Greater Chattanooga North GeorgiaIn Catoosa County:• A probate judge election among James Ellis, Jeff Hullender, Stephen Keith and Brad Palmer• A board of education election between Tracy Bass, Gloria Hunt and Jim SkeenIn Dade County:• A county commission election among Ben Brandon, Rick Breeden and Robert Goff• A board of education election between Jane Dixon and Cindy ShawIn Dalton:• A mayoral election between Miller Jones III and Dennis MockIn Fort Oglethorpe:• A city council election between Derek Rogers and Charles SharrockIn Walker County:• A referendum on whether businesses should be allowed to sell liquor by the drink on Sundays
This week, Georgians will have a chance to influence races for the governor's office and the U.S. Senate that will influence national politics.
Early voting begins today in the Peach State. And local election officials believe the headline-grabbing races with names like Nathan Deal, Jason Carter, David Perdue and Michelle Nunn will also influence local races that don't even stretch beyond the county level.
Mary Hammontree, the registrar in Whitfield County, expects more people to vote in local elections there because of the governor's and Senate races.
"A lot of people have called up here and asked about those," she said.
Early voting runs through Oct. 31. For those looking to vote early who can't get away from work or school priorities, voting precincts will also be open this year on Oct. 25, a Saturday.
The U.S. Senate race in Georgia in particular has drawn headlines because of its implications on the GOP's goal to reclaim a majority this year. Nunn and Perdue are competing for the seat of Saxby Chambliss, who is retiring after holding one of the Republicans' 45 Senate seats.
Perdue holds the edge. According to the polling aggregation website FiveThirtyEight.com, he has a 72 percent chance of taking Chambliss' seat for the Republican party.
Barbara Berry, Walker County's supervisor of elections, said that race has not garnered as much attention locally as the one between Deal and Carter, the grandson of former president Jimmy Carter.
"I've heard some talk about the governor's race," she said. "But it's been real quiet."
In some North Georgia communities, more people will vote this month than they do on actual Election Day. That was the case in Fort Oglethorpe last year, which held elections twice.
"At both of those elections," Fort Oglethorpe Elections Superintendent Orma Luckey said, "we voted more in the early voting that we did on the big day."
In addition to those two races, Georgia voters will vote on two constitutional amendments and a statewide referendum.
In one constitutional amendment, voters will decide whether the government should charge a new fee whenever the police arrest someone for reckless driving. The money collected from this fee would go toward covering the costs associated with brain and spinal cord injuries.
In a second constitutional amendment, voters will decide whether Georgia legislators should be banned from raising state income tax beyond the current level of 6 percent.
Those in favor of this change say it will attract new businesses. Those business owners will see that Georgia's tax rate is stable and will feel more comfortable moving there. But those against the change argue that no evidence proves that freezing the tax rate attracts people to a state, and will only lead to cuts for other areas, like schools.
Plus, voters could always later vote on a new constitutional amendment that "unfreezes" the tax rate.
As part of a state referendum, voters can choose whether private companies that manage college housing can be exempt from paying local property taxes. Right now, the University System of Georgia manages its own housing, but it wants to bring in private companies to handle this.
The university system doesn't have to pay local property taxes, so local governments will not be losing money if this referendum passes. Then again, the referendum would prevent those same local governments from gaining a new source of revenue.
There is also a contested race for the state House, where Republican incumbent John Deffenbaugh faces Democratic challenger Tom McMahan.