Why I Am a YES on All Three Statewide Ballot Questions

Credit: Kelly Jordan

If you’ve received your (safe! secure!) absentee-by-mail ballot*, you might have some questions about the three statewide ballot questions. This article by Maggie Lee gives excellent explanations of what each ballot question means for Georgia (yes, the image of the golden tire dome is appropriate).

I am voting yes on all three items. Here’s why:

QUESTION 1 – FEES & TAXES (HR 164): Did you know that the $1 state-mandated tire disposal fee you pay every time you buy a new tire… doesn’t go to clean up dumped tires? NOPE. It goes right into the state’s general fund. The diversion of these dedicated funds ridiculous, but it’s not unique, and there are many similar fees you pay the state that sound specific, but just go right into the general fund. Only a constitutional amendment will dedicate the funds for their intended purpose. I wholeheartedly support this amendment.

QUESTION 2 – SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY (HR 1023): Please, please, PLEASE vote yes for this constitutional amendment. What’s sovereign immunity, you ask? I will tell you, if you’ll please pardon my French: it is complete, total, utter bee ess, is what it is. Sovereign immunity means that if the government commits a wrong, or violates the Constitution, you can’t sue them – the government claims that they are the “sovereign,” and are thereby “immune” from prosecution.

While the concept of sovereign immunity is not new, the critical need for this legislation in Georgia emerged in 2014, when the Georgia Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent with decision that precluded citizens from suing state and local government officials who acted outside their authority and in violation of statutes and the Constitution.

Getting rid of sovereign immunity has passed the GA House and Senate more than once, and nearly unanimously, but each time the bill made it to the Governor, both Deal and Kemp vetoed it.

QUESTION 3 – TAX EXEMPTIONS FOR CHARITIES (HB 344): Vote yes on this one, too. This one will allow nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity be tax exempt from property taxes – which will presumably mean they have more funds to buy more property so they can build more houses and help more people in need.

Each of these ballot questions received strong bipartisan support when we voted on them in the General Assembly, and I hope that you will also consider voting yes.

*If you haven’t applied for your absentee ballot yet, you can do that here! Locate your nearest (safe! secure!) ballot drop box here!

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