Beverly seeks November election date for Macon-Bibb County

ATLANTA -- State Rep. James Beverly says he is planning a bill that would move Macon-Bibb County's local elections from May to November.

"The reason I want to do that is because more people vote in November," said Beverly, D-Macon, whose district covers much of the city of Macon's former footprint.

His bill would set elections in November in presidential election years for Macon-Bibb County's mayor and County Commission, starting this year.

He wants the elections to remain nonpartisan, but he is unhappy with the current May election dates.

Beverly's anger has a bit of a history. In 2012, when Macon and Bibb voters approved merging their governments, the plan called for partisan elections in November.

A year later, Macon-Bibb County Republican legislators led a successful bid to reset local election rules. Local offices would become nonpartisan -- candidate parties would not appear on ballots -- and elections would be held in May.

Beverly, like most Democrats, opposed the move to May and voted against it.

May elections, he said, create "inadvertent voter suppression" because people don't know when elections are.

"I want to make sure Bibb County voters are protected by adhering to what we said we would do" in the original 2012 charter, Beverly said.

But Macon-Bibb Mayor Robert Reichert said he hopes Beverly decides not to file the bill and that if he does, it doesn't become law.

"We are nonpartisan now. So without a primary, you could very well end up with a need for a runoff. And a runoff from November is in December or January, which is the worst possible time," the mayor said.

Holiday-season elections would be "disruptive, to say the least," Reichert said, and getting people to turn out to vote would be difficult.

Changing the election date to November requires a bill to be approved in the state Legislature in Atlanta. The first step to that is convincing a majority of Bibb's five state House members.

It may be tough. Macon-Bibb's House team is the same as it was in 2013.

State Rep. Allen Peake, a Republican from north Macon, said he opposes Beverly's idea.

"People know when the election date is," Peake said.

May elections, he said, are "consistent with other nonpartisan consolidated governments."

State Rep. Nikki Randall, D-Macon, said she supports Beverly's idea and will sign his bill, because she wants to see elections when turnout is highest.

State Rep. Bubber Epps, R-Dry Branch, who represents much of south Macon-Bibb County, said he's willing to give anything an ear, but he said he wouldn't be drawn out on the question any more than that.

Beverly himself has thought about one day running for Macon-Bibb mayor, though he's never declared a candidacy.

But there's no conflict in his pushing to reset an election date, Beverly said.

"I never said I'm running for mayor. I'm here to serve the people of Bibb County, period, at the state level. That's it. End of discussion," he said.

Beverly said he is still working with legislative staff attorneys on details and does not yet know what day his bill will be finalized and published.

The state's annual legislative session began Monday morning.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Maggie Lee, e-mail mlee@macon.com.

Correction: A previous version of this story misreported when local election dates are scheduled. The local elections are May 24.

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Beverly seeks November election date for Macon-Bibb County ."