Helping Georgia Voters to Be Prepared

From now through Election Day, Pat Patterson’s mantra is “no voter left behind.”

Patterson, a 75-year-old retired school educator and administrator from Savannah, wants Georgia voters to remember that while the race for U.S. president is getting most of the attention, the contests for other federal, state and local offices can affect everything from drug prices and taxes to transportation and utility costs.

Helping people to vote—a right that was long denied to women and to African Americans—is also personal to Patterson.

“People fought and died ... and just were subjected to all kinds of indignity for this right,” she says. “And so, for that, I owe them to keep this up.”

Photo by William Crooks

Patterson is one of many AARP Georgia volunteers who are visiting senior centers, churches and local colleges this summer and fall to educate residents about recent changes that could affect how they vote.

One important update this year: Redistricting in 2023 altered the boundaries of some congressional and state legislative districts. Barring legal challenges, 2024 will be the first time the state uses the new lines.

“For voters, that could mean seeing different candidates appear on their ballots than they expected when they show up to the polls,” says Alice Bennett, AARP Georgia’s associate state director for advocacy.

Georgia voters can log in to the secretary of state’s My Voter Page at mvp.sos.ga.gov to find their polling site and which elected officials represent their district.

Another recent change is a 2023 law that requires employers to give workers up to two hours off for early, in-person voting. It expanded an existing law that permits time off to vote on primary or Election Day.

Meanwhile, as of press time, litigation was ongoing over a 2021 law that made significant changes to election processes. The law shortened the window for absentee voting and introduced new ID requirements for mail ballots, among other changes.

Get up-to-date information at sos.ga.gov/elections and at mvp.sos.ga.gov. Also get details at aarp.org/gavotes.

Protecting Social Security

AARP Georgia is also organizing voter engagement events across the state that will focus on the need to ensure the financial stability of Social Security.

The program’s trust fund reserves are dwindling, and a decade from now, it may not have enough money to fully cover benefits, according to a 2023 projection by the Social Security Board of Trustees.

More than 1.9 million Georgians received Social Security benefits in 2022—up 70 percent from 2002, federal data shows. Nationally, AARP has been pressing candidates about where they stand on the issue and urging Congress to act to protect the program.

It is a vital part of the economy that older Americans depend on, says Myrtle S. Habersham of Macon, who is AARP Georgia’s volunteer state president.

AARP will also hold other voter outreach events later this year in multiple cities. For more information, go to aarp.org/ga and click on Events.

Ann Hardie spent a decade covering aging issues for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She has written for the Bulletin for 15 years.

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