Decatur leads DeKalb County with highest voter turnout
Since April a dozen Decatur volunteer staffers and citizens calling themselves “Decatur Votes” worked to increase the city’s voter turnout, particularly during local elections.
Committee Chair Olivia Burrell-Jackson recently reported that 86 percent of Decatur’s registered voters turned out for November’s election, the highest voter turnout rate of all DeKalb County cities. That was up from Decatur’s 78 percent turnout in 2012, the last presidential election year.
Of the city’s seven precincts, those with the top turnouts were Clairemont East at 87.85 percent and Oakhurst at 87.53.
Burrell-Jackson said the committee not only wanted to register more voters, but make sure everyone understood what was on the ballot, particularly those races directly affecting Decatur like the constitutional amendments and the homestead exemptions.
She said the next goal is improving turnout in the November 2017, local election. In November 2015, despite one of the larger local candidate pools in recent memory — 10 candidates running for five commission/school board slots—voter turnout was only 39 percent. Burrell-Jackson said she’d like to see that improve to 60 percent.
This year commissioners Patti Garrett (also the mayor) and Fred Boykin (mayor pro tem) are up for re-election, along with school board members Annie Caiola (chair), Bernadette Seals and Lewis Jones.
