Georgia
And so it starts. Atlanta’s election for City Council has officially entered announcing season – the period of the year in which incumbents announce whether they are running for re-election, and challengers announce their intentions to dethrone the current seat holders. So far we’ve seen Matt Rinker - the openly gay challenger from District 5; Robert Welsh - the city native from District 1; and we’ve heard Carla Smith announce that she plans to run to retain Atlanta’s first District seat. But there’s one newcomer who seems to be generating a growing buzz in certain circles. 26-year-old Jon Jones has announced a run for Atlanta City Council’s District 2 seat; and along with it, he announced his plan to introduce a new style of governing to Atlanta government.
Claims of petition signature fraud are often used as the basis for passing laws that severely restrict citizen initiative rights. Citizens in Charge and Citizens in Charge Foundation have widely publicized the fact that those claims are usually proven to be false, and our report, “Is the F-Word Overused?” highlights that fact.
However, just because petition signature fraud is rare and often over-exaggerated that does not mean it never occurs. Case in point, it seems a case of fraud in Georgia is finally being investigated by state officials:
Georgia received a poor grade for its statewide voter initiative rights, according to a Virginia-based national voter rights group. The non-partisan organization, dubbed Citizens in Charge Foundation, stamped the Peach State with a ”˜D’ on its 2010 report card because state residents “do not have any statewide initiative and referendum rights,” according to its report called The 2010 Report Card on Statewide Voter Initiative Rights. The report did note “a majority of state citizens do enjoy local initiative and referendum rights.”
State gets big fat F on voter-initiative-rights report card: Citizens in Charge Foundation, a transpartisan national voter-rights group focused on the ballot initiative and referendum process, released its Virginia Report in the 2010 Report Card on Statewide Voter Initiative Rights on Thursday, and Virginia received an F in the rendering by Citizens in Charge.
Right idea, wrong time. That was the consensus among the Lathrop City Council members on a proposal to put a ballot measure before the voters in the November 2010 elections aimed at raising local sales taxes to fund police services.
Early voting for the upcoming November election is now open, and it has been since Oct. 12. 1 call it an election, but actually we aren’t electing anyone, at least not in unincorporated Fayette County. What we are doing is deciding whether or not to extend the current Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) past its original deadline. The current tax was approved back in 2003 for the purpose of building and repairing roads in the county.
Georgians will get to decide whether to give many Georgia businesses a tax break. This week, the Governor signed a bill that will let voters decide whether to repeal the state’s inventory tax.
Voters in Social Circle, GA this week approved the sale of liquor by the drink. Eleven percent of the city’s registered voters turned out to approve sales by a 63 percent margin.
A group attempting to recall four members of the Board of Education have secured Dodge County’s first-ever recall application. The group leading the recall has 15 days to collect signatures and then must reappear before a judge.
Article X: Section I. Constitution, How Amended
Paragraph I. Proposals to amend the Constitution; new Constitution.
Amendments to this Constitution or a new Constitution may be proposed
by the General Assembly or by a constitutional convention, as provided in
this article. Only amendments which are of general an uniform
applicability throughout the state shall be proposed, passed, or submitted
to the people.
Paragraph II. Proposals by the General Assembly; submission to the
people.
You have no statewide Initiative & Referendum rights.
Poll:
See the results of a poll on support for statewide initiative & referendum here.
Grade: D
Click here to view Georgia’s individual report in Of the People, By the People, For the People: A 2010 Report Card on Statewide Voter Initiative Rights.
The I&R movement was never a major force in Georgia politics.
However, between 1911-1913, the high-water mark of the Progressive era
nationwide, the Georgia legislature enacted laws granting initiative,
referendum, and recall rights to the residents of four cities, including
Atlanta.
Excerpted from the Initiative & Referendum Almanac by M. Dane Waters.
A group opposed to Nebraska’s affirmative action law says it won’t appeal a judge’s rejection of their lawsuit challenging the validity of petition signatures
David Kramer, spokesman for Nebraskans United, says the judge’s ruling still leaves questions about whether a petition circulator has to read the entire object statement to each signer.