Polls have closed for voters casting ballots in today’s local elections.
The results of races throughout metro Atlanta will determine mayors and council members, as well as the fate of funding for parks, transportation and other capital construction projects.
The hyperlocal municipal races didn’t draw many voters in early in-person voting, and Election Day is was a similarly slow affair. Polls closed at 7 p.m., but anyone in line then who had not yet cast a ballot may still do so.
During the three weeks of in-person early voting that ended last Friday, about 1% of residents in Fulton County had cast ballots. In DeKalb County, the only one in the metro with a countywide referendum on the ballot, about 2% of residents had voted.
DeKalb voters were asked to decide whether to extend two 1-cent sales taxes. The Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or SPLOST, is expected to generate about $850 million over the next six years to pay for capital improvement projects throughout unincorporated DeKalb and in the cities. A separate 1-cent tax would reduce property taxes for certain homeowners.
A number of cities across the metro could also see new mayors. Competitive races in Smyrna and Stonecrest could result in new leadership. In Brookhaven, where the current mayor is term-limited, candidates vying to replace him have sparred over a new City Hall project.
Mark Zinno, a nine-year Smyrna resident, said local elections are just as important — if not more important — as statewide or national races.
“Small-level, community-level politics probably outweigh anything that a presidential election can do,” Zinno said after casting a ballot for his next Smyrna mayor and council member. “When you vote in these elections, you’re literally deciding what the quality of the area you live in is going to look like.”
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Atif and Sarah Mahmood have lived in Smyrna for nine years and said they love Smyrna’s diversity and small businesses but want local leaders to invest more in schools and in preserving affordable housing.
“Local issues are the ones that affect our daily lives, so those are the ones we care about the most,” Sarah Mahmood said. “How the city spends the taxpayers’ money has been the biggest issue.”
Smyrna had the largest turnout during advanced voting of all the municipal races in Cobb County.
At University Baptist Church in Brookhaven, voters have been slowly trickling in since the polls opened at 7 a.m. It’s no line and several voters have been in and out in about five minutes.
Amy Richter, has lived in Brookhaven for 14 years and said she is looking for changes in mayoral and City Council leadership. “Mainly about overdevelopment, and lack of infrastructure to support that development,” Richter said.
Nicholaus and Brittany Edwards-Franklin came to vote in Brookhaven with their two children, to show them the importance of voting.
“We think it’s important for them to know about the civic process and the importance of having their voices heard, especially in local elections,” Edwards said. “It can have a really big impact on them as adults, but the turnout is usually lower.”
Atlanta residents will also be picking people to serve on the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education.
Kate Balzer emerged from the nearly empty Coan Park Recreation Center after a quick vote for school board and for the DeKalb sales taxes. She said she voted for the taxes to support infrastructure projects and a homeowner tax break. And, although she doesn’t have kids in the Atlanta schools, she said she studied the school board contest.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Balzer said she voted for all three challengers on the ballot in her area (Ken Zeff for the local seat plus the two at-large candidates). She liked what they had to say and felt they tried harder to explain their platforms than the incumbents. She said she also relied on the opinions of elected officials who endorsed them.
Balzer said she couldn’t find much information about the candidates and admitted it wasn’t as urgent for her as some elections.
“Sometimes, and this election was one of them, I do the studying for the test the night before,” she said.
Polls opened at 7 a.m.
Voting will end at 7 p.m. for Atlanta school board races, even though a state law requires polls to remain open until 8 p.m. for other city of Atlanta elections.
Under state law, voting locations in cities with populations over 300,000 “shall remain open continuously until 8:00 P.M. eastern standard time or eastern daylight time, whichever is applicable, during the cities’ general elections, at which time they shall be closed.”
Atlanta is the only city in Georgia with a population greater than 300,000.
Fulton County election officials said the later closing time only applies to general elections — such as City Council and mayor — but not for Atlanta Public Schools elections.
The city of Atlanta initially publicized on its website that voting locations would remain open until 8 p.m. before changing the closing time.
“To clarify, state law allows polls to remain open until 8 p.m. for certain city general elections; this is not the case for this Atlanta Public Schools election,” a Fulton County spokeswoman said.
There were some minor issues in Milton.
Residents there who went to the wrong polling location said they had not noticed the small print on cards received in the mail informing them of the correct location for municipal elections. Milton’s Deputy Elections Superintendent Stacey Inglis said that voters at the wrong precincts in Milton were texted the correct location.
In addition, notices of the three voting locations for this election are posted at the former voting sites used in previous years when Fulton County managed the local elections.
Officials expected a total turnout of more than 1,600.
“We’ve done a lot of work trying to communicate to everybody to come out and vote and educate the voters,” Inglis said. “There are signs everywhere and we have message boards, Facebook posts, our website, newsletters where we are trying to get the message out.”
Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
At a short Tuesday evening meeting of the Fulton County Board of Registration & Elections and subsequent press briefing, Elections Director Nadine Williams said more than 21,000 people voted early and more than 500 absentee ballots were mailed in.
The cities of East Point and South Fulton both had problems with uploading the correct voter information to the tablets used at polling places, she said. Poll workers were told to call headquarters to verify those voters.
Results of both elections will be examined before the Nov. 14 certification date to make sure the errors didn’t affect the outcome, said board chair Patrise Perkins-Hooker.
Perkins-Hooker said all 147 voting locations were ready to open at 7 a.m. She and other board members visited many of those sites Tuesday to see how things were going and flag possible improvements for the 2024 election, she said.
Williams called turnout “moderate” and said she hoped to have all results in relatively early. Board member Teresa Crawford said in Roswell, the busiest area, traffic was “steady” but there were no long lines.
Staff writers Taylor Croft, Jim Gaines, Adrianne Murchison, Mark Niesse, Jillian Price, Leon Stafford and Ty Tagami contributed to this report.
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