For all the yelling they do each year to the Legislature about forming a separate Milton County, north Fulton County residents don't follow through at the polls.
Now, some north Fulton cities have issued battle cries to wrest a bigger share of county government -- and a bigger voice in how it spends $600 million each year -- by registering as many voters as they can this year.
More than one-fourth the population of north Fulton that is of eligible age is either not registered to vote or does not participate in elections, according to county election figures. Those 73,680 adults are costing north Fulton dearly, city leaders say. If 60 percent of them -- 45,000 -- had voted in 2010, north Fulton might now have an additional two members on the County Commission.
"By not voting," Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker said, "these people are leaving power in the hands of those who are the root cause of the poor governance we have."
And nobody does that better than north Fulton.
The county elections office estimates there are about 68,000 potential voters in Fulton who are unregistered. Almost 60 percent of them, 40,000, live in north Fulton.
In the 2007 municipal elections, not one Fulton city -- including the six in north Fulton -- had a voter turnout of more than 20 percent, said Mark Henderson, the county's voter education and outreach coordinator.
The County Commission has seven seats, including the county chairman and another at-large position. About 1 1/2 seats are specific to north Fulton. District 3 covers most of the area, and District 4 includes Buckhead, Sandy Springs and part of Roswell.
The remaining five seats are occupied by people living in Atlanta and points south.
Officials in north Fulton say that while it accounts for 38 percent of the county's population, its representation constitutes 21 percent of the commission.
For decades, north Fulton residents have complained their county tax dollars are not being returned. It sparked a massive incorporation drive six years ago, beginning with the founding of Sandy Springs in 2005. Johns Creek and Milton followed the next year. Today, with few exceptions, nary an acre of north Fulton is unincorporated.
"The biggest problem has been complacency," said Alpharetta resident John Monson, who helped form the grass-roots advocacy group Milton County Rising.
After forming their own cities, north Fulton residents were no longer angry enough to vote, Monson said.
"If we're going to effect change," he said, "then we need to get these people informed and we need to get them registered to vote."
But Commissioner Bill Edwards from south Fulton says the two at-large seats represent the whole county, including north Fulton.
"We provide things mandated by the state, judicial, sheriff's service, libraries," he said. "You don't see us closing any libraries up there do you?"
The massive voter drive is part of an effort by the county's Registration and Elections Department, which is recruiting people countywide as deputy registrars so they can hold registration drives.
A recent registration initiative at the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce in Alpharetta drew nearly 60 people, most employees from the six northern cities.
Sandy Springs had the biggest delegation.
"We're a very wide-eyed community here," Mayor Eva Galambos said. "We may be able to change the governance of the county this way."
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