Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Party labels in Georgia school board elections
|
| Georgia overview: • Election dates: Off cycle |
| Key policies: • Election dates and timing • Party labels on the ballot |
| Key terms • On-cycle elections • Off-cycle elections • Off-year elections • Off-date elections • Party labels • Partisan elections • Nonpartisan elections |
State law allows for school boards to be elected either in partisan elections with party primaries nominating candidates or in nonpartisan elections without primaries. In partisan elections, the party affiliations of party nominees are displayed on the ballot. In nonpartisan elections, candidates are listed on the ballot without party labels.
See law:
Statute Section 20-2-56 and Section 21-2-139
There were 180 public school districts in Georgia with a total of 1,045 school board member seats as of 2022. Those school districts operated a total of 2,238 schools serving 1,735,585 students.
Georgia is one of five states with state laws allowing both partisan and nonpartisan school board elections.
The information in this page was last updated in 2022. Please email editor@ballotpedia.org with any updates, corrections, exceptions, or improvements.
Georgia state law governing party labels on the ballot for school board elections
State law allows for school boards to be elected either in partisan elections with party primaries nominating candidates or in nonpartisan elections without primaries. In partisan elections, the party affiliations of party nominees are displayed on the ballot. In nonpartisan elections, candidates are listed on the ballot without party labels. As of 2021, 109 school districts (61%) had nonpartisan elections. Georgia Statute Section Section 20-2-56 says, "the General Assembly may provide by local law for the election in nonpartisan elections of candidates to fill the offices of members of boards of education." Georgia Statue Section 21-2-139 says, "Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter to the contrary, the General Assembly may provide by local Act for the election in nonpartisan elections of candidates to fill county judicial offices, offices of local boards of education, and offices of consolidated governments which are filled by the vote of the electors of said county or political subdivision."
See law:
Statute Section 20-2-56 and Section 21-2-139
Examples of how school board candidates appear on the ballot in Georgia
Below are excerpts of partisan and nonpartisan general election sample ballots showing how school board races are displayed in each case:
How does Georgia compare to other states?
Across the country, there are 13,187 public school districts governed by a total of 83,183 school board members. They are elected directly by voters except for a small handful of exceptions who are appointed.
As of July 2025, over 85% of school boards are elected without any party labels on the ballot identifying the candidates' affiliation with a political party. State laws in five states containing 1,169 school districts (9%) provide for party labels on the ballot for school board elections. In five states containing 554 districts (4%), state laws effectively provide for both the option of including or not including party labels on the ballot for school board elections. In the remaining states with elected local school board members, state law provides for school board elections without the inclusion of party labels on the ballot.
Elections in which party labels are included on the ballot are referred to as partisan elections. Elections in which party labels are not included on the ballot are referred to as nonpartisan elections.
The state laws of 40 states containing 11,472 school districts provide for school board elections without party labels identifying the affiliation of candidates listed on the ballot (nonpartisan elections).
State laws of five states provide for school board elections with party labels identifying the affiliation of candidates listed on the ballot (partisan elections):
State laws of five states containing 554 school districts effectively provide both options depending on the district. The details and the number of districts that fall in each category vary among the states. Those five states are:
See also
|
School board election rules: |
School board election coverage: |
Terms and context: |
| |||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Footnotes
