But what if they pull a switch?

Lonnie Miley, a former Macon City Councilman looking to get back on the council this year, has a twin brother named Ronnie Miley.

Yeah, it's confusing.

Both have been active in politics for years, and Ronnie has been on the Bibb County Board of Elections for some time.

Now, there's a 23-year-old guy named Virgil Watkins who is also running for council this year. He was on the board of elections, but resigned to qualify this week to run for council. That's to do away with a pretty obvious conflict of interest.

But Ronnie Miley says he has no plans to step down from the board, and both he and Steve Allen (chairman of the Bibb County Democratic Party) both say there is no conflict of interest.

(NOTE: I edited a mistake out of the above paragraph. I had Allen as a current member of the elections board. He's a former member, but his picture is still up at the board of elections office).

"The way everything is handled here, I don't think there's a way any of us (board members) would manipulate (the election)," Allen said this morning.

Rinda Wilson, a Republican and chairwoman of the elections board, agrees, as does state law.

To be sure, the board has a limited role in running an election, much of which is handled by paid elections workers, plus all those voting computers and the tech guys who make them run. And there are competing interests on the board, with a split of two Republicans and two Democrats, plus one non-partisan member making up the 5-person board.

State elections law doesn't address the issue of siblings, said Whitney Halterman, spokeswoman for the Georgia Secretary of State's Office, which oversees elections.

"There is a provision however that no member of an election board can be involved in any campaign activities," Halterman said. "He can't go to any of his brother's fundraisers... he can't give out bumper stickers."

At the moment Miley doesn't have any announced competition in his Ward I Post 2 race. If he gets some, you can be sure the competing campaign will be looking out for any improperly handed out bumper stickers.

Today, by the way, is the first day of qualifying for Macon city elections. We'll be updating throughout the day as people qualify. Check the home page: www.macon.com.