The 2014 state primary elections would be May 20, the earliest on record, under legislation passed Tuesday by the state Senate.
House Bill 310, sponsored by House Ethics Committee Chairman Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs, is on a fast-track toward approval. It passed the Senate Ethics Committee only Monday, the first day of this year’s legislative session. Tuesday’s chamber vote was 38-15. HB 310 now goes to the House.
The bill would make the state and partisan county primaries compatible with Georgia’s new federal primary schedule. It comes after a federal judge ordered the state to move its federal primary from July to May 20 to allow for at least 45 days of absentee voting by military and overseas voters.
The bill would also require all candidates to file a campaign finance report on March 31. That date, however, would appear mostly aimed at unelected challengers because incumbent state officials cannot raise money during the 40-day legislative session. With little or no fundraising to report, incumbents would have little to disclose by March 31.
Under the proposal, candidate qualifying for the May 20 primary would run from March 3 to March 7.
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