Voters pass four statewide ballot proposals by large margins

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A line of voters wait to cast their ballots.

Credit: Beau Evans / Capitol Beat

ATLANTA — Georgia voters have overwhelmingly ratified all four legislative proposals on the statewide ballot this year.

Three of the four received support from more than 75% of the electorate Tuesday, while the proposal garnering the least “yes” votes still won by 18 percentage points.

Two amendments to the Georgia Constitution drew the strongest support. A constitutional change prohibiting statewide elected officials and members of the General Assembly from being paid after they have been indicted for a felony and suspended from office passed with 88.5% of the vote.

Georgia lawmakers took up the legislation after hearing complaints that then-state Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck was still being paid his salary of $195,000 a year after being suspended in 2019 by Gov. Brian Kemp. Beck was indicted and later convicted of fraud and money laundering.

A second constitutional amendment arising from a strong tornado that hit Heard, Coweta, and Fayette counties last year got the most support of the four proposals on the ballot, winning 91.9% of the vote. It will let cities, counties, and local school districts temporarily exempt disaster victims from paying property taxes.

Voters also passed two other tax relief measures that were on the ballot as “questions” rather than as constitutional amendments. Question A, which passed with the least support at a still-solid 59.1%, provides a property tax exemption for equipment used in the timber industry.

Question B expanding an existing property tax exemption for agricultural equipment by applying it to equipment shared by two or more family farms sailed through with 76.5% of the vote.

This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.