State School Superintendent
All statements, answers, and information found within the 159 Georgia Together voter guide were collected via an electronic survey. Due to the sheer volume of information collected and the number of candidates that submitted survey data, all of the information presented in the guide is verbatim per the input from the survey participants (including any spelling or grammatical errors).
Richard Woods
(R, Incumbent)
TOP 3 PRIORITIES IF ELECTED
No response yet
DO YOU SUPPORT LEGISLATION THAT WOULD PREVENT BUSINESS OWNERS AND EMPLOYERS FROM DENYING SERVICES TO LGBTQ PEOPLE AND OTHERS BASED ON THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?
No response yet.
DO YOU SUPPORT ENDING CASH BAIL FOR LOW-LEVEL OFFENSES?
No response yet.
DO YOU SUPPORT THE CREATION OF A NON-PARTISAN INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION?
No response yet.
WOULD YOU SUPPORT AN ENGLISH-ONLY CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT IF IT WERE ON THE BALLOT?
No response yet.
DO YOU SUPPORT THE RIGHT OF WORKERS TO FORM A UNION AND BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY?
No response yet.
DID YOU/DO YOU SUPPORT GUNS ON CAMPUS?
No response yet.
DO YOU SUPPORT ELECTRICITY RATE INCREASES TO COMPLETE TWO NUCLEAR REACTORS AT PLANT VOGTLE?
No response yet.
DO YOU SUPPORT CHANGING GEORGIA'S VOTING SYSTEM TO A VOTER-MARKED (PEN OR PENCIL) PAPER BALLOT WITH OPTICAL SCANNERS?
No response yet.
DO YOU SUPPORT THE EXPANSION OF EARLY VOTING?
No response yet.
DO YOU SUPPORT PUBLIC VOUCHERS BEING USED FOR PRIVATE AND/OR CHARTER SCHOOLS?
No response yet.
DO YOU SUPPORT MEDICAID EXPANSION OR ANOTHER GEORGIA-SPECIFIC PLAN TO EXTEND HEALTH INSURANCE TO LOW-INCOME GEORGIANS?
No response yet.
WILL YOU SUPPORT POLICIES AND LEGISLATION THAT INCREASE ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE, INCLUDING ABORTION, AND OPPOSE POLICIES AND LEGISLATION THAT LIMIT OR REDUCE ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE, INCLUDING ABORTION?
No response yet.
WOULD YOU SUPPORT EFFORTS TO STRENGTHEN SOCIAL SECURITY FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE RETIREES AND PUT THE PROGRAM ON A MORE STABLE FISCAL PATH?
No response yet.
DO YOU SUPPORT A LIVABLE WAGE OF A MINIMUM OF $15 PER HOUR?
No response yet.
Otha Thornton (D)
TOP 3 PRIORITIES IF ELECTED
1. Empower Georgia families and educators - I will ensure that we listen to our parents, families, educators and include their voices at every level in decisions that affect their schools.
2. Fight to fully fund every Georgia public school - Our state constitution calls for adequate funding of our public schools. Georgia has not honored its constitutional funding requirement for our schools. Georgia's executive and legislative branches established the QBE formula to fund our schools, but have consistently underfunded and shifted more costs back to local school districts. The current budget shortage being projected for next year is over 160 million dollars. This projection is being made while our state leaders are promising Amazon over a billion dollars in tax incentives to move its second headquarters here. These are Georgia's current priorities. We are ranked number #1 in doing business and #44 in child well-being. Our state's school system is currently ranked #38 amongst the 50 states. We can and must do better.
3. Support vocational, college prep, and life skills training - Georgia needs to provide a great education to every child, so that when he or see finishes 12th grade, they will have a clear path to or technical schools, colleges, or careers. Basic life skills classes should also be taught to help our children navigate and transition beyond high school graduation.
DO YOU SUPPORT LEGISLATION THAT WOULD PREVENT BUSINESS OWNERS AND EMPLOYERS FROM DENYING SERVICES TO LGBTQ PEOPLE AND OTHERS BASED ON THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?
No. No person or group should be discriminated against.
DO YOU SUPPORT ENDING CASH BAIL FOR LOW-LEVEL OFFENSES?
Yes. Cash bail is just another way of generating revenue off of historically disenfranchised communities.
DO YOU SUPPORT THE CREATION OF A NON-PARTISAN INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION?
Yes. Our elected officials should not select their voters, the voters should elect their officials. Redistricting should be conducted with fairness in mind. Based upon historical of political and racial gerrymandering of districts, we must establish an impartial system of drawing our district lines to ensure that we protect and preserve our state's democratic institutions.
WOULD YOU SUPPORT AN ENGLISH-ONLY CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT IF IT WERE ON THE BALLOT?
No. This is just another discriminatory tactic to discriminate against immigrants. When our country was founded and our constitution was established, the founding fathers did not place any language in U.S. Constitution pertaining to language. Native Americans are the only people that were not immigrants. All other Americans are descendants of immigrants and the Native Americans or Founding Fathers did not make language a requirement to be a part of this great American democratic experiment.
DO YOU SUPPORT THE RIGHT OF WORKERS TO FORM A UNION AND BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY?
Yes. Unions play a critical role throughout our nation. Unfortunately, Georgia is a right to work state with no collective bargaining rights. Unions have been responsible in establishing standard and reasonable work hours, fair and decent wages, workers' safety requirements, and collective bargaining rights. These rights and benefits are very important to help the working man and woman to make a living wage and protect them from being exploited by unscrupulous business practices.
DID YOU/DO YOU SUPPORT GUNS ON CAMPUS?
No. I am a former U.S. Army Infantry Officer and support our U.S. Constitution, however, I do not support guns on campus with the exception of campus police/security officer. A school or college campus is meant to be a place to educate minds, not to parade weapons as a show of power. The campus police or school resource officers are there for the protection and security of the school.
DO YOU SUPPORT ELECTRICITY RATE INCREASES TO COMPLETE TWO NUCLEAR REACTORS AT PLANT VOGTLE?
No. This initiative was not supported by Georgia voters, but our leaders moved ahead to fund it. There were many issues to include: construction costs, delays, and contract issues. Georgia taxpayers are stuck with the decision of its leaders.
DO YOU SUPPORT CHANGING GEORGIA'S VOTING SYSTEM TO A VOTER-MARKED (PEN OR PENCIL) PAPER BALLOT WITH OPTICAL SCANNERS?
Yes. I support any voting system where all votes are counted and can be accounted for immediately following the election to ensure that we protect our democracy.
DO YOU SUPPORT THE EXPANSION OF EARLY VOTING?
Yes. We should give every voter the maximum opportunity and flexibility to vote within agreed upon timeframes.
DO YOU SUPPORT PUBLIC VOUCHERS BEING USED FOR PRIVATE AND/OR CHARTER SCHOOLS?
No. I support public schools 100%. I also support public charter schools that are accountable to their local school board and voters. I am against vouchers and private charter schools that receive public dollars and are not accountable to the community that they serve. I do not support private schools that takes public dollars and discriminate against any groups that they serve. Vouchers are a legacy of the opponents of Brown versus Board of Education. The original supporters of vouchers wanted the state governments to use public money to continue to send their children to segregated schools.
DO YOU SUPPORT MEDICAID EXPANSION OR ANOTHER GEORGIA-SPECIFIC PLAN TO EXTEND HEALTH INSURANCE TO LOW-INCOME GEORGIANS?
Yes. Georgia should immediately expand Medicaid. Our leaders refuse to expand on ideological grounds, while our state's taxpayers pay to support Medicaid. It is very unfortunate that we are losing rural hospitals across Georgia and inflicting unnecessary harm on our citizen's because of political ideology. Bottom line, I believe healthcare is a human right, not a privilege.
WILL YOU SUPPORT POLICIES AND LEGISLATION THAT INCREASE ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE, INCLUDING ABORTION, AND OPPOSE POLICIES AND LEGISLATION THAT LIMIT OR REDUCE ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE, INCLUDING ABORTION?
Yes. I support policies that increase access to reproductive health care and oppose policies that reduce access to reproductive health care. I do not support abortion unless the mother's or child's life is at risk, rape, and incest. This choice should be left up the woman, her faith, and her family
WOULD YOU SUPPORT EFFORTS TO STRENGTHEN SOCIAL SECURITY FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE RETIREES AND PUT THE PROGRAM ON A MORE STABLE FISCAL PATH?
Yes. I support efforts to strengthen our Social Security program. Our seniors should have the Social Security safety net following their retirement. They have paid into the system during their working years and should be able to enjoy their retirement years.
DO YOU SUPPORT A LIVABLE WAGE OF A MINIMUM OF $15 PER HOUR?
No response yet.