Here we are again.

Eighteen years after Gwinnett County voters last trooped to the polls to give a big fat thumbs down to MARTA — and, according to lore, just about everything it stands for — the issue is on the ballot again.

Unlike that 1990 thumping — when seven out of 10 voters rejected a 1-cent sales tax to fund MARTA's expansion into the county — this election is little more than an opinion poll.

Leaders of the county's Republican and Democratic parties will ask their respective voters if they support bringing MARTA and its 1-cent sales tax into the county. If voters say yes, it doesn't mean taxes will go up or rail will go down. And if they say no, it doesn't mean the issue is dead.

It's really just water-cooler fodder, along with the parties' questions about illegal immigration, development policies and other issues. And it hasn't generated much public attention.

"I haven't really heard anyone talking about it," said MARTA rider Linda Autrey of Peachtree Corners.

But MARTA leaders put enough stock in the questions to organize two public meetings and an open house last month for Gwinnett residents.

They showed off a concept bringing the familiar MARTA heavy rail line up from Doraville to Norcross, where riders could pick up a light rail line that would take them as far as Gwinnett Place mall or possibly the county's arena and civic center complex at Sugarloaf Parkway.

"We're viewing it as a good opportunity to find out how the voters of Gwinnett County stand, not only on MARTA, but rail in general, and what they are willing to do to have it," said Scott Haggard, manager of government relations for MARTA.

Will things be different this time around?

No one seems willing to offer a sure bet. But it's clear that much about Gwinnett has changed since 1990, and even more since the MARTA tax was first considered in 1971.

Back in 1970, when transit was the talk of the town and lore has it that race was at the top of the mind in the debate, the census shows Gwinnett had 72,349 souls and so few minorities that census takers found only a few thousand African-Americans and just one solitary "Chinese." In 1990, the county was still just about half the size of Fulton and DeKalb counties, nine out of 10 of its residents white.

Feelings against mass transit were deeply rooted, said Duluth developer and former MARTA board member Charles Brown, who helped lead the fight in favor of the 1990 tax referendum.

It wasn't so much about race, although there was some of that, Brown said.

"People in the South and the West have always had an aversion to group travel," he said. "It's almost a cultural thing — you get on your horse and ride off into the sunset."

Today, race and cultural opposition would seem to be yesterday's news. Gwinnett is one of the biggest, most culturally diverse counties in the state. More than 100 languages are spoken in its schools and around its dinner tables. New York accents mingle freely with old Atlanta voices, bringing different attitudes about what it means to commute by train.

"I grew up in Chicago. You could get everywhere by train," said Brian Vaceluke of Lilburn, who would jump at the chance to vote for a 1-cent rail tax. "I got spoiled growing up there."

While changing values could make a difference, transit backers say it may be rising fuel prices that carry the argument.

"I think we have to do something about the traffic," said Autrey, the Peachtree Corners commuter. "I think we have to do something about the air quality, and I think it only makes sense to do what we can to lessen the strain on the oil supply."

Not everyone favors the idea.

Drop in on the discussion at local Web forums such as those at ScanGwinnett.com and you'll find plenty of criticism.

There's wariness over another tax. But many of the posters say fear of crime, concerns about mismanagement and what they see as the threat of more development override their frustration with traffic.

One poster, Cindy Dunlap of Snellville, worries that bringing rail to Gwinnett will do exactly what proponents say they hope it will do — spur dense development around rail stops.

"The detriment to Gwinnett County comes not only from the monetary standpoint that once implemented, cannot be reversed, and only increase over time, but also the influx of people who will have the desire and then the ability to relocate to Gwinnett," she said, "This will increase the demand of services from public safety, schools and other county departments."

MARTA officials say residents shouldn't fear.

Bruce LeVell is Gwinnett's MARTA board representative, a job that exists only because the county narrowly voted to approve the agency in 1965.

He doesn't care whether Gwinnett joins MARTA or creates its own system — as County Commissioner Lorraine Green, a candidate for commission chair, has proposed.

He said the county could simply contract with MARTA that all the funds would be used for Gwinnett projects.

As for development, that's exactly what Chuck Warbington wants.

Warbington is executive director of the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District, a business group dedicated to turning the Jimmy Carter Boulevard area around.

For years, he's been trying to help proposals to redevelop a mostly empty tract at Jimmy Carter and I-85. It's a natural spot for a rail stop and a natural spot to catalyze the kind of high-end development Warbington believes that part of the county needs.

Last year, the CID commissioned a public opinion survey in which 64 percent of respondents said they'd be at least somewhat likely to ride a well-connected rail system.

Then there was a bit of news that shocked even Warbington — nearly 66 percent said they looked positively on MARTA, shedding light on what Warbington said was one of the more surreal conversations he's had in some time.

It happened during a chance encounter in Norcross a few weeks ago, when Warbington was talking politics with a Duluth man who said he was concerned LeVell was getting too much publicity in his run for an open County Commission seat because of his connection to MARTA.

"Did you just say that somebody in Gwinnett is getting a bump, a positive bump, because of MARTA?" Warbington said he asked incredulously.

"That's quite an indication of how things have changed," he said.