Early voting begins Tuesday for city elections across Georgia

Early voting begins Tuesday for municipal elections across Georgia.

Cities all over the state will be electing mayors and council members. Early voting ends Oct. 31 and Election Day is Nov. 4.

Atlanta is an exception, with the mayor, City Council president and all 15 council seats on the ballot this year.

Two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission are also on the ballot in a statewide special election. The commission regulates utility rates. Many residents of unincorporated areas, or cities where all other candidates are unopposed, will see only PSC candidates on their ballots.

Perhaps the most hotly contested race in Atlanta is that of City Council president, elected citywide. The president casts tiebreaking votes, assigns committee chairs, facilitates meetings and serves as a liaison to the mayor.

With no one claiming the advantage of incumbency, the open district races are the most crowded.

Community leaders in the districts with open seats said transportation was an issue of top concern.

“Our neighbors are increasingly concerned about the lack of transit options,” Old Fourth Ward Neighborhood Association President Tom Boyle said. “We have the density, so we’d like to see more MARTA bus options, a new vision for travel along the Beltline and more bike lanes. We’d love an infill station at Krog Tunnel, and we need the city and MARTA to figure out how to deliver it in shorter than a decade.”

Forrest Coley, chair of Neighborhood Planning Unit-M in the same area of densely populated District 2, added homelessness and barren land development to the list.

In District 7, composed of Buckhead neighborhoods, NPU-B Chair Nancy Bliwise said residents were also concerned about other infrastructure, such as sewers, stormwater and green space.

“They want more attention to the basic structures that impact everyday life, good stewardship of funds spent in these areas and greater efficiency when responding to problems,” Bliwise said. “There are too many things that need to be fixed, cost overruns and money approved years ago that hasn’t been spent.”

With eight candidates, District 11 voters will have the longest list of choices — and that’s after two others were disqualified for failing to meet residency requirements.

The district includes the Campbellton Road corridor and Greenbriar Mall, areas that once fostered a thriving Black community. The area has declined economically, and crime and homelessness are challenges, community leaders said.

“A lot of the history of Atlanta was here in the southwest side,” said Rita Harden, chair of NPU-R. “This is, I would almost say, the heart of Atlanta, so I could see why people are joining the race over here.”

Many residents are seniors, while others, like Harden, are middle-aged members of the “sandwich generation,” caring for parents and children at the same time.

“How do we bring economic growth without pushing out our legacy residents?” she said.

Public safety is a major issue and candidates will need to plan wrap-around services that prevent the root causes of crime, said Jodi Merriday, who works as the city’s ombudsman for neighborhoods but spoke in her role as founder and executive director of the Southwest Atlanta Foundation.

“A superhero is needed,” Merriday said. “The carrier of the District 11 torch will need to work across sectors, catalyze new business development and entrepreneurial growth, partner with (Atlanta Public Schools), champion neighborhoods and build coalitions.”

Early voting ends Oct. 31. Check with your county for hours and locations.