On February 13, Georgia Congressman Charlie Norwood died at the age of 65. He represented northwest Georgia (the 10th district) and had been re-elected in November 2006 with 67.4%.
Georgia law requires a special election to fill the vacancy before March 25. Georgia law for special congressional elections is very different than its law for ordinary congressional elections. In a special election, anyone who pays the filing fee may appear on the ballot. If no one gets 50%, there is a run-off between the top two. This will be Georgia’s first special U.S. House election since February 23, 1999, when House Speaker Newt Gingrich resigned from the House immediately after being re-elected in November 1998.
how high is the filling fee?
Do the candidates appear on the ballot with a political party label or since this is a special election is it treated as a non partisan race?
I believe there was a special election Feb. 23, 1999 to replace Rep. New Gingrich, who stepped down after the 1998 elections. Now-Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson won that seat.
From
http://www.sos.state.ga.us/elections/specialelecprocess.htm
The Governor has 10 days to issue a “Writ of Election.†The Writ serves as official notice of the vacancy and sets the date for the special election. The special election cannot be held sooner than 30 days from when the Writ is issued. (O.C.G.A. 21-2-543) The date for a special election for a congressional seat does not have to be set on any of the preset dates set forth in the Official Code of Georgia O.C.G.A. 21-2-540(c)(2)(b).
The Governor sends the Writ to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State then notifies the county election officials in the Congressional District. Next, the Secretary of State calls for the election by notifying the citizens in each county in the Congressional District via a newspaper that has appropriate (widest) circulation [O.C.G.A. 21-2-543 and O.C.G.A. 21-2-2(3)].
The election is considered to be non-partisan because there is no primary. However, party affiliation must be disclosed by each candidate upon qualification. [O.C.G.A. 21-2-540(c)(2)(e)]
The ballot will list each candidate’s name alphabetically along with their party affiliation. [O.C.G.A. 2-21-285 (e)].
If a qualifying candidate is a current municipal, county or state office holder and the term of office overlaps with the office for which they are running, the candidate must vacate that office. This means that any legislator, county commissioner, city councilperson, mayor who qualified for a congressional seat vacates his/her office upon qualifying (Article II, section II, paragraph V of the Georgia Constitution).
The fee is around $4800.00.
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