GA Dems Release Ballot Questions, Challenge GA GOP to Support Fair Elections

Georgia Republicans refuse to join Democrats in supporting fair elections by calling for independent non-partisan redistricting commission

 Release:  Thursday, March 1, 2018

AJC // Greg Bluestein

Georgia Democrats will ask primary voters whether they support allowing an independent nonpartisan commission to redraw state legislative lines – and urged state Republicans to put the same question on GOP ballots.

Democratic Party of Georgia chair DuBose Porter said he issued the challenge because “it’s in the best interest of voters and our very democracy” to let an independent panel draw the lines.

“The dangers posed in gerrymandering know no party affiliation and silence the voice of voters. Together, both parties can lead by example,” he said, adding: “Georgia Democrats believe that we all will be pleasantly surprised with the results.”

Georgia GOP chair John Watson brushed off the request.

“We’ll go right ahead and add a note to our file of other unsolicited election advice provided by the Democratic Party,” he said.

Georgia Democrats have long pushed legislation to take the power to draw district lines away from the Legislature and hand it to a commission.

Those efforts have gained no traction in the statehouse, though several pending legal challenges could upend the way legislative districts are drawn across the nation.

The other questions on the Democratic ballot reflect the party’s election-year priorities.

There’s a question about blocking the sale of bump stocks, the mechanism used by the Las Vegas gunman who carried out one of the largest mass shootings in U.S. history.

Another query asks whether Democratic voters support expanding Medicaid. And a third questions whether Georgia should invest “a substantial amount” of public dollars for mass transit.

Here are all four questions that will appear on the May Democratic ballot: 

1. Should the sale and distribution of bump stocks be prohibited in the state of Georgia?
2. Should Georgia pull down our federal tax dollars to save rural hospitals and create more than fifty thousand jobs by expanding Medicaid?
3. Should Georgia allow voters to elect our own representatives by amending our Constitution to place the power of drawing district lines under the authority of an independent, non-partisan commission?
4. Should Georgia alleviate traffic congestion, reduce carbon emissions, and better connect communities by investing a substantial amount of existing tax dollars in mass transit?

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Georgia Dems ask voters about redistricting – and challenge GOP to do same