Election Day is next week and the time for advanced voting will end Oct. 31. With those deadlines looming, it is time for Fayette County voters to have their say on local and statewide races and two proposed constitutional amendments.
This will be the first general election in modern times that all Fayette voters won’t get to vote on all local offices, since district voting was ordered by a federal judge. Up for a vote are the local races for the Fayette County Board of Education in Districts 4 and 5 and the Fayette County Commission race in District 5.
Advanced voting for the Nov. 4 election runs through Oct. 31 at the elections office at the government complex in Fayetteville and until Oct. 30 at the Peachtree City Library and Tyrone Town Hall.
Voters from all districts can vote at any of the advanced voting locations, but your residential address will determine which of three ballots you will get.
The Fayette County Elections and Voter Registration Office, is located at 140 Stonewall Avenue West, Suite 208 in Fayetteville. The office will be open for voting at 8 a.m. and will close at 5 p.m. daily. Advance voting at this location will end at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 31.
Two additional advance voting locations will open until Oct. 30. These include:
Peachtree City Library — 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Tyrone Town Hall — 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Each of the county’s 36 polling locations will be open on Nov. 4 from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Elections supervisor Tom Sawyer said there will be no voting on Monday, Nov. 3.
County Commissioner Allen McCarty (R) will face off against Democratic challenger Pota Coston in the District 5 commission race.
The two school board races include Ogechi Oparah (D) and Diane Basham (R) in the District 4 race and incumbent Leonard Presberg (D) and challenger Dean Dunton (R) in the District 5 race.
The state representative race for District 73 covering a portion of south Fayette County will have incumbent John Yates (R) squaring off against Mario Driver (D).
Among the statewide races are the U.S. Senate race between David Perdue (R), Michelle Nunn (D) and Libertarian Amanda Swafford.
Also to be decided this year is the governor’s race that features incumbent Nathan Deal (R), Democratic challenger Jason Carter and Libertarian challenger Andrew Hunt.
A host of other races will be decided in statewide offices that include lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, commissioner of agriculture, commissioner for insurance, state school superintendent, commissioner of labor, two seats on the Public Service Commission.
The ballot will also contain two proposed constitutional amendments. Voters will decide if an increase in the state income tax rate should be prohibited and if reckless driving fees should be added to the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund. Voters will also decide if property owned by the University System of Georgia and operated by providers of student housing and other facilities should be exempt from taxation.
