Federal Judge Orders Georgia to Move Federal Primaries

Right now, Georgia’s 2014 primary is scheduled for July 15. But a federal judge has moved the date of Georgia’s primary for federal races, including the U.S. Senate seat, to June 3.

At issue is the federal government claim military and overseas voters currently don’t have enough time to get their ballots back to be counted.

Georgia Secretary of State spokesman Jared Thomas says holding two different primaries would be costly for the counties, and it probably won’t help voter turnout either.

“Because if they’re having to go to the polls one day to vote for governor and another day to vote for U.S. Senate,  we’ve never done anything like that before,” said Thomas. “And it certainly stands that it could produce a lot of confusion.”

The state has three choices: to hold the two primaries, to take the federal government to court or to move the state and local primaries to conform to the federal date.

The last of those three is the most likely option, though it will take an act of the state legislature to change the state primary date. Thomas says the Secretary of State’s office is working with the legislature and the governor’s office to decide which choice to make.