Talk:List of governors of Georgia

Untitled
The county's official site states that the currently accepted spelling varied from that used by Governor John Houstoun. This seems reasonable given that standardized spelling wasn't in much vogue during the 18th century. Ellsworth 23:54, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

As someone who took Georgia history as a schoolchild, I'd like to point out that, at several different times in the early 1900s and also during Reconstruction, their were three or more people claiming to be governor. This should be noted. I'd especially look at the Arnall, Talmadge, Thompson period, where, for two months in 1947, Georgia had three governors.

Many of the links for the colonial governors just prior to the American Revolution are just plain wrong. . . but I don't know if the names are wrong, or just the links. . . RCL - 2 Aug 2006

I've upgraded the table and added notes, but I have no/little good information for the revolutionary governors. I haven't put any notes for the pre-Jeffersonian Republican governors. --Golbez 11:44, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Numbering of Governors
The numbering of the Governors is incorrect. Georgia numbers it's Governors by the individual, not the governorships. In othewords: Non-consecutive term Governors are not recounted. GoodDay (talk) 23:56, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
 * The entire list is an unfinished mess. You're welcome to renumber it; it's not under active editing at the present. --Golbez (talk) 01:36, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I'll have a go at it, later today. GoodDay (talk) 01:43, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

No Pardon Authority
Contrary to what you have listed, the Governor of the State of Georgia has absolutely no Pardon power or authority. It is vested in the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole per § 42-9-56. Restriction on Governor's powers:

The Governor shall have no authority or power whatever over the granting of pardons or paroles.

HISTORY: Ga. L. 1943, p. 185, § 21; Ga. L. 1983, p. 500, § 7. --Commonwealth States Historian (Kentucky 1333) (talk) 20:24, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

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External links modified
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Numbering of Governors (again)
Kemp will be the 83rd governor, not the 89th. GoodDay (talk) 00:13, 17 November 2018 (UTC)
 * I mean, they say that, but I'd like to see you find a way to count 83 governors. The best way I found was: Until the Civil War, count everything; ignore the military governor; and ignore repeat terms after the civil war. One can see how this is insane unless we have an official source saying how. Once Kemp is inaugurated and there's press saying he's #83, I'll email the state archives directly and ask how they came up with this, it'd be interesting to know if we have some listed that they omit, or maybe they're just wrong - see Iowa's list, where we acknowledge, with support from the press, that no one knows what the official number should be. I'd be completely happy to have that here, but at the moment, any numbering system is original research, so yeah, I guess removing them was the best option. --Golbez (talk) 04:43, 17 November 2018 (UTC)
 * My guess is, there's confusion with the Confederate governors & likely some governors were counted more then once (due to multiple terms) while others weren't. It's a mess, for sure. GoodDay (talk) 04:54, 17 November 2018 (UTC)

I emailed the state and got a pretty good response:
 * "We believe the Governor's Office is working from the list in the Official and Statistical Register of Georgia, published by the Office of Secretary of State. The register is no longer published but has been scanned and is available online in the Digital Library of Georgia.  The 1977-78 register is considered the last "historical" register, with lists of statewide elected officials and members of the General Assembly dating back to the creation of the office (in the "State Miscellany" section of the Register).  The list of governors in the 1977-78 register includes the Royal Governors, the presidents of the Trustees of Georgia during the Colonial period, and the military commander during Reconstruction, Gen. Thomas H. Ruger.  You can find the list here, http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view?docId=statregister/stat1977/stat1977-1146.xml


 * If you count the governors from no. 77, George Busbee, Brian Kemp is the 83rd governor."

I'll work on integrating this, but I think it solves our problem.

That said, I must share the last line of their email:

"We frankly gave no thought to the numbering."

I feel ya, friend. --Golbez (talk) 20:39, 15 January 2019 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
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A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
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 * Governor Kemp Official Portrait (cropped).jpeg

Article deficiencies
So frustrating to come to wikipedia and not find some needed information. ..

So, first of all, I take issue that there is no article called Governor of Georgia (the reason that's not a red link is because it's a redirect to this article). Separate articles are needed. A "list" should not include things like powers and methods of election. And I'd really like this to cover the way the governor is elected. Tonight I learned that Lester Maddox won in 1966 despite not having gotten the most votes, because the legislature picked him when no one got an actual majority. Is that still the way it's done? I'd like to know, but the article that would tell me had not been created. Why not? About half the states have an article on the office and another mere list. All of them should have both. Unschool 03:42, 13 July 2019 (UTC)
 * "Why not?" Because you haven't made it yet. :P You aren't new here, you know that Wikipedia can work in fits and starts. --Golbez (talk) 04:18, 13 July 2019 (UTC)
 * You're right, of course. I was a bit frustrated (and surprised) in the moment.  I'll try to take this on this fall. Unschool 03:28, 14 July 2019 (UTC)


 * Simply having an article at Governor of Georgia wouldn't guarantee that the information you were seeking would have been there. In my 14 years on Wikipedia, I have often found that sometimes creating a stub article on a highly notable topic is a good way to start the process. It doesn't always work, and sometimes over-eager editors will try to curtail the process by suggesting the articles be merged again. But sometimes getting the ball rolling is all that is needed. - BilCat (talk) 05:53, 27 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks, BilCat. When I was actually active here (2005-2009) I used to create stubs semi-regularly (most of the limited number of articles I "created" were just stubs when I left them, and others did the hard work later).  But the last couple of times I tried (in more recent years) I had some get deleted and I have just sort of given up.Unsch<b style="color: #7ED324;">ool</b> 00:08, 29 May 2020 (UTC)


 * I went ahead and created a draft article at Draft:Governor of Georgia. The text of the list article will also need to be cut down when the draft goes live to avoid duplication. - BilCat (talk) 06:14, 27 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I think your draft looks great, BilCat. That's certainly a lot more than a stub.  Well done, and thank you! <b style="color: #52A249;">Un</b><b style="color: #23CE40;">sch</b><b style="color: #7ED324;">ool</b> 00:08, 29 May 2020 (UTC)


 * Good, thanks! Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 19:21, 27 May 2020 (UTC)


 * ✅ See Governor of Georgia. - BilCat (talk) 21:34, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

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 * Governor Brian P. Kemp.jpg

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 * Melvin Thompson.jpg

Text that will date
The guideline WP:DATED says "terms such as now, today, currently, present, to date, so far, soon, upcoming, ongoing, and recently should usually be avoided in favor of phrases such as during the 2010s, since 2010, and in August 2020. Wording can usually be modified to remove the 'now' perspective". The point is that Wikipedia is a work of reference not a source of current news; text such as "There have officially been 83 governors of the State of Georgia", "the current governor is XXX", etc. will go out of date, and there is no guarantee that an article will be kept up to date. Also, printed or otherwise saved articles will become wrong. This can be avoided without affecting the meaning by wording such as "As of 2024 there have officially been 83 governors", "XXX became governor in 2024", etc. There are more than plenty of articles in Wikipedia with outdated "current" information.

I recently added "as of 2024", and it was reverted today. Opinions?

Best wishes, Pol098 (talk) 20:05, 23 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Other statements in the article that are potentially already out of date:
 * "The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia"
 * "The governor and the lieutenant governor are not officially elected on the same ticket."
 * The fact that Brian Kemp is the incumbent, and that Burt Jones is his lieutenant.
 * The lifespans of the living governors.
 * There is simply no reason to add an 'as of' to this single statement, and nothing you've said has justified it. "Terms such as now, today, [etc.]" None of those terms are being used. Either you think for some reason the number of governors is vital enough to uniquely require an as-of, or I just opened your eyes to a dozen other as-ofs that need to be added here, or perhaps none of these need to be added, and the last-edited date on the article is sufficient. --Golbez (talk) 05:17, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Or, to put it another way: The number of governors cannot possibly change faster than the current governor can, so why not put an 'as of' by any mention of him, rather than the count? One can assume, perhaps, that the header of the article is as up-to-date as the table, and you haven't proposed adding a date to the table, nor should you. --Golbez (talk) 05:24, 24 June 2024 (UTC)