Early voting began Tuesday for the Special General Election set for Nov. 4. The election is a statewide contest to decide which party nominees will earn the two seats available on the Georgia Public Service Commission, which regulates certain utilities in Georgia.
And Union County residents have a special election of their own to pay attention to, as Sole Commissioner Harold Collins has placed a local referendum on the ballot for voters to decide if they want to impose the new Floating Local Option Sales Tax explicitly for property tax relief.
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If it passes, FLOST will result in an additional 1% sales and use tax in Union County starting Jan. 1, 2026, raising the total sales tax that everyone pays to 8% for every dollar spent on eligible goods and services at places like grocery stores and other retail establishments.
The trade-off to the sales tax would be a steep reduction in county and city millage rates, estimated at about a 70% savings on county and city property taxes. FLOST would only result in an additional rollback to county and city millage rates, not the levy for Union County Schools.
Election officials are encouraging people to participate this November after the incredibly low turnout for the Special Primary Election in June. Of course, that was before Collins put FLOST to a vote, which has the chance to drive turnout for and against the new sales tax next month.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4, and there are three weeks of early in-person voting running weekdays between Tuesday, Oct. 14, and Friday, Oct. 31. Early voting also includes two weekend voting opportunities: Saturday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 25.
All in-person early voting is taking place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. inside the Union County Voting Center at 33 Roscoe Collins Drive, located across from Union County High School off the Glenn Gooch Bypass.
Voters who decide to wait until Election Day to cast their ballots will need to head to their predetermined voting precincts between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Nov. 4.
Union County has 11 voting precincts: Blairsville, Jones Creek, Choestoe, Owltown, Coosa, Pat Colwell, Dooley, Suches, Gum Log, Trackrock and Ivy Log. As a reminder, the Blairsville Precinct changed to the Voting Center this year.
For people voting absentee-by-mail, ballots may be requested inside the Voting Center now through Friday, Oct. 24. Absentee ballot applications can be returned by mail, fax, as an email attachment, or in person at the Voting Center.
Absentee ballots began mailing this week. They can be returned using the official Voting Center drop box during early voting hours; mailed back in plenty of time to be counted after polls close on Election Day; or dropped off at the Voting Center through 7 p.m. Election Day.
The deadline to register to vote in this election was Monday, Oct. 6.
Residents may visit https://mvp.sos.ga.gov for mail-in application and ballot status, poll location, registration information on file with the county, sample ballots for upcoming elections, provisional ballot status and more.
People with questions are asked to call the Union County Board of Registrar’s Office at 706-439-6016.
Looking ahead, the 2026 mid-term elections will put other important matters before Union County voters.
Expected to appear on ballots next year are both SPLOST and ESPLOST, which would not be new sales taxes but continuations, as well as the question of whether residents want a multi-member board of commissioners instead of a sole commissioner style of county government.
