You hear it everywhere: “Go Vote!”, “Your Vote Matters.” But beyond your 10th-grade US Government class, does anyone ever really explain what it is we’re all voting for? Better yet, does anyone explain how to vote? Today, I’m breaking down voting so that you can feel more confident in your vote and ready to exercise your knowledge at the polls.
Getting Ready to Vote
When I went to vote for the first time, I barely knew who or what was on the ballot. Ballots vary from county to city, district by district, making the simple act of voting feel like a research project. After a long week of work, domestic duties, and trying to make time for ourselves and our loved ones, many of us don’t feel we have the extra energy to look for voting information. We may not even know where to start. The first step, of course, is registering to vote, but where do you go from there?
Let’s start with the basics.
How to cast your ballot?
There are three primary ways to cast a ballot: early voting, election day voting, and voting using an absentee ballot.
Georgia voters have three weeks before Election Day for early voting, with runoffs having a shorter period of early voting. This period of early voting includes two Saturdays, with some counties offering Sunday voting. You can vote at any early voting location in your county, unlike election day voting, which has to be done at your local polling location.
You also have the option to request an absentee ballot if you are not going to be able to cast a ballot in person, providing some additional accessibility. Absentee ballots must be requested by filling out an application and can be requested between 78 and 11 days before the election. (Hospital patients have an extra day to apply.) You can send this ballot type by mail or in a designated ballot drop box in your county. When going in person on election day, what’s most important is your identification.
On Election Day, you should plan to bring a government-issued photo ID. Other valid forms of ID include a student ID from a GA university or college, an employee ID for those working in any branch, department of another entity of the U.S. government, or any GA county or municipality, military ID, U.S. passport, or U.S. tribal ID.
Voter Accessibility
If you are homeless, you can refer to this website to get more information on public addresses that can be used to register to vote and how to get a free GA Voter ID card, which will serve as a substitute for an ID card. Not having a valid ID or driver’s license can be a barrier to voting for many people with disabilities. If you have a disability and are unable to provide these primary forms of identification, you can receive a free Georgia Identification Card for voting purposes from the Department of Driver Services or a free Georgia Voter Identification Card at their County Registrar’s Office.
Additionally, you are entitled to accommodations while voting, such as assistive technology for hearing or visual impairments, accessibility, and assistance with voting. For more information on voting with a disability, please refer to this website and remember that voting with an absentee ballot is an option until 11 days before the election.
If you have been incarcerated, your right to vote is reinstated after you have finished your sentence, parole, and felony probation. You can also vote if you are serving a felony First Offender or Conditional Discharge sentence and the status has not been revoked, or you can also vote while on probation if it is for a misdemeanor.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s figure out who’s on the ballot. The number one question to consider when searching for this answer is…
Where do you live?
Not just your address, but what community are you a part of? What roads do your taxes pave? Understanding where your home is situated within your state’s political landscape will help with understand the power structure that governs your community. Once you can answer the question “Where?”, this will direct you to the question “Who?”
A common strategy within grassroots organizing is power mapping. This strategy identifies decision makers for key issues, including but not limited to the public servants in our governments, the people who apportion budgets, and vote in ordinances that impact our communities. This sort of analysis and strategizing doesn’t only happen during times of active resistance. It’s important that we connect to these power structures year-round to understand the ever-changing policies and decisions that affect us.
Let's get started on our power map of Georgia government. Governments operate on multiple levels, from federal, to state, then to the local level.
On the federal level, we have the power to elect members of our community to the Senate and House of Representatives, to the executive office of the President and Vice President, these elected officials then appoint additional leaders like the Cabinet and Supreme Court.
On the state level, we can elect the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Supreme Court Justices, Comptroller, Treasurer, and again State Legislators and Senators.
Local governments can vary in organizational structure and governance, but ultimately, some basic roles can be expected. Counties are governed by a board of commissioners and some by sole commissioners. Cities are governed by city councils, mayors, and sometimes city managers. County commissioners and city council members alike are elected by district, with some members elected at-large on a citywide level. The mayor is an elected official who works with the city council, sometimes serving as the head of the council. There is a city council president who contributes to this system of checks and balances, and sometimes there is a city manager. On this level, there are also municipal judges; while the mayor appoints these officials in Atlanta, they may be elected officials in other municipalities.
Aside from these primary roles, there are a number of commissioners like those serving on the Public Service Commission, the Agricultural Commission and more.
Stay tuned as we explain more about the responsibilities of each of these governing bodies in an upcoming blog post. In the meantime, please check out your local county or city website to get a clear idea of how your community is organized. This is especially important considering the recent redistricting of GA residents.
So we’ve answered how and where to vote. You can get the ball rolling by using this link to register to vote. After finishing the form, you will be redirected to the Secretary of State’s My Voter Page, where you can check your voter registration status and see your polling location and voting districts, along with a sample ballot.
I think we’re just about ready to head to the voting booth, but before you start checking boxes, let’s consider these last 2 questions…our most important yet…
Who are you?
One of the most important elements of voting is you! You have a unique life and perspective. Consider your gender, race, ethnicity, disabilities, economic status, citizenship status, and marital status. These and other intersections of your experience will impact how you choose to vote and how laws and policies will impact you. For instance, you may be more concerned with the school board if you have children or plan to have children. You may be concerned about taxes if you’ve recently gotten married or own a home. You may be inclined to vote favorably on a measure regarding reproductive health if you or a loved one has needed reproductive healthcare.
Regardless of how issues on the ballot may impact you, it’s important to remember that despite the uniqueness of your experiences, they are shared experiences. When we open our eyes to look at the world, there are billions of eyes looking right alongside us. Vote, not just for yourself, but to ensure the rights and protections of all people in your community, locally and globally.
Why vote?
Some voters may feel disempowered from voting, as they may feel disconnected from the issues they see most often on the ballot; especially younger millennial and Gen Z voters who are delaying traditional markers of adulthood like moving out of the family home, child-rearing, accessing health insurance and healthcare, and buying property. These markers are not just symbolic of adulthood but in many ways emblematic of citizenship. This disconnect arguably calls back to a time when only property-owning white males could place a vote, creating a clear delineation on who had the right to vote and thereby was a citizen.
Nowadays, while most of us have the right, fewer and fewer have the audacity, assuming it won’t make a difference in our lives. We're so accustomed to our rights, we imagine they could never be stripped away, so we treat voting as an option. Many make the choice to vote, some choose not to, thousands do not even have the right. Meanwhile, our right to vote is being challenged as we speak, with Supreme Court case Louisiana vs. Callais challenging Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voters from racial gerrymandering*.
As temperatures rise alongside the price of insulin, families relying on SNAP benefits go without, and as women die preventable deaths from lack of reproductive care, it is crucial that we vote. We are living in unprecedented times, and we have every right to feel sad, or angry. It is up to each of us to make use of those feelings and fight for the justice we know we deserve. When we protest, we're leveraging our collective power to demand change from decision makers. This same collective power can be leveraged at the polls, only there, we are the decision makers. Voting is only the first step. Get up! Get active in your community! Carpool with friends, share leftovers with neighbors, call your elders!
Your vote is one way to redefine the terms and conditions we all live by, controlling the flow of money from tax rates and cost of living, to tax allocation and public services. Your vote is a tool, a shield, and a spark. Use it to build the Georgia you want to live in.
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