Georgia election officials say voters may not grasp the significance of - or even care about - five proposed constitutional amendments on Georgia's November ballot.
"They're not mentioning it to us, so I'm not sure whether they're understanding them or not," Whitfield County Elections Supervisor Kay Staten said Friday of the 260 or so early voters who cast ballots since Sept. 17.
It could be that state explanations of the proposals answer voters' questions, and local residents often pick up a sample ballot to study, Staten said.
PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTSVoters on Nov. 2 will decide five questions on proposed amendments to the Georgia Constitution. Voters are asked: "Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to:"1) Make Georgia more economically competitive by authorizing legislation to uphold reasonable competitive agreements?2) Impose an annual $10 trauma charge on certain passenger motor vehicles for the purpose of funding trauma care?3) Allow the Georgia Department of Transportation to enter into multiyear construction agreements without requiring appropriations in the current fiscal year of the local amount of payments that would be due under the entire agreement so as to reduce long-term construction costs?4) Provide for guaranteed cost savings for the state by authorizing a state entity to enter into multiyear contracts which obligate state funds for energy efficiency or conservation improvement projects?5) Allow the owners of real property located in industrial areas to remove the property from the industrial area?Source: Georgia secretary of state
Voters can get a state-issued booklet from the election office that contains copies of the five proposed amendments in their entirety and summaries prepared by the attorney general, secretary of state and the state's legislative counsel, she said.
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp's office, which oversees elections, has had few queries from anyone but the media on the proposed amendments, spokesman Matt Carruthers said.
"We haven't received many questions about interpreting the meanings or the effect of passage and denial of them," Carruthers said.
He said just one of the five questions has stirred noticeable controversy across the state.
"The only organized effort is that trauma one. People are pretty vocal on both sides," he said.
The "trauma" question is an up-or-down vote on a proposed $10 car tag fee to fund trauma centers around the state. Supporters of the fee launched a website and Facebook page to promote its passage.
Catoosa County resident Bob Townley, a 75-year-old retired college professor and self-described "devout" conservative who lives in the Windstone community, voted against the trauma fee proposal.
"Does it make a lot of sense to do away with drivers education, and then start collecting money off of tags to establish support for people who get in accidents and have to have trauma treatment?" Townley asked. He did not say how he voted on the other four proposals but noted he generally is opposed to any measure that expands government.
Townley said he thinks "most voters don't concern themselves with [constitutional changes] unless they've got an ax to grind."
But constitutional amendments are important issues that voters too often ignore, he said.
Tonya Moore, the elections supervisor in Catoosa County, said Friday that some of the 231 early voters passing through her office picked up the booklet and a sample ballot to study before voting.
"Most of them are picking it up and taking it with them," Moore said. No one has asked questions of elections officials, she said.
Matt Logan, an administrative assistant at the elections office in Walker County, said he has been overseeing the early voting room but has had only one person ask for the state's information packet.
"Nobody has spoken up about any of them," Logan said.
"Maybe they come in knowing what they think about them already," he speculated. "As far as I can tell, they haven't really been too concerned."
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/BenBenton.