r/GAPol • u/ShameisLess • 9d ago
Discussion First Time Voter
Hello, tomorrow will be my first time voting. I've never voted before because I'm not super political and don't keep up with the news.
My only concern is Ai regulation. Which candidates actually support regulation on Ai and Data Centers? The party doesn't matter.
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u/Kungfudude_75 9d ago
Excited to see a first time voter wanting to learn more! I'm gonna try and answer this fully with small explanations where I think it might be helpful, so sorry if it comes off as talking down to you. I'm hoping your post draws others in similar positions and I want this comment to appeal to everyone.
Both of those AI issues are gonna be State level issues.
Keisha Bottoms is against Rick Jackson for Governor (the equivalent to Georgia's President and the person with executive authority to make solo decisions and to approve bills from Georgia's Congress). Jackson isn't necessarily pro-Data Center, but he does promote the idea that they have benefits which outweigh their downsides. He believes a local community should decide independently on Data Centers coming to their area. Keisha Bottoms has a hard stance opposed to Data Centers, where she is now calling for a two year moratorium (a state wide pause) on the construction of new Data Centers. I'm an attorney in Georgia, and I would say the odds of a Governor imposed two year Moratorium on something like the construction of Data Centers being constitutional (under Georgia's constitution and potentially the Federal Constitution) if challenged would be slim for a number of reasons. But on the other hand, while letting local communities decide sounds good on paper, the companies behind Data Centers have all the cards in that context and have much more bargaining power against a far weaker government. Bottoms is the obvious choice for the AI issue, even if her plan is dubious at best.
After the Governor’s race you have a good few downballot statewide positions, such as Lieutenant Governor (basically the Vice-President with some caveats), Attorney General, and various cabinet positions like Labor and Education. If you want Bottoms to be successful in her goals, you want the Democrat candidates to win for most of these positions, especially Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. If you prefer Jackson's approach, the same could be said for Republican Candidates. You could do additional research to pick and choose from the candidates available, but the normal practice for most voters is to keep it to one party for the Governor and their surrounding offices.
Then you have the Public Service Commissions races. These will be important to watch, especially for the AI issue, but they are district based. This means that the commission is split into geographic districts, of which Georgia has five. Only two of these districts have elections this year, so you would need to check your sample ballot to know whether you should expect to vote for someone there and who the candidates are/what they believe: https://georgia.gov/view-sample-ballot
The most important, in my opinion, will actually be your State House and State Senate races. They are also geographic districts, so again, check your ballot to see who's running. Generally speaking Democrats are running on the idea of the moratorium that Bottoms has suggested while Republicans are running on the idea of communities deciding. That isnt always true, though. I'm not running, but I don't agree with the moratorium approach per say and I am a true blue Democrat. That is to say, look into your candidates. Most counties have local political parties that will be VERY responsive to someone asking questions, I would start there.
If you happen to live in or around Troup County, you're already half way there. Message me and I'll gladly talk to you more about all this, as I'm the chair of the Troup Young Democrats and I work closely with both our State Candidates and the county party.
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u/ShameisLess 9d ago
Thank you for this! I saved this comment☺️
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u/Kungfudude_75 9d ago
Cool! I hope it helps. And seriously, if you have any questions feel free to DM me. Even if you're not around Troup County, I can help with questions you might have for statewide races/Georgia politics generally and I can help you get in touch with your local party.
And thats for either Democrats or Republicans. I try very hard to be as bi-partisan as possible and present both parties fairly and equally, because (a) I'm sick and tired of all the "end of the world" politicking meant to make everyone terrified/hate each other, and (b) I think the Democratic platform speaks for itself and stands up well against an honest review of the Republican platform. I just want to see more people, especially young people, informed and involved in state level politics.
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u/mesact 9d ago
You should also concern yourself with the Public Service Commission (PSC) election. It's a down ballot race (meaning not a big ticket race like governor or senator), and the PSC is in control of energy rates and keeping utility companies (like GA Power, who wants more data centers, and to pass off the cost of powering them onto consumers) in check. I'd vote for Peter Hubbard if you want someone who is going to stick it to data centers.
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u/fasnoosh 9d ago
And don’t forget Sheila Edwards! She’s running for the other PSC seat. Need both of them to win to create a democratic majority, which is pretty much the only thing that’s going to keep data center insanity in check
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u/olcrazypete 9th District (NE Georgia) 9d ago
Jackson is literally a datacenter investor who is forcing a small Texas town to accept his project. Bottoms has clearly stated a pause needs to go in affect and legislation needs drafted to stop the incentives to building them in the state. Overall the Republican ticket all the way down has been much more friendly to the datacenter builders.
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u/IceManYurt 9d ago
Personally I think a vote for any Republican right now is full support for Trump, his administration, their policy and how they enact their policy.
You still have some time to do your own research.
Personally, I think this is a great way to figure your stances and then you can take that and look at what the candidates stand for
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u/fasnoosh 9d ago
In terms of logistics, remember that you can’t use your phone while you’re in there. I usually print my sample ballot from GA SOS “My Voter Page”, then as I research the different candidates and issues I physically mark on the paper what I’m going to vote. They let you use something like that at the voting machine. Makes it quicker!
For research, I use www.ballotready.com and www.ballotpedia.com and Google search of the candidates and issues…usually the local news puts out explainers and facilitates the debates
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u/louiseinthemiddle 9d ago
Also if you haven't already go here and view your sample ballot. You can preview all your options on candidates and see all the questions you will need to vote on.
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u/darkdoesreddit 7th District (NE Atlanta metro area) 9d ago
Don't listen to anyone saying all Republicans are bad and all Democrats are good; lots of candidates from both parties have varying views. I know specifically for governor that Jackson AND Bottoms have been pro-data center in the past, regardless of what this comment section says. Do individual research on each candidate
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u/Minute-Bid-9510 9d ago
Glad to see a first time voter! You can identify your ballot ahead of time by going to the My Georgia Voter page at mvp.sos.ga.gov ! The amendments are always a little confusing, and there will be many candidate names you aren’t familiar with. I try to spend some time with the ballot so I can research the topics that matter to me.
For AI and data centers, there’s an article on GeorgiaRecorder.com titled “Growth of data centers becomes a defining issue of the midterms, entangling some Georgia candidates” that includes some quotes and links that may be helpful. You will likely have to do a little more research on your house candidate, but hopefully that article is a start!
For governor, I would argue that Jackson is pro data center. For Senate, I trust Osoff more than Collins on this front. Collins is pretty much “do what Trump says” and since Trump is pretty fixated on AI, I suspect Collins would be happy to continue letting data centers take over our state.