Polls in Alpharetta got a bit busier around lunchtime Tuesday.
There was a small line forming at the Alpharetta library around 11:30 a.m., full of voters looking to cast their ballots in local and statewide elections.
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While the entire state is weighing in on the governor’s race, folks in Alpharetta are electing a new mayor and two new council members.
Foncia Fralin, the poll manager at the library, said the combination of partisan and non-partisan races on the ballot was confusing to some voters. The Alpharetta mayor and city council races, for example, are non-partisan, while the governor’s race is partisan for the primary.
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Some voters, Fralin said, wanted to cross party lines to cast their vote for governor, but didn’t quite understand that they couldn’t do that until the general election in November.
One voter who didn’t want to cross party lines at all was Monique Ellis. She made her mind up a long time ago to vote for Democrats Stacey Abrams for governor and Dee Dawkins-Haigler for Secretary of State.
“I like their platforms,” Ellis said. “I don’t really let the commercials on television have a lot to influence my opinion.”
When asked if Abrams or Dawkins-Haigler had a specific policy she liked, Ellis, 48, said, “Pretty much, no. I’ve been following Abrams and Haigler for a while. I think they’re both genuinely good people.”
Ellis said that she and Dawkins-Haigler went to school together at Orangeburg-Wilkinson Senior High School in South Carolina.
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Alpharetta is electing a new mayor in a special election because the city's former mayor, David Belle Isle, resigned to run for secretary of state. This sparked councilmembers Jim Gilvin and Chris Owens to resign from their seats to run for mayor, a term that will expire on Dec. 31, 2019.
Vying for Gilvin and Owens’ city council seats are Katie Harding and Karen Richard for Post 3 and John Hipes and Clifford Martin for Post 4.
Tim Sutton, 59, said he came out to the polls on Tuesday to support Hipes.
“I know him real well and he’s a good Christian man,” Sutton said. “I really do think he’ll make some good decisions for the city.”
Hipes runs a law firm with the former mayor, Belle Isle. He holds degrees from Wake Forest and Georgia State and practices commercial litigation.
For the governor’s race, Sutton, 59, said he was a fan of Hunter Hill, a Republican.
“That’s probably who I’ll vote for,” Sutton said. “I like his enthusiasm and military background.”
Hill is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and spent time as an Army Ranger.
Fralin said that 120 people had cast their ballots at the Alpharetta library by 11:30 a.m. The only technical issues the precinct experienced was a card that got stuck in a machine.
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