MACON, Ga. — The new year is a time for reinvention and new opportunities, which includes choosing the people to represent us in office.
It's already been a talker; 2024 is an election year.
Soon, mailboxes and TV screens will be filled with campaign commercials because there's a presidential race, as well as other federal, state, and local seats up for grabs.
Voting starts sooner than you think.
The election season starts on March 12th with Georgia's Presidential Preference Primary.
That's where you vote for the candidate you want to represent your party. Then you'll vote for the next U.S. President on November 5th.
May 21st is the General Primary Election where folks in Bibb County vote on some major county races.
There are two categories in the general primary election: partisan and nonpartisan races.
The partisan election includes positions like the sheriff, district attorney, and tax commissioner, which are all up for grabs.
The incumbent Sheriff David Davis announced he'll run for a fourth term.
Davis is expected to have some competition as two former Bibb officers say they'll run, but candidates can't qualify until March 4-8.
This is a partisan race, so if there are qualified candidates for both parties, the race won't be decided until November 5th, or in a December 3 run-off.
The second category are the non-partisan races, which includes elections for the mayor, four county commission seats, coroner, Macon Water Authority, and more.
Mayor Lester Miller announced his re-election campaign last January. We won't know if he'll have any challengers until March when others can qualify.
Then there are the nine county commission seats that will be on the ballot.
At least four will be open seats, which no incumbent.
Commissioners Elaine Lucas, Al Tillman, Virgil Watkins, and Mallory Jones have each held their seats for three four-year terms and aren't eligible for re-election anymore.
If those races aren't decided on at the General Primary Election, they'll be settled in a runoff election on June 18th.
2024 could bring a lot of new faces to our local.. state.. and federal offices.
This will also be the first election and early voting that will take place in the new Board of Elections office in the Macon Mall.
Other races we're tracking this year are Houston County Sheriff, congressional seats, and the State General Assembly with updated district maps.