Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp has announced the times and places for the first two meetings of his Georgia Elections Advisory Council. These meetings are an opportunity for members of the public to attend and express ideas for changing state election laws.

The first meeting is on Wednesday, April 27, at 10 a.m., in the Georgia Capitol, room 341. The second meeting is on Wednesday, May 25, at 1 p.m., at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront Hotel, 100 General McIntosh Boulevard, Savannah.

A similar advisory body in Florida had many meetings around that state during 1998. At every public meeting, people appeared to express the idea that Florida should reform its ballot access laws. No meeting was held without that issue being raised. The advisory body in Florida accepted the message, and placed ballot access reform on the November 1998 ballot, and the measure passed with 65% of the vote. Florida mandatory petitions for minor parties, and independent candidates (except presidential independents) were eliminated by that vote.

Georgia also has very high filing fees, and advocates in Georgia ought to appear at these meetings and advocate an end to mandatory petitions for all candidates seeking access to the general election ballot. The Georgia law for minor party and independent candidates for U.S. House is so bad, no one has complied with that law since it was re-written in 1964. The law requires a petition signed by 5% of the voters in the district; high filing fees; limited time in which to collect the signatures; notarization of all petition sheets; and the need for the candidate to pay the filing fee before the petition is due, so the candidate can’t even know if he or she is wasting the money.