If all goes according to plan, Liberty County voters will know this week who will succeed commission chairman John McIver, whether board of education District 2 incumbent Charlie Frasier will keep his post and whether to plan for a January tax increase.
Voters will weigh in Tuesday on Georgia’s primary and nonpartisan elections, with all regular precincts open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The chairman race should be determined in the primary because both candidates Donald Lovette and Maxie R. Jones IV are running as Democrat candidates. As a result, Liberty County voters who request Republican ballots will not have the option to vote on that contest.
District 2 voters on both sides of the aisle will weigh in on the nonpartisan board of education race between incumbent Charlie J. Frasier and Carolyn Smith Carter.
This marks the first year nonpartisan races are determined during the primary, a change that comes from 2010 state legislation, according to Georgia School Boards Association policy and legislative services director Angela Palm.
Two other BoE races are uncontested; Verdell Jones will keep her District 1 post, and Carol Guyett will remain seated for District 3.
A third contested race, between BoC District 4 Democrat incumbent Pat Bowen and Republican challenger Ted Eby, will be determined in November.
The BoC District 5 and 6 races also are uncontested, so Gary Gilliard and Eddie Walden, respectively, will keep their posts.
The ballots also will feature uncontested races for constitutional offices. Keeping their posts are: Probate Court Judge Nancy Aspinwall; Sheriff Steve Sikes; Clerk of Courts Barry Wilkes; Coroner Reggie Pierce Sr.; Tax Commissioner Virgil Jones; Chief Magistrate Melinda Anderson; Solicitor-General Jeffery Osteen; State Court Judge Leon Braun; and Atlantic Judicial Circuit judges Charles Paul Rose Jr. and Robert L. Russell.
On the national stage, local voters also will weigh in on the 1st Congressional District of Georgia seat currently held by Rep. Jack Kingston. Kingston is the sole candidate on Republican ballots, but Democrats Leslie Rae Messinger and Nathan C. Russo vie to take him on in the fall.
The controversial T-SPLOST vote is on the ballot, asking whether voters support a 1 percent sales tax to be levied within the 10-county Coastal region for the next 10 years to generate revenue for transportation projects.
A preamble says the item “provides for local transportation projects to create jobs, improve roads and safety within citizen oversights.”
The question appears on the ballot as: “Shall Liberty County’s transportation system and the transportation network in this region and the state be improved by providing for a 1 percent special district transportation sales and use tax for the purpose of transportation projects and programs for a period of 10 years?”
Though the wording of the question is county-specific, the tax would be enacted throughout the entire region if it receives a one vote more than 50 percent region-wide, regardless of how an individual county votes on the matter.
The ballot also will feature state public service commissioner races and nonbinding party questions.
Those with questions about their voter status or precinct can call the Liberty County Board of Elections and Registration at 876-3310.