Tag Archives: Elections

Crazy Qualifying Season Finally Completed

Update 31 March 2014: Withdrawals of Thomas Sims and Don Thieme from Lowndes County Commission District 3 and of Crawford Powell from House 174. See also school board election.

Additional entries in County Commission Districts 3 and 5, plus a swap and a withdrawal, continued the musical chairs in local qualifying. Plus three out of four County Commission seats up for election will actually be decided in May, not November. And one state House seat and the state Senate race are hotly contested.

The three County Commission seats that will be decided May 20th are: Continue reading →

Musical chairs in local qualifying

Three out of five voting County Commissioners are not running again, and one has already vacated his seat, plus you have to have a playing card to keep track of who’s running for the state Senate and House.

We already knew State Senator Tim Golden was not running again, and now we know who’s running for that seat: Richard Raines (R), who had said two months ago he was not running again for County Commission District 2, Ellis Black (R) currently House 174, Bikram Mohanty (D) who ran last time and came close, and John Page (R), who thus vacated County Commission District 5.

Because Ellis Black is running for Senate, and even though he qualifed for his House District 174 seat Monday, when he qualified for Senate Wednesday, he left his House seat open. Running for District 174 are Crawford Powell (R), currently County Commissioner for District 3, Jessie Smith (D), and John L. Corbett (R).

The incumbents qualifed for the other House seats, each with no challenger.

As for the three (3) County Commission seats now open, here, read Gretchen’s explanation.

And remember, more changes can still happen, because qualifying has reopened for County Commission District 3, and will have to reopen for District 5.

-jsq

GA Senator Tim Golden not running

This makes state Senate district 8 an open seat. Qualifying is al this week, Monday through Friday.

Dated 2 March 2014, STATEMENT OF SENATOR TIM GOLDEN:

Today, I am announcing that I will not be a candidate for re-election to the Georgia State Senate, District 8, in 2014. After 34 years in public service—more than half of what will soon be my 60 years on this earth—and having gone through many difficult yet successful campaigns during that time, I have decided that this is the right time to devote more time to my business career and to my family during the remainder of our son’s high school years before he goes on to college.

I’m familiar with at least one of Sen. Golden’s campaigns, but he has also spoken up for solar power in Georgia, although neither he nor his buddy Gov. Deal got it that doubling GEFA’s solar state tax rebate fund once in 2011 wasn’t enough when solar deployments increase 65% every year. Witness we installed 12KW more of solar panels at the end of 2012 and we’re finally on the list for rebate for 2014 because state funds for 2012 and 2013 were already used up.

Maybe we can elect a state senator who will Continue reading →

Videos: Dollar General, Elections, and Human Resources @ LCC 2014-02-10

Fourteen (14) minutes. The most time was spent on the Wheeler rezoning, on yet another Dollar General, Elections Supervisor Deb Cox personally made her Board of Elections personnel request, which is to change five part-time positions for one full-time, and several Commissioners asked questions about the Human Resources service contract, which might result in educational requirements for positions, and is supposed to survey everybody paid by the county: but does that include employees of boards with their own millage, namely the Industrial Authority and Parks and Rec?

They vote tomorrow, Tuesday 11 Feb 2014 at 5:30 PM. Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Dollar General, Elections, and Human Resources @ LCC 2014-02-10

Three water wells ( Wheeler, Brown, and Dollar General), a Board of Elections personnel request, and a Human Resources service contract, plus whatever the Chairman interjects off the agenda and whoever the County Manager has give reports.

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Lowndes second worst in Georgia for voting access

Maybe changing the precincts every year isn’t such a good idea: a new report rankings Lowndes County second worst in the state for voting access. And it’s not as if nobody has complained about this before.

Cody Gibson wrote for ValdostaToday 20 January 2014, Lowndes Ranks Second Worst in Georgia for Voting Access,

Lowndes County had the dubious honor of having the highest rate of provisional ballots cast in the state—more than 10 times higher than the state average. The extremely high deviation from the state average on this factor was largely responsible for Lowndes County’s position as one of the worst performers in the state. The report’s findings provide insights that can help officials, policymakers, and advocates better understand voting administration practices that work. By comparing voter access and experience across Georgia’s counties, officials can determine the best practices for ensuring that citizens have an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process.

I’m not familiar with the Center for American Progress Action Fund, but that’s a very interesting study, Unequal Access: A County-by-County Analysis of Election Administration in Swing States in the 2012 Election by Anna Chu:

This report evaluates the election performance of counties in the 17 states that had the smallest margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in 2012. This analysis allows us to better understand how well the election process is working within a state, and will hopefully encourage state and local officials to consider how they can improve the voting experience for their citizens.

Many of those provisional ballots could have been because of people confused about Continue reading →

Videos: 2 agreements, education, jail, alcohol, and a health care presentation @ LCC 2014-01-13

They vote tonight at 5:30PM. Probably there won’t be a repeat of yesterday morning’s presentation by District Health Director Dr. Grow. The county wants an architect for a new roof and shower in one jail pod; it’s considering two interagency agreements, one for Valdosta Inspections for Lake Park and the other for the county extension, plus setting election qualifying fees and a Special Assessment Rate for 2014. There’s a beer license and acceptance of infrastructure for part of Grove Pointe Subdivision.

Here’s the agenda with links to the videos:

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

2 interagency agreements, education, jail, alcohol, and a health care presentation @ LCC 2014-01-13

We can probably guess who “Dr. Grow” is and the general topic of his presentation, but why does the county make us guess? The county wants an architect for a new roof and shower in one jail pod; it’s considering two interagency agreements, one for Valdosta Inspections for Lake Park and the other for the county extension, plus setting election qualifying fees and a Special Assessment Rate for 2014. There’s a beer license and acceptance of infrastructure for part of Grove Pointe Subdivision.

Here’s the agenda: Continue reading →

District 2 is open seat for Lowndes County Commission election

The incumbent is not running for election for the northern district of Lowndes County, so it’s an open seat. Here are district maps; District 2 is mostly west of Bemiss Road and north of Valdosta. To see which districts you’re in, go to VALOR GIS Election Boundary Map, in Layers On-Off turn on Lowndes County Commision Districts, and zoom in on your address. The appended letter was received Monday via Commissioner Demarcus Marshall. -jsq

From: Richard Raines
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2014 11:06 PM
To: Bill Slaughter; Joyce Evans; Crawford Powell; John Page; Demarcus Marshall; Joe Pritchard; Paige Dukes
Cc: kay.harris@gaflnews.com
Subject: Announcement Continue reading →

Flood mapping and modeling @ VCC 2014-01-09

The Valdosta City Council votes Thursday on a contract for flood mapping related to the series of secretive Army Corps of Engineers meetings, plus bids for water and sewer and smoke testing sewers. They’re also swearing in winners of the recent election and electing a mayor pro-tem (probably the same one), along with a change to the Entertainment Ordinance and public hearings to close an alley and abandon part of a street, and the usual City Manager’s Report, Council Comments, and Citizens to be Heard.

No detail in the city’s agenda about the flood mapping, but at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session 11 November 2013 Emergency Services Director Ashley Tye said the current agreement wouldn’t obligate any payment, merely to reserve the right to contract at a later date if that seemed to be in the county’s best interests, and at the Regular Session 12 November 2013 the county approved getting LIDAR data from NOAA Coastal Services Center. Neither the county nor the city has published this agreement.

Here’s the agenda: Continue reading →