Sample ballot released for Nov. 3 general election

CARNESVILLE – The Franklin County Elections and Registration Office released the sample ballot for the Nov. 3 general election.

The ballot is 18 inches long, front and back.

“It’s going to take a long time to vote this ballot,” Franklin County Elections Supervisor Gina Kesler told the Board of Elections and Registration recently.

Kesler encouraged voters to spend time looking at the ballot and making choices before coming to the polls to cut down the amount of time it will take to vote.

The ballot includes the race for U.S. President, two U.S. Senate seats from Georgia, the 9th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, the 50th District race for State Senate and the race for the 32nd State House District.

State referenda and constitutional amendments also appear on the ballot, as does a county-wide referendum to increase the senior citizen property tax exemption.

Kesler urged those voting by absentee to read the instructions at the top of the ballot.

The instructions are:

“1. Use black or blue ink to mark the ballot.

“2. Completely fill in the empty oval to the left of the candidate name or choice in all races you wish to vote.

“3. If voting for a Write-In candidate, completely fill in the empty oval to the left of the Write-In selection, then write the name of the write-in candidate in the space provided.”

If voters make a mistake or change their minds on an absentee ballot, they are asked to do the following:

“A. Do not attempt to mark through the selection or attempt to erase. Write “Spoiled” across the ballot and across the return envelope.

“B. Mail or return the spoiled ballot and envelope to your county board of registrars; a new official absentee ballot will be mailed to you.”

If a voter receives an absentee but then decides to vote in person, then he or she is asked to surrender the ballot to the poll manager of an early voting site in the county or at his or her voting precinct. 

Once the ballot is returned, then the voter will  be permitted to vote a regular ballot.

Finally, the ballot includes warnings for voters not to “use red ink or felt tip pen to mark ballot, not to “circle, underline or mark through choices,” not to “use check marks or X to mark ballot, not to “mark more choices per race than allowed” and not to “sign, cut, tear or damage the ballot.”

Kesler said that in the primary elections, her office had problems when several voters cut out the middle of their absentee ballot and sent the cut out portions in to her office.

The votes were counted, but election officials had to remark a new ballot with the voters’ choices.

“Do not tamper with the ballot,” Kesler said. “Fold it up, put it back in your envelope and mail it to us.”