Difficulties of a May 24 special election
- The standalone election would cost up to $400,000
- Voters would have to cast separate ballots for the primary election and the DeKalb Commission special election
- Absentee ballots must be returned in separate envelopes correctly or they won't be counted
- DeKalb would have to rent additional voting machines
- Each of 100 precincts would have to hire separate staffs for the primary election and the special election
Source: DeKalb Elections Office
DeKalb’s government may run a quick, expensive and complex special election May 24 to fill a vacant county commission seat, a vote that would bring full representation to some 350,000 residents and potentially re-empower the commission’s ruling faction.
Ex-Commissioner Stan Watson created the vacancy when he resigned last week from his district, which covers the eastern half of the county, to run for tax commissioner.
His departure led to a debate over whether to fill the last two years of his term during the May 24 primary election or in the Nov. 8 general election.
A special election would restore representation to residents, but it would cost up to $400,000 and be difficult to pull off.
Some commissioners question whether the expense is justified after the county's previous attempts to coordinate this kind of election were contested by lawsuits. But waiting until November to hold the election would leave a vacancy on the commission and potentially delay upcoming decisions on government employee pay raises, budgets and more.
Voters would have to cast two separate ballots at their polling places May 24, using one voting machine for primary election races and another voting machine for the commission special election, according to state law.
An election in November would save the expense and inconvenience of a special election but could leave the understaffed commission in a 3-3 deadlock on key issues. Watson voted with the commission's majority, which included districts in south and east DeKalb.
The decision on when to hold the special election will be made by the DeKalb Board of Registrations and Elections on Monday. The board’s members are independent from the County Commission, with two members each appointed every two years by the DeKalb Democratic and Republican parties, along with a fifth nonpartisan member chosen by the other four.
DeKalb Elections Director Maxine Daniels warned commissioners that the earlier special election would be challenging to carry out.
Each of the 100 voting precincts in east DeKalb Commission District 7 would need two separate staffs and extra voting machines, as called for by a Georgia law that requires at least 90 days notice to include a special election with the regularly scheduled primary election.
The county has previously held two of these kinds of elections, both of which faced lawsuits that resulted in the elections having to be redone, Daniels said. The legal disputes in those elections – in Doraville in 2008 and in Clarkston in 2014 – included allegations that voters weren’t well informed that they could vote in both the regularly scheduled election and the special election.
“I’ll be very frank: It has not been a very successful attempt at doing this. Every time we’ve done it, there have been issues,” Daniels told commissioners during a DeKalb Commission Budget Committee meeting Tuesday. “We’ve had our issues in the past, but we can do our best with training to make it available to all the voters.”
The Budget Committee voted 2-1 to move forward with the $400,000 appropriation for the special election, sending a signal to the DeKalb Board of Registrations and Elections that they supported the May 24 date. The full county commission will consider the appropriation Tuesday, the day after the elections board makes its decision on the date of the special election.
“What’s important to me is that the residents of District 7 have representation as soon as possible, and that this board is not held up for nine months,” said Budget Committee Chairwoman Sharon Barnes Sutton. “We’re here to serve the people, and … their government needs to function.”
DeKalb has recent experience with dysfunctional government.
For two years, a southeast DeKalb district wasn't represented after Gov. Nathan Deal appointed then-Commissioner Lee May to become the county's interim CEO. The stalemated commission repeatedly failed to agree on who to appoint as a temporary replacement for May.
The impasse was finally resolved last year when May resigned his commission seat, allowing for a special election won last summer by Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson.
DeKalb’s state legislators are supporting the earlier election. The county’s delegations to the state House and Senate wrote letters this week to the elections office requesting the May 24 date.
Commission Nancy Jester said she voted against the special election funding because voters could be disenfranchised and the election could be challenge in court.
“I reject the notion that this election would actually bring about representation,” Jester said. “What it will bring about are more costs and more confusion. I don’t think it’s a good idea to waste their money for all the uncertainty and cost of holding a special election.”
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