🗳️ Ballot 101

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Today's weather: High in the low 90s, mostly sunny. Keep praying for rain.

Situational awareness: Voting precinct workers will have to hand-count ballots after the polls close under a rule approved Friday by the Georgia Elections Board. Go deeper.

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Today's newsletter is 860 words — a 3.5-minute read.

Election Day is Nov. 5, and in-person early voting kicks off Oct. 15 in Georgia. Here's what you need to know about how to vote and key races around the state.

Why it matters: Georgia is a swing state and crucial to deciding whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Trump occupies the White House in January.

• Plus: Atlanta voters will fill a vacant citywide seat on the City Council.
• And Fulton County voters will decide whether starring players in Trump's 2020 election interference case deserve another term in office.

Caveat: Statewide offices like governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general are not on the ballot until 2026.

The intrigue: Most U.S. House and state legislative races are expected to be lopsided, with districts drawn to favor one party.

Harris will face Trump in what is expected to be another nail-biter race after the state famously flipped blue in 2020.

• Also on Georgia's ballot seeking the presidency: Claudia de la Cruz (independent), Chase Oliver (Libertarian Party) and Jill Stein (Green Party).

Why it matters: Georgia's 16 Electoral College votes can blaze a candidate's path clear to the White House. But the fast-growing and politically and demographically ever-changing state is tricky to gauge when it comes to voter sentiment.

The bottom line: Every ballot matters. In 2020, Biden won the state by a now well-known 11,780 votes.

Fun fact: Georgia voters will have the most presidential candidates on the ballot since 2000, ABC News reports.

The intrigue: Democrats, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and voting rights activists say recent State Election Board rule changes could delay results or sow confusion during the vote count.

U.S. Congress races in Georgia

All of Georgia's 14 congressional districts are up for grabs, but gerrymandering has helped create partisan advantages, especially in rural areas.

Zoom out: After being drawn out of her area during the most recent redistricting, U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Duluth) is running for the 6th Congressional District seat covering parts of west metro Atlanta.

• Her Republican opponent is Jeff Criswell, the former owner of a baseball brand company.

Yes, but: The red district races featuring favored-to-win Trump allies U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Andrew Clyde and Mike Collins could be a temperature check for MAGA fever in Georgia.

Like in Congress, state legislators have gerrymandered political districts to their partisan advantage, so competition is low. The outskirts of metro Atlanta suburbs are some of Georgia's most competitive battlegrounds.

Key races include:

• State House District 42: Democratic socialist candidate Gabriel Sanchez defeated incumbent Rep. Teri Anulewicz (D-Smyrna) in the May primary. Sanchez will face Republican Diane Jackson on Nov. 5.
• State House District 53: House Rep. Deborah Silcox (R-Sandy Springs) is running against Democratic attorney Susie Greenberg. Both ran unopposed in the May primary, with Greenberg earning several hundred more votes in the North Fulton district than the incumbent.

Georgia ballot measures

Georgia voters are being asked to approve or reject ballot measures proposing changes to tax exemptions and an esoteric appeal process you'll likely never experience. They include:

1. Georgia Tax Tribunal: Endorsed by business leaders, the change would reroute appeals of the Georgia Tax Tribunal's decisions from superior court to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
2. Homestead tax exemption: Creating a statewide homestead tax exemption on local property taxes (cities and counties could opt out).
3. Property tax exemption: Increasing the tax exemption on tangible personal property — think valuable items and equipment that are not motor vehicles, trailers and mobile homes — from $7,500 to 20,000.

Uber unveiled new features designed to help make the driver and courier experience safer, fairer and easier.

• An example: The national expansion of enhanced rider verification lets drivers know more about who's getting into their car.

The result: An experience drivers only find with Uber.

Learn more.

Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis and Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee drew general election challengers thanks to their high-profile appearances in Trump's ongoing election interference case.

Caveat: Sheriff Pat Labat, the jailer who booked Trump in the Rice Street lock-up, cruised past several primary challengers in May and faces write-in candidate Charles Rambo, a former sheriff deputy.

Zoom out: Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis, who represents conservative North Fulton, is challenged by Democrat Megan Harris.

Atlanta City Council races

Five people qualified to run for the open Atlanta City Council at-large seat vacated when Keisha Sean Waites stepped down to run an unsuccessful campaign for Fulton County Superior Court clerk.

• They are business owner and Buckhead community organizer Amber Higgins Connor; activist Devin Barrington Ward; City Hall rabble-rouser Duvwon Robinson; former Atlanta Public Schools Board Chair Eshe' Collins; and retired educator Nicole "Nikki" Evans Jones.

What's next: The large number of candidates increases the chances of the two top vote-getters facing off in a Dec. 3 runoff.

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🐼 Zoo Atlanta announced its giant pandas will return to China sometime next month. A "Panda-Palooza" goodbye celebration is set for Oct. 5. (WSB-TV)

🍽️ After a three-year closure, Westside restaurant Bocado is back open — but its popular burger is not currently on the menu. (Eater Atlanta)

🗳️ In Cobb County and across the U.S., elections officials are taking unprecedented steps this year to protect election workers and ballots. (Axios)

🎤 Stevie Wonder announced a 10-city run of shows ahead of the election to support Vice President Kamala Harris.

• He'll be at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Oct. 19 and tickets are on sale now. (AJC)

Flexible work just got better for over 7 million people.

Here's why: Uber's new features are designed to help make the driver and courier experience safer, fairer and easier.

• One feature, Record My Ride, allows drivers to record trips with their smartphone instead of investing in a dashcam.

💡 Kristal enjoyed sharing ideas and experiences during a panel discussion at the Online News Association conference on Friday.

😵‍💫 Thomas is wishing he could have booked a direct flight to Minneapolis.

✉️ Forward this voting guide to a friend or share and bookmark this link.

This newsletter was edited by Jen Ashley.