What are partisan voting questions?

Voters who choose a Democratic or Republican run for the May 21 primary election will find a number of political issues on their ballot – right between partisan and nonpartisan races. These partisan advisory questions, selected by county and state officials, are not binding – so what purpose are they?

Atlanta Civic Circle spoke with DeKalb County Commissioner Ted Terry, a Democratic political strategist and Republican Brian Robinson to find out.

The purpose of these questions is to tell party leaders how voters feel, poll-style, both said.

“They are intended to inform Republican leaders what the party base cares about — and how passionately they care about it,” said Robinson, the Republican strategist. “So it’s meant to be a guide for policymakers.”

This year, Republican and Democratic voters across the state will see eight questions each selected by their respective parties. County parties can also add questions to the ballot, meaning voters in some counties may have more than a dozen questions to answer.

“As this is the local primary, the county Democratic committee has the opportunity to put at least eight questions on the ballot. It depends entirely on the party in each county and each has its own process,” Terry said, explaining the process in heavily Democratic DeKalb.

The questions addressed can be either general political questions relating to current issues, or very specific questions relating to local issues. For example, the DeKalb Democratic Party included a number of questions on housing.

“There were several questions about housing — about whether we should allow duplexes and triplexes and, essentially, more ‘missing middle’ housing,” Terry said. “In theory, these results would be shared with local leaders like me, and if the poll shows that 70% want to see public housing disappear, then local leaders would say, ‘Wow, that’s really good information to know, because These are my priorities.” the primary voters who elect me.

“Some of these problems are very local. We don’t need Joe Biden, Congress or Governor Kemp to do them,” Terry added.

However, many issues concern party values ​​– like climate change for Democrats or immigration for Republicans.

Because polling is expensive, Terry explained, these advisory questions are an important way for politicians to take voters’ temperatures. Robinson cautioned, however, against placing too much emphasis on it, especially if – as he felt this year – the questions were poorly worded, or if there were simply too many, which could overwhelm the participants. voters.

“I’m not going to trust the outcome of a lot of these questions, because the questions are worded in such a way that I don’t think a lot of voters even know what they’re talking about,” he said . “It’s much more effective to do it with just a few questions on topics that have broad appeal, that are easy to understand, that are big hot topics – and that’s not what we got this time -this. So I wish they had a little more editing in this process.

For example, one of the questions asked on the statewide Republican ballot was that Robinson felt had no practical value: “Do you think unelected and unaccountable international bureaucrats, like the World Organization of Health (WHO), controlled by the UN, should have total control over the management of future pandemics. in the United States and authority to regulate your health care and personal health choices?

One question Robinson found interesting was whether the Republican primary should be closed, as is the case in some states. “I think it’s a matter of legitimate debate,” he said.

Georgia is an open primary state, meaning voters do not need to be registered with a party to vote in its primaries. Therefore, any Georgia voter can choose to vote in either party’s primary.

This opens the primary process to voters who might want to cross party lines in some years, as well as independent voters. It also allows minority party voters in a county dominated by one party to have a say in the selection of local candidates for partisan office.

“I voted to keep the primaries open,” Robinson said. “There is no evidence that there is massive crossover between parties. In fact, we know it’s not substantial – and that’s important, because it’s not necessarily saboteurs crossing the border to nominate the worst candidate. … When people cross the border, let’s say you’re a DeKalb County Republican who wants to vote in county commission elections.