How to decode the partisan advisory questions on Georgia primary ballots

ATLANTA — At the polls for the May primary election, voters will select a Republican, Democratic or Nonpartisan ballot.

Unless you pick up a nonpartisan ballot, in between the list of candidates, there will be several long, wordy questions.

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In Georgia, state and county political parties are allowed to put advisory questions on the ballot to survey its voter base. Georgia is one of the few states that allows this.

The questions are non-binding, meaning they do not result in any kind of law. Rather, it gives insight into each political party’s priorities and offers the opportunity to find out how much support the party has on each issue.

Dr. David Shock, political science professor at Kennesaw State University, says to think of the ballot in three parts.

First, you’ll vote for the candidates in your political party. Second, you’ll answer the Republican or Democratic Party advisory questions. Third, you’ll vote for the nonpartisan races, mainly judicial candidates.

It’s the second part – those questions – that sometimes throws voters off.

“They have no public policy impact,” Dr. Shock said. “But, they have some function.”

Dr. Shock says many times it’s a strategy to drive up turnout in an election that usually has low numbers.

“Many of the questions are what we would call ‘red meat’ sort of questions that excite voters of a particular party,” he said. “It’s important to have high turnout in the primary to show there’s interest and excitement in the party, because a really low turnout in the primary election can be a bad sign for the general election.”

On the Democratic sample ballot in Fulton County, there are eight advisory questions. On the Republican ballot, there are 19 questions. The questions and topics differ depending on which ballot a voter selects.

The Democratic Party questions focus on economic issues like minimum wage, expanding Medicaid, tenants' rights, and abortion access, among others. The Republican Party questions range from tax issues, immigration, healthcare, school vouchers, and more.

The questions are worded in a very specific manner. Dr. Shock says that’s on purpose.

“They’re written in leading sorts of ways to elicit a certain response,” he said. “You have to go in knowing that these questions are worded by party officials to elicit a desired response.”

There is only one question Dr. Shock thinks may have some legs. A question on the Republican ballot asks whether Georgia should have a closed primary, meaning only registered Republicans could pick up a Republican ballot.

“When this was put on the 2020 Republican primary ballot, 52% of Republican primary voters voted no. They did not want a closed primary. So, it’s curious, why is it appearing again four years later in 2024? It seems like there’s an effort, potentially in the state legislature to start pushing a closed primary, but there needs to be justification for it,” Dr. Shock said.

Closed primaries are often a response to crossover voting, like when a Democrat strategically votes in the Republican Primary for the weaker candidate. Limiting voting to people registered within the party would curtail this strategy.

“Democrats actually used this strategy successfully in Michigan in 2022, where they got Democrats to vote in the Republican primary for the weaker or more extreme candidates, so Republicans didn’t really like that,” Dr. Shock said. “I don’t know if it’s going to go anywhere.”

The best way to prepare for and decode the questions is to look at them ahead of time. We’ve listed the eight questions Republican and Democrats will answer. Voters may see additional questions if the county political party also placed advisory questions on the ballot. That will vary by county.

Look at your sample ballot on the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page.

For 2024, Georgia Democrats put the following eight questions on the party’s primary ballots:

1. Should the United States and the State of Georgia protect Georgians from gun violence by banning assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, closing background check loopholes, and passing other common-sense gun safety reforms?
2. Should the State of Georgia incentivize clean energy production as part of a climate policy that recognizes the urgent threat that climate change poses to Georgians’ health, lives and future?
3. Should the State of Georgia expand voter access by allowing same-day voter registration, removing obstacles to voting by mail, and making secure ballot drop boxes accessible at all times through Election Day?
4. Should the State of Georgia protect reproductive freedom by repealing the current six-week abortion ban, restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade and ensuring access to contraceptives, IVF, abortion and other reproductive health care?
5. Should the State of Georgia stop using taxpayer dollars intended for public education to pay for private school vouchers?
6. Should the State of Georgia raise the minimum wage to a living wage?
7. Should the portion of the Georgia state constitution allowing for involuntary servitude of prisoners and others convicted of offenses be repealed, thus prohibiting all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude statewide?
8. Should the State of Georgia improve access to safe, affordable housing by increasing the affordable housing supply, protecting tenants’ rights to habitable living conditions, and cracking down on negligence or abuse by property management companies or landlords?

Georgia Republicans put the following eight questions on the party’s primary ballots:

• For future elections, do you want hand marked paper ballots, scanned and verified by hand count on live stream video?
• Should the legislature enact the FairTax replacing the state income tax and state sales tax with a consumption tax equal to current state funding and taxing no legal citizen or family up to the poverty level of spending?
• Should the legislature ban registered lobbyists from serving on the State Elections Board?
• Should the Georgia Republican Primary have a closed primary, meaning that only registered Republicans would be allowed to vote in the Republican Primary?
• Should public officials who allow illegal migration to occur be held responsible for crimes committed by illegal aliens?
• Would you support a statewide vote to allow gaming in Georgia so the voters can decide this issue instead of politicians in Atlanta?
• Currently, hundreds of thousands of hours and dollars are spent every year cleaning up voter rolls. Would you support an amendment to the National Voting Rights Act that would require registered voters to renew their registration every four years?
• Do you believe unelected and unaccountable international bureaucrats, like the UN controlled World Health Organization (WHO), should have complete control over management of future pandemics in the United States and authority to regulate your healthcare and personal health choices?