Snellville voters were still waiting in line to cast their ballots after polls closed Tuesday night, foretelling a long night of ballot counting in Gwinnett County.
"We expect to be here for awhile," said Lynn Ledford, elections supervisor for the county. "But we haven't had any problems. We're assuming everything went okay."
Polling places around the metro area closed at 7 p.m., putting an end to voting on items ranging from mayoral races to education SPLOSTs and Sunday alcohol sales.
The alcohol referendum brought voters like Mary Buchanan out to the precinct at E. Rivers Elementary School in Atlanta.
Prohibiting package sales on Sundays is an archaic rule that does more harm than good, said Buchanan, who voted for the provision. " The issue should not be about regulating alcohol, but teaching the appropriate responsibility that comes with it is the bigger issue."
In this off year without national and statewide races, turnout is expected to be low, but the alcohol referendum and other key issues including an incorporation referendum in the Peachtree Corners area of Gwinnett County were keeping poll workers busy.
Norcross resident Lolita Hodges voted against the cityhood referendum. "I originally was in favor of it, but as I did more research, there were still a lot of unanswered questions," she said, such as, what the incorporation would mean for residents' taxes, and how incorporation would spur more business development. "I just didn't see how things would be done, so I voted no."
But Hodges did vote for giving Gwinnett County Schools five more years of a one-percent sales tax.
Turnout at Hodges precinct, Peachtree Corners Presbyterian Church, was high, averaging more than one voter each minute, said poll manager Alsie Churchman.
Precinct manager Jimmy Don Murray and his staff at Snellville United Methodist Church spent the first hour of Election Day sorting out voting locations for confused residents. In Gwinnett County, voters may have to visit two locations to cast their ballots. Gwinnett's cities are handling municipal elections at city hall locations, while a vote on the countywide education sales tax is handled at county precincts like Snellville Methodist.
The difference in polling places is an inconvenience for voters, Murray said. "People come in on their way to work, stand in line only to be told that they have to go to another location to vote for something else instead of being able to take care of everything in one place."
Along withe the education SPLOST, an incorporation referendum will also be on the countywide ballot for residents in the Peachtree Corners area. And some residents in the Norcross area will vote on an annexation item on their countywide ballot, said Gwinnett elections employee Melanie Frechette.
If the Peachtree Corners referendum is approved it would become Gwinnett's largest city with an estimated 38,000 residents covering an area between Norcross and Berkeley Lake.
Snellville resident John Fontaine was headed to city hall Tuesday morning to vote in the mayor's race. "My candidate came to my house personally and shook my hand," he said. "That meant a lot to me."
The mayor's race, between former city council rivals Barbara Bender and Kelly Kautz to replace term-limited Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer, was fueling a larger than expected turnout at Snellvile City Hall. Sunday alcohol sales were less of a draw.
Religious and personal preferences led Snellville resident James Freedle to vote against the referendum."I don't think it's appropriate to drink on Sunday," he said, noting that he does not drink on "any day ending in ‘day.'"
In Stone Mountain, Kesia Cobb was the first person to vote at Stephenson Middle School. For her, the largest issue on the ballot was DeKalb County's local sales tax for schools. If approved, the DeKalb County School's fourth education SPLOST would continue for five years through 2017.
"I voted for it to pay for technology," said Cobb, who has three children in DeKalb schools. "Other systems have the technology for their students and we need it here."
Assistant precinct manager Harold Jackson has been working the DeKalb precinct for about eight years and doesn't expect a huge turnout in this off-year election. Three people had voted at the school by 7:15.
In a year without the White House, governor’s mansion or any statewide offices at stake, Sunday booze and taxes are what’s giving today’s election much of its kick. In 34 metro area cities and Cherokee County voters will pour out in favor or against the retail sale of alcohol on Sundays.
And votes on special purpose local option sales taxes for education appear on ballots in Cherokee, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties and the cities of Atlanta, Buford and Decatur. A general purpose SPLOST is on the ballot in Forsyth County.
There’s no rain in the forecast today, but, if history is a guide, the weather likely won’t make a difference, with turnout expected to be light. Odd-year elections, with no presidential or statewide races, typically have turnouts in the midteens. In 2009, 14 percent of registered voters in Georgia voted. In 2010, when the governorship was at stake, statewide turnout was 52 percent.
Across metro Atlanta there are a few races and referendums of particular interest. Or, in the case of the Forsyth city of Cumming, there are six offices -- all five City Council members and Mayor Henry Ford Gravitt -- on the ballot but no contest. The council members all have been in office at least a decade, some going back to the 1970s. Gravitt has been mayor for 42 years. They’re all running unopposed.
In the city of Alpharetta, residents will decide whether to approve a $29 million bond issue to fund a major downtown redevelopment, including a new City Hall, parking facility and green space. Supporters say it could turn the city's downtown into a cultural and commercial dynamo. Opponents say no matter what the purpose, in this economy this is not the time for Alpharetta to go into hock for $29 million.
In Cherokee the opposition to the renewal of a 1 percent education SPLOST has heated up in recent weeks, led by members of the tea party and a citizen’s committee that wants to curb spending and taxes in a down economy. Supporters of the SPLOST say voters committed to extending it when they approved it last time.
In the city of Powder Springs in Cobb County the mayor’s race carries more intrigue than most. Incumbent Pat Vaughn faces two challengers, including Rick Richardson, the former police chief who was fired amid allegations that he disposed of three city police cars without the necessary approval of the City Council.
Richardson has said during his campaign that Vaughn knew about the transaction beforehand and therefore he did nothing wrong. In a contest of his word against hers, Vaughn took the next step: She paid for and took a lie-detector test and was asked several questions, including whether she knew about the car deal beforehand. She said she didn’t. The polygraph technician concluded: “No deception indicated.”
Today they’ll find out what voters think.
Staff writer Jeffry Scott contributed to this report.
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