DeKalb County voters will soon decide the top officeholders in the county’s 13 cities, including part of Atlanta.
Election Day is Tuesday, but almost 10,000 early voters have already cast ballots. Another 10,000 absentee ballots have been received by the county elections office.
A sample ballot available at the DeKalb County website includes about 60 races, including contested mayoral elections in Atlanta, Stone Mountain and Tucker.
Every DeKalb voter is able to weigh in on the extension of a countywide education sales tax. If approved, the additional one penny tax would be renewed for another five years starting in July 2022. A maximum of $816 million in revenue would help fund capital improvements in Atlanta, Decatur and DeKalb County schools.
Additionally, voters in Atlanta and Decatur will be able to approve homestead exemptions on school taxes.
If approved, the Atlanta exemption would continue a $50,000 reduction in taxable value from homes assessed at more than $10,000.
In Decatur, the exemption would give older homeowners a tax break. Low-income residents older than 64 would see the taxable value of their home lowered by $200,000. All homeowners older than 69 would also get the reduction.
Fewer voters will determine the fate of one of metro Atlanta’s smallest and oldest cities. Lithonia, almost totally engulfed by the newer and much larger city of Stonecrest, hopes to grow its city limits 50% through annexation. If the annexation referendum passes, Lithonia will add about 480 people to its current population of 2,778.
Voters within the Atlanta city limits will help decide if former Mayor Kasim Reed returns to office. With 14 candidates on the ballot, a runoff seems likely. In the latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll, Reed was running neck-and-neck with City Council President Felicia Moore.
In Tucker, incorporated in 2015, incumbent Mayor Frank Auman, the former chairman of the DeKalb GOP, is trying to fend off the challenge of Robin Biro, a field director for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.
The only other contested mayor’s race is in Stone Mountain, where three candidates vie for the top spot without an incumbent.
In Stonecrest, still reeling from an investigation that found the city mismanaged $6.2 million of federal COVID-19 relief funds, three incumbent city councilmembers face challengers.
Voters can see a preview of the ballot at their precinct by visiting the Georgia Secretary of State website.
