Georgia 2018 ballot measures

Elections in Georgia, 2018

• General election: Nov. 6
• Voter registration deadline: Oct. 9
• Early voting: Oct. 15 - Nov. 2
• Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6

• Online registration: Yes
• Same-day registration: No
• Voter ID: Photo ID required
• Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

---

On the ballot: U.S. House • Governor • Lt. Gov • Attorney General • Secretary of State • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • Special state legislative • Supreme court • Appellate courts • Local judges • State ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • Democratic primaries • Republican primaries

2020 →

← 2016

Seven statewide ballot measures were certified to appear on the Georgia ballot in 2018. All were approved.

HIGHLIGHTS

The state legislature referred five constitutional amendments to the 2018 ballot.

One amendment established Marsy's Law—a specific bill of rights for crime victims—in the state's constitution. five other states voted on measures concerning Marsy's Law measures in 2018 and all were approved.

Among the seven referred constitutional amendments were two statewide referendums. One provided for a municipal property tax exemption within certain cities and the other applied existing tax exemption for nonprofit housing for mentally disabled to business-financed property.

On the ballot

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Amendment 1	Budgets and Environment	Creates a land conservation trust fund with 0.75 percent of revenue from sales and use taxes on outdoor recreation equipment	a
LRCA	Amendment 2	State judiciary	Creates a business court and establishes procedures and rules for judicial selection, term length, and qualifications	a
LRCA	Amendment 3	Natural Resources	Revises method for determining market value of forest land and creates a timberland property class	a
LRCA	Amendment 4	Law Enforcement	Adds rights of crime victims to state constitution	a
LRCA	Amendment 5	Education	Allows a school district or multiple districts with a majority of students within a county to call for a county sales tax referendum	a
LRSS	Referendum A	Taxes	Provides for a municipal property tax exemption within certain cities	a
LRSS	Referendum B	Taxes and Housing	Applies existing tax exemption for non-profit housing for mentally disabled to business-financed property	a

Getting measures on the ballot

At the time of the election, Georgia does not allow any form of citizen-initiated ballot measures, so all ballot measures must be referred by the legislature. The state legislative session ran from January 8 through March 29, 2018, during which time the Georgia Legislature was able to place legislatively referred constitutional amendments on the ballot. The legislature can put a proposed amendment on the ballot upon a two-thirds majority vote in both the legislative chambers. The legislature can repeal a vote to put a proposed amendment on the ballot with a two-thirds vote of both chambers when the vote is done at least two months prior to the election. Constitutional amendments must be approved by a majority of the electorate.

Historical facts

See also: List of Georgia ballot measures and History of Initiative & Referendum in Georgia

All referred measures

• A total of 69 measures appeared on statewide ballots in Georgia from 1996 to 2016.
• From 1996 through 2016, the number of measures on statewide ballots during even-numbered years ranged from two to 11.
• From 1996 through 2016, an average of six measures appeared on the ballot in Georgia during even-numbered election years.
• Between 1996 and 2016, 81.16% (56 of 69) of the total number of measures that appeared on statewide ballots during even-numbered years were approved, and 18.84% (13 of 69) were defeated.

Referred constitutional amendments

From 1996 through 2016, the Georgia State Legislature referred 46 constitutional amendments to the ballot. Voters approved 36 and rejected 10 of the referred amendments. All of the amendments were referred to the ballot during even-numbered election years. The average number of amendments appearing on the ballot during an even-numbered election year was 4. The approval rate at the ballot box was 78.26% during the 20-year period from 1996 through 2016. The rejection rate was 21.74%.

Legislatively referred constitutional amendments, 1996-2016
Years	Total number	Approved	Percent approved	Defeated	Percent defeated	Annual average	Annual median	Annual minimum	Annual maximum
Even years	46	36	78.26%	10	21.74%	4.18	4.00	2	7

Summary of campaign contributions

See also: Ballot measure campaign finance, 2018

The following chart illustrates how much support and opposition committees had amassed in campaign contributions for each measure on the ballot:

Note: In some cases committees were registered to support or oppose multiple propositions. Ballotpedia lists the total sum that all committees registered to support or oppose each proposition have received in contributions. This means that the sum of all contributions in the chart below is higher than the total amount contributed.

Ballot Measure:	Support contributions:	Opposition contributions:	Outcome:
Georgia Amendment 3	$0.00	$0.00	a
Georgia Amendment 4	$8,730,000.00	$0.00	a
Georgia Referendum A	$	$	a
Georgia Amendment 2	$	$	a
Georgia Referendum B	$	$	a
Georgia Amendment 1	$610,268.34	$0.00	a

Not on the ballot

See also: Proposed ballot measures that were not on a ballot

The list below contains measures that were proposed and reached a certain stage in the initiative or referral process, but did not make the ballot.

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	SR 192	Education	Provides for election of school superintendents by voters and school boards of education by grand juries
LRCA	HR 158	Budgets	Authorizes the legislature to dedicate revenue from certain taxes and fees to the purposes for which they were imposed

State profile

Demographic data for Georgia
	Georgia	U.S.
Total population:	10,199,398	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	57,513	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	60.2%	73.6%
Black/African American:	30.9%	12.6%
Asian:	3.6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.1%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	9.1%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	85.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	28.8%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$49,620	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	21.1%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Georgia. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Georgia

Georgia voted Republican in six out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, five are located in Georgia, accounting for 2.43 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Georgia had five Retained Pivot Counties, 2.76 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More Georgia coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Georgia
• United States congressional delegations from Georgia
• Public policy in Georgia
• Endorsers in Georgia
• Georgia fact checks
• More...

See also

• 2018 ballot measures
• List of Georgia ballot measures
• History of Initiative & Referendum in Georgia
• Campaign finance requirements for Georgia ballot measures

External links

• Georgia Secretary of State