Pike County Times
The Pike County Times, PO Box 843, Zebulon, Georgia 30295. Click here to donate through PayPal. Becky Watts: Phone # 770-468-7583 editor@pikecountytimes.com
 
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Get Educated and Make Your Voice Heard in the November Election
By Editor Becky Watts

ZEBULON - Early voting by mail has already begun in Pike County, and early voting in person will begin on Monday. Do you know what is required in order to vote? Are you familiar with the candidates and the questions that will be on the ballot in this election? Get educated and make your voice heard in the November 4, 2014 election!

Identification Is Required

Identification is required at the time of voting. Acceptable forms of ID include any valid state or federal government issued ID including the free Voter ID Card that can be issued by the Pike County Registrar’s Office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services, a Georgia Driver’s license—even if it is expired, a valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. Government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of this state, a valid U.S. passport ID, a valid U.S. military photo ID, or a Valid tribal photo ID. Click here to read more about photo identification requirements.

First-Time Voters Should Have Met This Deadline

In order to vote in the upcoming election and possible run offs, first-time voters were required to meet the October 6, 2014 deadline. If you missed that deadline but would like to vote in future elections, you may register to vote at any time though you will not be allowed to vote in the November 4, 2014 election.

Get Educated on Candidates Here

Click here to access the My Voter Page provided by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. This will provide you with a copy of your sample ballot so you can review the candidates and print a copy of it if needed. This page also provides your polling place for Election Day as well as directions to your Polling Place.

Click here to research your candidates through the Secretary of State’s website. The website only provides link to candidate websites through the party, however, so this could be a long process. Ballotpedia is linked throughout the remainder of this article, and it looked to be fairly unbiased with links to all of the candidates in one place for easy research.

Get Educated on Amendments and Referendums Here

There are two proposed Constitutional Amendments that will be on all ballots for voters to decide. The first asks: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to prohibit the General Assembly from increasing the maximum state income tax rate?” Click here to read Ballotpedia’s explanation of this proposed amendment. Click here to read a copy of these proposed amendments from the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.

The second asks: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow additional reckless driving penalties or fees to be added to the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund to pay for care and rehabilitative services for Georgia citizens who have survived neurotrauma with head or spinal cord injuries?” Each question is a simple Yes or No. Click here to read Ballotpedia’s explanation of this proposed amendment. Click here to read a copy of these proposed amendments from the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.

There is one proposed Statewide Referendum question that asks: “Shall property owned by the University System of Georgia and utilized by providers of college and university student housing and other facilities continue to be exempt from taxation to keep costs affordable?” It is also a simple Yes or No question. Click here to read Ballotpedia’s explanation of this proposed referendum. Click here to read a copy of this proposed referendum from the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.

Pike County to Vote on Liquor By the Drink

There is one Special Election question for all Pike County voters which will determine whether Pike County will allow the sale of liquor by the drink in restaurants around the county. It asks, “Shall the the governing authority of the Pike County, Georgia be authorized to issue licenses to sell distilled spirits for beverage purposes by the drink, such sales to be for consumption only on the premises?” At this time, there is only restaurant, Barnstormer’s Grill at the Peach State Airport in Williamson, that is not within the city limits of any city in the county. This establishment and any others that are built in Pike County that are not within any city limits would be governed by this vote.

Voting Times, Dates, and Places

Early voting in person will be held at the Pike County Courthouse beginning on Monday, October 13, 2014 and continuing through Friday, October 31, 2014 from 8 a.m. through 5 p.m. Voters may cast their vote at the Pike County Courthouse on Saturday, October 25, 2014 from 9 a.m. through 4 p.m.

The General Election will be held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014. Voters can cast their vote at their regular precincts from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

The State and Local General Runoff Date will be held on December 2, 2014 if it is needed, and the Federal General Runoff Date will be held on January 6, 2015 if it is needed.

Pike County Times.com will be at the courthouse on Election night to announce the results on WTGA Fun 101.1 out of Thomaston. Results will also be found on www.PikeCountyTimes.com.

Closing

All too often, people take voting for granted by saying that "My vote won't count" or "I don't know who (or what) to vote for" when the information is at their fingertips. The truth is that if we were told that we were not allowed to vote, we would be very involved in civil disobedience and trying to vote because the choice of our representatives is THAT important!

It's time to get involved in choosing the laws that govern us as well as who will make the laws that govern us. If you choose to let everyone else make their voice heard on the amendments and referendums that will affect our daily lives and let everyone else pick who will represent us at a local, state, and national level, then you should have no problem sitting by the sidelines and being quiet about that representation if it doesn't meet your standards. After all, we all have the opportunity to get educated and make our voices heard!

10.8.14
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