GEORGIA, USA — Early voting is officially closed throughout Georgia, so if you haven't made it out to the polls, your only other chance to vote in the Georgia primary election is this coming Tuesday on Election Day.
Georgia voters will have unique ballots this year and many of them have politically slanted questions based on party affiliation.
Georgia is unique in that there is no party affiliation attached to a person's voter registration, so when voters head to the ballot box for the primary on Tuesday they'll be able to choose whether they receive a Democratic ballot or a Republican one. The ballot a voter chooses will mean they answer extremely different questions.
Beyond expected elements on the primary ballot like choosing candidates for sheriff or state representative, voters in Georgia will vote on advisory questions about topics like abortion, the minimum wage and immigration reform. These questions won't directly change any laws in Georgia.
An example of these questions deals with gun control, which is only available for voters who choose the Democratic primary ballot. The question reads: "Should the United States and the State of Georgia protect Georgians from gun violence by banning assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, closing background check loopholes and passing other common-sense gun safety reforms?"
"These questions don't affect public policy in any way formally," said First Coast News political analyst John Daigle, "they do offer political leaders a glimpse into the voters minds on some topics, the issues are usually hyper partisan."
Daigle added that while the results of these questions don't become law, they could influence future legislation.
"Those could end up being really important information for local elected bodies trying to decide what kind of referendum to put on future ballots," said Daigle.
An advisory question that is only on the Republican ballot deals with gambling and asks: "Would you support a statewide vote to allow gaming in Georgia so the voters can decide this issue instead of politicians in Atlanta?"
Daigle actually thinks the total amount of questions could be harmful to some candidates whose races appear on ballots after the advisory questions.
"I can see a lot of voters getting tired of those questions and stopping before they get to the third section on their ballot, which are the nonpartisan races," said Daigle.
There are eight statewide questions on every ballot in Georgia, but certain counties have additional questions that are unique to their voters. For example, the Ware County Republican primary ballot has an additional seven questions on top of their eight from the state, so there are a total of 15 advisory questions on that ballot.