’t nearly so buoyant.
“The major concern is the cost to the counties,” DeKalb County Elections Director Maxine Daniels said, noting that the average cost in DeKalb alone for a countywide election was $350,000. “To have to do two is a bit more than we can bear. And trying to get voters to come out twice is not something we want to try.”
The soonest the state could act to combine the state and federal ballots — so that they are on the same schedule — is next year’s legislative session beginning in January.
House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, said it was important for those elections to be held on the same day, although he declined to address potential legislation given the possibility of appeal.
“The expense and confusion of having two separate elections would just be overwhelming,” Ralston said. “We have to let the dust settle and look at all the options and choose the one that serves the people of Georgia best.”
About the Author
