Senate Bill allowing the election of sheriffs to be nonpartisan by local legislation -- along with other nonpartisan legislation -- did not make it.
In a 12-10-04 post entitled "Taking nonpartisan elections a step further beyond judges. School board members doable now. Sheriffs? Maybe in the future," I wrote:
I would like to see Georgia law changed so that counties could, through local legislation, have the offices of county commissioners, clerk of the superior court, judge of the probate court, sheriff, probate judge, tax commissioner (some counties have a different office here), coroner, surveyor and whatever else I am overlooking, be added to the offices of judges and school board members that can be elected on a nonpartisan basis.
Senate Bill 80, introduced in the state Senate on January 28, 2005, does what is discussed above with regard to sheriffs. Thus a county, through local legislation, could have its sheriff elected on a nonpartisan basis.
Senate Bill 80 passed the Senate on February 23, but died in the House. I called this one wrong. I fully expected it to pass, and really don't have a handle on why it didn't pass in the House.
We will see it again next year, and once again I will expect it to pass unless there is a major change of sentiment. And passing it in 2006 will -- if the legislature moves timely during the session -- be in time for the 2006 elections (the Department of Justice has 60 days to preclear any legislation after submission; thus getting clearance prior to the qualifying date means that the Legislature would need to move in the early days of the 2006 session).
In the 12-10-04 post noted above, I also wrote:
I would like to see Georgia law changed so that counties could, through local legislation, have the offices of county commissioners, clerk of the superior court, judge of the probate court, sheriff, probate judge, tax commissioner (some counties have a different office here), coroner, surveyor and whatever else I am overlooking, be added to the offices of judges and school board members that can be elected on a nonpartisan basis.
In a 2-15-05 post entitled "Legislation introduced by Rep. Terry Coleman would make all local, county elections nonpartisan," I noted:
HB House Bill 433 introduced on 2-14-05 by Rep. Terry Coleman, et al., goes even further than I was proposing. It provides for the nonpartisan election of clerks of superior court, sheriffs, tax collectors, tax receivers, tax commissioners and coroners.
In this 2-15-05 post, I noted that I did not believe this legislation would pass; it didn't make it out of the House.
I expect that in the near future we will see legislation passed making all other local offices -- and not just sheriffs -- nonpartisan, but unlike the bill introduced by Rep. Terry Coleman (which I like even better), they will become nonpartisan only with local legislation making them such (rather than nonpartisan statewide).
I would like to see Georgia law changed so that counties could, through local legislation, have the offices of county commissioners, clerk of the superior court, judge of the probate court, sheriff, probate judge, tax commissioner (some counties have a different office here), coroner, surveyor and whatever else I am overlooking, be added to the offices of judges and school board members that can be elected on a nonpartisan basis.
Senate Bill 80, introduced in the state Senate on January 28, 2005, does what is discussed above with regard to sheriffs. Thus a county, through local legislation, could have its sheriff elected on a nonpartisan basis.
Senate Bill 80 passed the Senate on February 23, but died in the House. I called this one wrong. I fully expected it to pass, and really don't have a handle on why it didn't pass in the House.
We will see it again next year, and once again I will expect it to pass unless there is a major change of sentiment. And passing it in 2006 will -- if the legislature moves timely during the session -- be in time for the 2006 elections (the Department of Justice has 60 days to preclear any legislation after submission; thus getting clearance prior to the qualifying date means that the Legislature would need to move in the early days of the 2006 session).
In the 12-10-04 post noted above, I also wrote:
I would like to see Georgia law changed so that counties could, through local legislation, have the offices of county commissioners, clerk of the superior court, judge of the probate court, sheriff, probate judge, tax commissioner (some counties have a different office here), coroner, surveyor and whatever else I am overlooking, be added to the offices of judges and school board members that can be elected on a nonpartisan basis.
In a 2-15-05 post entitled "Legislation introduced by Rep. Terry Coleman would make all local, county elections nonpartisan," I noted:
HB House Bill 433 introduced on 2-14-05 by Rep. Terry Coleman, et al., goes even further than I was proposing. It provides for the nonpartisan election of clerks of superior court, sheriffs, tax collectors, tax receivers, tax commissioners and coroners.
In this 2-15-05 post, I noted that I did not believe this legislation would pass; it didn't make it out of the House.
I expect that in the near future we will see legislation passed making all other local offices -- and not just sheriffs -- nonpartisan, but unlike the bill introduced by Rep. Terry Coleman (which I like even better), they will become nonpartisan only with local legislation making them such (rather than nonpartisan statewide).
posted by Sid Cottingham | 12:05 PM
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