This was an eventful week for thousands of voters in DeKalb County. Residents went to the polls on Tuesday to cast historic ballots on whether to create two new cities. However, by week’s end, claims of fraud have clouded one of the incorporation election results. Here’s what happened:
Vote for cityhood
City supporters said incorporation would bring greater local control of taxpayer money, with voters electing officials who live in their communities and understand their priorities.
Opponents of the cityhood movement argued that adding more government won’t solve DeKalb’s problems, and they feared that residents could end up having to pay higher taxes and fees.
A split decision
The election was a split decision for metro Atlanta’s incorporation movement, with Tucker winning approval by a 3-to-1 margin and LaVista Hills falling short by 136 votes - 1 percent of votes cast.
LaVista Hills was the first city proposal to fail since voters overwhelmingly rejected South Fulton in 2007.
Election result in jeopardy?
Also, investigators will examine 51 voters who cast provisional ballots, some of whom thought they lived in the LaVista Hills area but weren’t listed as being eligible to vote.
A DeKalb election supervisor claimed he found a stray memory card that contained results from the Briarlake Elementary precinct. It’s unknown whether the votes on the memory card were counted in the precinct’s totals.
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp called in the GBI and Kennesaw State University’s Center for Elections to help his office conduct the investigation.
“They’re very serious in nature,” Kemp said. “We got a lot of accusations flying here so we’ve got to figure out exactly what’s going on.”
DeKalb Elections Director Maxine Daniels said all votes were counted on election night, and there were no problems or missing memory cards.
What’s next
Authorities are continuing to investigate the fraud claims. The election could be invalidated if a judge finds misconduct, fraud or irregularities that could change the result, according to Georgia law.
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