East Cobb Politics & Elections Archives

Cobb absentee ballot deadline nears as early voting rises

October 24, 2020 3:31 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb absentee ballots

With a week remaining in early voting in Cobb County, the number of voters who’ve voted in-person has surpassed those casting absentee ballots.

As of Thursday, Cobb Elections said 95,767 votes have been cast at nearly a dozen early voting locations around the county over the last two weeks.

Out of 177,491 absentee ballots requested by voters in the county, 93,241 have been returned, according to Cobb Elections.

Voters who wish to vote absentee but haven’t yet requested a ballot must do so by no later than this coming Tuesday, Oct. 27.

You can do this online by clicking here. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has created an absentee ballot tracker that lets you follow the status of that ballot after you return your application.

Your absentee ballot can be returned via mail as long as it’s postmarked by election day, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m.

For convenience and the sake of time, there are 16 secured absentee ballot drop boxes in Cobb, including four in East Cobb. They are open 24/7, also until 7 p.m. election day:

East Cobb Government Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road);
Sewell Mill Library (2051 Lower Roswell Road);
Mountain View Regional Library (3330 Sandy Plains Road);
Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Drive).

Early voting was continuing on Saturday, and next week you’ll be able to do that only Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. There won’t be any early voting next Saturday, Oct. 31, or on Monday, Nov. 2, the day before the election.

As of Thursday, the East Cobb Government Center spot had the most early voting numbers, with 12,220 votes. The Art Place (3320 Sandy Plains Road) is second with 11,277, followed by the main Cobb Elections office, where 11,156 votes have been cast.

You can check all the figures by clicking here.

This week, both of those East Cobb locations have had more than 1,000 votes cast per day. At the East Cobb government center, more than 1,500 people voted on Wednesday and Thursday, the highest single-day figures in the county.

The Cobb GIS office has created a wait-time map for each location, with poll managers updating the estimates during the times the polls are open.

If you’re voting early next week, rain is in the forecast Tuesday-Thursday.

East Cobb 2020 Elections Preview: Georgia House District 45

October 25, 2020 1:06 PMOctober 24, 2020 12:48 PM by Wendy Parker

Georgia House District 45 Preview

A longtime East Cobb Republican legislator unaccustomed to a general election challenge has drawn a first-time Democratic opponent for the second consecutive election.

Matt Dollar, a real estate professional who has represented District 45 since 2003, is facing attorney Sara Tindall Ghazal. They were unopposed in the primaries.

Since his victory over Essence Johnson in the 2018 general election with nearly 60 percent of the vote, Dollar has been caught up in the controversial East Cobb cityhood effort.

Near the end of the 2019 legislative session, he filed a bill to call for a referendum and create a city charter.

But Dollar couldn’t find any support from his East Cobb colleagues for the bill, which needed a Senate co-sponsor. At the end of last year, the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb announced it wouldn’t pursue the legislation.

At an East Cobb Business Association forum this week, Dollar tried to separate himself from the issue, insisting he was only sponsoring a bill, “not pushing cityhood,” that would only set up a referendum.

He also was critical of the pro-cityhood group, saying it “didn’t do a good job of explaining why it would be beneficial.”

(Previous ECN story here.)

In Dollar’s latest campaign disclosure report, however, several cityhood leaders were listed as contributors, including $1,000 each from Owen Brown, Rob Eble and Chip Patterson and $500 from David Birdwell.

Phil Kent, a public relations executive who initially handled publicity for the cityhood forces, also donated $200 to Dollar’s campaign.

Thus far, Dollar has raised $254,029 in contributions and has $174,584 in cash on hand.

Ghazal, a former staffer at The Carter Center and a former voter protection director for the Georgia Democratic Party, has raised $220,906 and has $152,375 on hand.

Here are the latest campaign disclosure reports filed by Dollar and Ghazal respectively.

Candidate websites

Dollar said at the ECBA forum his biggest priority is safely reopening Georgia’s economy, which he said is “is primed for a fast recovery” despite business shutdowns this spring and restrictions that still exist.

“We need to be safe, but people need to have a job to go back to,” Dollar said.

Ghazal said Georgia has to get a better handle on stopping the spread of COVID, which is her main issue.

“Things are going to get worse before they get better,” she said. “This crisis has highlighted the health disparities” that she said have only grown in Georgia.

Access to health care for lower-income Georgians remains “a long-term crisis that Georgia must face.”

When the candidates were asked if the state should undergo another lockdown, Ghazal said she wasn’t sure, and pointed to the lack of a statewide mask mandate as a possible option instead.

“People are making bad choices,” said Ghazal, who added that public health guidance needs to be followed.

Dollar praised Gov. Brian Kemp’s response, and said “Georgia is doing great in our recovery. Whatever Georgia’s doing, it works.”

On East Cobb cityhood, Ghazal said she’s been adamantly opposed all along, saying a city would create an extra layer of government that would result in higher taxes.

The cityhood bill was “putting the cart before the horse,” especially in light of vocal opposition.

Dollar defended his actions, saying it’s his job to listen as a public official, and said he stopped action on the bill after hearing from opponents.

On his website, Dollar has pointed to efforts to secure 100,000 medical masks and other personal protective equipment for health-care workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the forum he noted his support for hate-crimes legislation.

Ghazal favors Medicaid expansion and tax-credits to address affordable housing needs, and would work to repeal “stand your ground laws.”

Like other Democrats running for the legislature, she’s also in support of same-day and online registration and favors automatically sending absentee ballot applications to voters in future elections, instead of them having to request them.

While Dollar said he has “a long history that I am proud of, my opponent is a carbon-copy of Stacey Abrams and her agenda.”

That’s a reference to 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate.

Ghazal pledged that if she’s elected, “you’ll get someone who is accessible, transparent and responsive to the community.”

East Cobb 2020 Elections Preview: Georgia House District 43

November 10, 2020 7:20 PMOctober 23, 2020 5:03 PM by Wendy Parker

District 43 Georgia House, Sharon Cooper, Luisa Wakeman

After having little to no opposition in many of her previous re-election bids, one of the Georgia legislature’s most influential members got a real run for her money in 2018.

State Rep. Sharon Cooper, an East Cobb Republican who is the chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, got only 51 percent of the vote against a first-time candidate, Democrat Luisa Wakeman.

Prior to that, Cooper had not had a general election opponent since 2010, when she won with 67 percent of the vote.

Wakeman, part of a wave of newcomers challenging Cobb’s Republican establishment, is running against Cooper again in House District 43, after both women were unopposed in their respective primaries in June.

With Republicans holding a 16-seat majority in the House, the stakes have risen on a number of races, particularly in the Atlanta suburbs, where Democrats see opportunities to flip seats.

The District 43 race has become unusually expensive for a state house campaign. According to campaign disclosure reports filed in early October, both candidates have raised well over six figures.

Cooper reported $364,219 in total 2020 contributions through July, and picked up $77,000 in donations in the third quarter that ended Sept. 30. She is reporting $189,896 in cash on hand.

Wakeman has raised $218,594 overall and $104,460 in the third quarter, with $115,571 on hand.

Here are the latest campaign disclosure reports filed by Cooper and Wakeman respectively.

Candidate websites

Cooper, who was first elected in 1996, touts her longtime service and advocacy of health-care legislation as well as assisted living homes, maternal mortality and landlord evictions in the 2020 session.

Wakeman said she’s running again as she did two years ago, as alternative to what she called “failed leadership” in the state.

At an East Cobb Business Association forum this week, the specific reference was the state’s response to COVID-19.

Cooper, a supporter of Gov. Brian Kemp, said that while she hasn’t agreed with him on everything, he has “protected our most valuable citizens” as the state tries to move forward.

She tried to rebuff Democratic efforts to tie her to state responses to the virus, saying “I’m not in charge of health care in this state.”

While Kemp has followed the advice of Georgia Department of Public Health Director Dr. Kathleen Toome, Cooper noted that changing guidelines that have come down to the state level on such things as mask-wearing and lockdowns have caused confusion.

“No wonder people are upset about it,” said Cooper, a retired nurse.

Wakeman, also a nurse, was critical of Kemp’s steps toward reopening the economy that she said prioritized “tattoo parlors over the safe reopening of schools. We need people who will listen to health care experts.”

Both candidates discussed other health care issues. Cooper said she was proud to work for $20 million in funding in a budget-challenged year to improve maternal mortality rates in Georgia.

That’s to expand a Medicaid waiver to provide coverage for low-income mothers from two to six months after giving birth.

“It’s a start,” she said. “Kemp is the first governor to make that kind of commitment.”

But Wakeman said Georgia’s ranking near the bottom of the nation—46th in all—is evidence that the state needs to do more to provide insurance and expand Medicaid coverage for mothers at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.

“Stop-gaps in an election year are not real solutions,” Wakeman said.

Cooper and Wakeman are both against East Cobb cityhood (see previous post here).

Cooper also supported tax reform measures that reduced both individual and corporate rates and efforts to curb regulations on small businesses.

At the forum, she mentioned her efforts to secure state dollars for local projects, including East Cobb Park and the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.

“I have a proven track record at the capitol and in the community,” she said.

Wakeman’s other priorities include working to overturn $1 billion in K-12 education funding cuts this year (including nearly $60 million in reductions for the Cobb County School District). She also favors same-day and online voter registration.

At the forum, Wakeman said Cooper gets only two percent of her campaign funds from contributors inside the district, with most of the rest coming from lobbyists.

Cooper’s filings show many contributions from political action committees—especially in the the health-care and medical fields—while Wakeman has a good number of small-amount contributors from within the East Cobb district.

“We have an opportunity to stand up for the community with a grassroots campaign,” Wakeman said.

East Cobb 2020 Elections Preview: Georgia Senate District 32

October 23, 2020 5:30 PMOctober 22, 2020 6:13 PM by Wendy Parker

Georgia Senate District 32 preview

For the third consecutive election, the same two candidates are on the ballot for the Georgia State Senate seat that covers most of East Cobb.

Republican Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick (at left) is being challenged by Democrat Christine Triebsch (at right) in District 32, which also includes a portion of Sandy Springs.

Kirkpatrick, a retired orthopedic surgeon, defeated Triebsch in a 2017 special election runoff to succeed longtime Sen. Judson Hill, who resigned to run for Congress.

In 2018, Kirkpatrick won 58 percent of the vote against Triebsch in the general election to earn a full two-year term.

At a candidates forum this week sponsored by the East Cobb Business Association, Kirkpatrick said she’s “worked regularly across the aisle to solve problems,” both at the state and local level.

Her proudest piece of legislation, she said, was the “Save Our Sandwiches” bill that changed a provision in state law to allow non-profit organizations—especially Cobb-based MUST Ministries—to make sandwiches in church and similar kitchens as part of their efforts to feed those in need.

Triebsch is part of a wave of Democratic candidates in the county, including a number of women in East Cobb, who never been involved in politics until the election of Donald Trump as president.

“I think every race should be contested,” said Triebsch, a family law attorney whose husband is a Cobb County School District teacher. They have two children, a college senior and a daughter who who attends Pope High School.

As of Sept. 30, Kirkpatrick reported having raised $383,535 overall and $95,875 in the third quarter, with $248,345 cash on hand.

Triebsch has received a total of $32,617 in contributions with $10,960 in the third quarter, and has $21,886 in cash on hand/

Here are the latest campaign disclosure reports filed by Kirkpatrick and Triebsch respectively.

Candidate websites

Kirkpatrick, who contracted COVID-19 right before the legislative session was suspended in March, said continued efforts to get the virus under control is the top issue for her, especially following accepted public health guidelines while aiding the state’s economic recovery from shutdowns.

“We have a lot of businesses that have been devastated,” said Kirkpatrick, who has received the endorsements of the National Federation of Independent Business and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

In order for business and economic growth to take place, said Kirkpatrick, “we have to get out of the way.”

Triebsch said her top priorities are education funding and expanding health care access, including state Medicaid options.

She said supports fully funding K-12 education and is “totally against [private school] vouchers, and my opponent voted for it,” Triebsch said.

With reapportionment coming up in 2021, Triebsch also supports a non-partisan, independent panel to redraw congressional, legislative and local government and school board lines, a measure supported by Georgia Democrats in general.

“We need to get rid of gerrymandering,” Triebsch said.

She’s been endorsed by a variety of labor, pro-choice and gun-control organizations, including Georgia AFL-CIO, NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia and Moms Demand Action.

Both candidates are against East Cobb cityhood (see previous post here) and in response to another question at the forum, both also said they’re against defunding the police.

“I’ll always back the blue,” Kirkpatrick said. “Cops don’t want bad cops in their ranks.” She said she’s confident that a special legislative committee on police reform that met earlier this year will produce “some good legislation” in 2021.

Triebsch said defunding the police isn’t the way to reform. “I support better funding so we’ll have better-qualified candidates, and we need more funding for training.”

She emphasized her approach as a candidate as “running as your neighbor” and not a politician. Of Kirkpatrick, Triebsch said, “her values and voting are very different from me.”

Kirkpatrick said she’s “got a proven track record” in the legislature and pledged she would continue to be responsive and accessible if re-elected.

East Cobb early voting locations have highest turnouts

October 21, 2020 4:36 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb early voting lines

Cobb Elections said Wednesday that nearly 30 percent of Cobb’s roughly 540,000 registered voters have already cast their ballots, in person and via absentee.

Through Tuesday’s tallies, that breaks down to 88,053 absentee ballots that have been returned, and 72,165 votes cast at the 11 locations in the county open for early voting.

At the top of the list are the two spots in East Cobb. Through the first eight days of early voting, 9,104 ballots have been cast at the East Cobb Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road).

That’s more, at least for the moment, than the main Cobb Elections office on Whitlock Ave. in Marietta, where 8,715 votes have been cast.

Right behind that is The Art Place-Mountain View (3320 Sandy Plains Road), where 8,521 votes have been cast.

More details can be found here, and here are the daily tallies of early voting countywide:

10.12 7,729
10.13 6,865
10.14 8,123
10.15 9,411
10.16 9,835
10.17 7,391
10.19 11,282
10.20 11,529

As the daily turnout has increased, the wait times continue to go down. As of mid-afternoon Wednesday, the estimated wait times at both East Cobb locations were under an hour—50 minutes at The Art Place, and 30 minutes at the East Cobb government center.

You can check estimated wait times by clicking here; the estimates are updated periodically during the day by poll managers at each site.

Early continues through Friday of this week and Monday-Friday next week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at all of the existing locations.

Absentee ballot applications can still be requested from Cobb Elections, but you’ll need to hurry, by clicking here. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has created an absentee ballot tracker that lets you follow the status of that ballot after you return your application.

Readers have been inquiring about absentee voting issues, including the ballot tracker.

A few days ago an East Cobb resident asked about how long it takes after a ballot is placed in a drop box before a voter is notified that it’s been received and counted.

The best information we had was that it varies from location to location and by each county’s collection procedures. Cobb Elections says it collects ballots from the 16 drop boxes daily.

The reader got back in touch with us to note that he placed his ballot in the drop box at the Mountain View Regional Library (3330 Sandy Plains Road) on Friday. At 8 a.m. today, he got a message saying his ballot had been received and counted.

The other drop boxes in East Cobb are at the East Cobb government center, Sewell Mill Library (2051 Lower Roswell Road) and Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Drive) and are available 24/7 until the polls close on election day, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m.

At East Cobb candidates forum, cityhood remains a hot topic

October 20, 2020 4:51 PM by Wendy Parker

Although it’s been nearly a year since East Cobb cityhood proponents put their efforts on hold, candidates seeking local and state office this fall were asked at a forum Tuesday where they stood on the issue.

Among them was the lone co-sponsor of legislation that would have called for a referendum to let voters decide the matter.

State Rep. Matt Dollar reminded an audience at an East Cobb Business Association luncheon that “there was no bill to create a city.”

He was responding to questions from ECBA members, who included people attending in person and others via Zoom.

An East Cobb Republican who’s represented District 45 since 2003, Dollar said his bill—filed near the end of the 2019 legislative session and the day after cityhood proponents first faced the public—was “the start of a two-year process, and it was worthwhile to start a conversation.”

Dollar insisted that he was “not pushing cityhood,” and while at first he supported the idea of a City of East Cobb, he said the supporters of the effort “didn’t do a good job of explaining why it would be beneficial.”

The cityhood group held two other town hall meetings and the ECBA also held a debate, but no other legislators signed on as a co-sponsor, citing negative feedback from constituents.

In Georgia, cityhood bills must have a co-sponsor in the House and the Senate. State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, also an East Cobb Republican, said that “proponents of the bill need to make their case.” She never signed on to the bill and said if there was enough public support she would back a citizens’ committee to further examine the issue but “at this point it’s a moot point.”

In early December 2019 the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb announced it would not pursue the bill, which also included a proposed city charter and outlined maps, a city court structure and mayor and council terms, with elections as early as 2021.

The cityhood group spent tens of thousands of dollars on lobbyists, including a leading a prominent government relations firm in Georgia late last year.

Sarah Tyndall Ghazal — *Sarah Tindall Ghazal, who’s running against Dollar, said his East Cobb cityhood bill “put the cart before the horse.”*

State Rep. Sharon Cooper, a Republican from District 43, also didn’t co-sponsor the bill, although she asked for the required financial feasibility study that was completed in December 18 by Georgia State University researchers.

“I didn’t think there was much support,” said Cooper, who attended some of the early town halls in 2019. She said East Cobb citizens are “fat and sassy,” content with the level and quality of public services they receive, and as far as she is concerned, cityhood “now is a dead issue.”

Their Democratic opponents also stated during the forum that they strongly opposed cityhood. Christine Triebsch, an attorney who is challenging Kirkpatrick in the State Senate race, said the cityhood effort “was a colossal waste of time and energy.”

She said she was upset that as a constituent of Dollar’s she never heard anything from him about the legislation or the cityhood effort.

Sarah Tindall Ghazal, Dollar’s opponent on the Nov. 3 ballot, echoed other candidates saying a new city would create an extra layer of government and that Dollar’s bill “put the cart before the horse.”

Luisa Wakeman, who’s running against Cooper for the second election in a row, said “there’s just no support” for East Cobb cityhood.

At the ECBA forum, the two candidates for District 2 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners also said they opposed East Cobb cityhood.

Republican Fitz Johnson said he has been adamantly opposed to cityhood all along, but noted that it’s the legislature, not county elected officials, who would put a referendum before the public.

Democrat Jerica Richardson said she’s read the financial feasibility study and concluded there’s “no sustainable economic base” for a city that would be heavily residential and questioned the report’s assumptions.

“The community was not behind it,” she said.

The proposed city map was to have included all of District 2 east of Interstate 75, excluding the Cumberland Community Improvement District, and a population of nearly 100,000.

Cityhood leaders said later in 2019 that they were seeking to expand the map, based on what they were hearing from those outside the proposed city limits who wanted in.

But the East Cobb Alliance, a group opposed to cityhood, offered up a best-guess estimate in December, and a majority of county commissioners and the Cobb legislators expressed doubts about the cityhood issue.

A few days later, the cityhood effort was abandoned. David Birdwell, one of the chief spokesmen for Committee for the Cityhood in East Cobb, said at that time that “we wanted to take the time to do it right.”

The group hasn’t made any public statements since then, and its website domain has expired. An interactive map it commissioned showing the initial boundaries that bored down to the neighborhood level remains active.

Related coverage

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Selling the Cobb SPLOST renewal with a back-to-basics theme

October 20, 2020 10:39 AM by Wendy Parker

Tritt property, Cobb 2022 SPLOST list

Officially, those in Cobb County government can’t openly push for the renewal of the county’s Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax that’s on the ballot this year.

What’s being called the 2022 Cobb SPLOST—for the year when a new sales tax collection period would begin—doesn’t have much in the way of big-ticket items, such as new facilities, upgrades or acquisitions.

Instead, the vast majority of the $750 million in spending over six years (down from an original estimate of $810 million) would go to transportation projects, public safety improvements and community amenities, including more park space and development.

Those major items include an $8 million earmark to complete acquisition of 24 acres of land owned by Wylene Tritt next to East Cobb Park.

It’s the most expensive item on a lengthy list of “community impact projects” that the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved for the 2022 project list in May.

Another project on the list is $4 million for the repurposing of Shaw Park in Northeast Cobb and a replacement for the nearby Cobb Fire Station No. 12.

(Here’s a summary of the proposed projects; and a more detailed look at what’s in the 2022 package.)

Nearly half of funding on that list would go for transportation and road improvement projects. The rest of the projects would be funded accordingly:

$82 million for public safety
$46 million in countywide projects
$32 million for community impact projects
$27.8 million for public services (parks, libraries)
$18 million combined for projects in Cobb’s six cities
$4 million for Cobb Sheriff’s Office improvements

While commissioners and official county communications to the public are noting that the SPLOST extension is on the ballot, the information is objective, for the most part.

“We can’t advocate for it,” Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said in an August interview with East Cobb News.

Before the SPLOST officially was approved for referendum, the county held several town halls that became virtual due to COVID-19 closures.

As Cobb voters are turning out heavily in early and absentee voting, county messages on its social media platforms, e-mails and website have been regularly reminding voter of what current SPLOSTs and the current one have yielded.

A video summary opens with the reminder that “this is not a new tax!” and that the current collection period doesn’t end this year, on Dec. 31, 2020.

In recent days the county has been posting on its Facebook page a “countdown” of its “Top 10” list of SPLOST projects over time, including the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center that opened at the end of 2017.

SPLOST critics like to point out the project list has become a “slush fund” that defies the term “special use.”

We heard from such a reader over the weekend, who wrote in to say that “SPLOST funds cannot be used for maintenance and repair.”

It’s been estimated that nearly 90 percent of Cobb DOT’s budget comes in SPLOST funds for just those purposes, which form the backbone of the items on the 2022 wish list.

Boyce was mindful of how the Atlanta Transportation SPLOST went down to heavy defeat in 2012, saying that those pushing for that tax disregarded what they were hearing from voters.

Even in spite of the disconnected nature of virtual town halls and indirect feedback in recent months, he said he feels confident that “we’ve done our homework.”

Nearly 25 percent of Cobb voters have cast early ballots

October 19, 2020 2:47 PM by Wendy Parker

After the first week of early voting in Cobb County, and three weeks after absentee voting began, Cobb Elections figures show nearly a quarter of registered voters in the county have cast their ballots.

Through Saturday’s early voting, a total of 49,354 voters cast their ballots at nine locations.

In addition, 86,302 absentee ballots have been returned, out of more than 172,000 requested by county voters.

That’s 135,656 voters in all out of the roughly 520,000 registered voters in Cobb County who have voted.

Early voting continues the next two weeks and includes two more locations, in Powder Springs and Kennesaw. The East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road) and The Art Place (3320 Sandy Plains Road) continue as early voting locations, from 7-7 Monday-Friday this week and next, and this Saturday from 8-5.

Thus far, 5,924 people have voted at The Art Place, and 6,347 at the East Cobb government center.

Cobb GIS has developed an an interactive map of estimated wait times and as of mid-afternoon Monday those were 105 minutes at the East Cobb government center and 45 minutes at The Art Place.

Voters can go to any early voting location regardless of where they live, or drop off absentee ballots at any of 16 secure drop boxes in the county, including four in East Cobb (see links below). They’re open 24/7 until 7 p.m. on Nov. 3, when the polls close on election day.

Absentee ballot applications can be requested through Oct. 30 from Cobb Elections by clicking here. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has created an absentee ballot tracker that lets you follow the status of that ballot after you return your application.

Heavy early voting turnout includes both East Cobb locations

October 17, 2020 1:13 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb early voting lines

The two early voting locations in East Cobb reported some of the biggest turnouts in the county through most of the first week.

According to numbers compiled by Cobb Elections, a total of 32,134 people cast their votes in person at the county’s nine early voting locations through Thursday.

That’s a new record, and compares to 14,288 for a similar period in 2016 and 5,536 in 2012.

At the East Cobb Government Service Center, there were 3,954 ballots cast during from Monday-Thursday, and 3,643 at The Art Place-Mountain View.

Although waiting lines were longer earlier in the week—as elections officials observed social-distancing measures and sorted through some technical issues—more voters turned out later in the week.

More than 1,000 people turned out on Wednesday and Thursday at both East Cobb locations after those numbers were in triple figures on Monday and Tuesday.

Some lines on Monday were several hours in some places, and polling managers were providing occasional updates during the day on a Cobb GIS interactive map.

On Friday, those wait times were an hour or two at the East Cobb locations, but elections officials have said voters can go to any location in the county regardless of where they live.

Saturday was the first of two weekend days for early voting, and as of 1 p.m. the estimated wait time at The Art Place is 45 minutes and at the East Cobb government center it’s 30 minutes.

Early voting will take place Monday-Friday for the next two weeks from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and next Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at all of the existing locations.

As was the case during the primary, however, more people have already voted via absentee ballot. A total of 69,394 absentee ballots have been returned to Cobb Elections, which has sent out 169,868 absentee ballots upon request.

More information about absentee balloting can be found at the top story link below, including drop box locations that are open 24/7 until the polls close on election day, Nov. 3.

How to get, complete and return an absentee ballot in Cobb

October 17, 2020 1:35 PMOctober 15, 2020 12:21 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb absentee ballots

We’ve been getting questions from readers about the absentee ballot process, and given the lines that continue during early voting in Cobb County, we’ve got some updated answers and information.

First of all, before you go to any early voting location in the county, you can check estimated wait times at this interactive map.

More than 168,000 absentee ballots have been sent to Cobb voters (the county has around 518,000 registered voters), and 61,670 absentee ballots have been returned.

The absolute deadline for requesting one is Oct. 30, but Cobb Elections director Janine Eveler said ideally requests should be made no later than Oct. 27.

Absentee ballot applications can be requested from Cobb Elections by clicking here. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has created an absentee ballot tracker that lets you follow the status of that ballot after you return your application.

Some readers have been asking if they can still vote in-person if they’ve received an absentee ballot, and the answer to that is that they can.

Georgia is among the states that allows voters to do that, but the process of cancelling a ballot at the polls adds to the wait times. You’re asked to bring your absentee ballot with you; you won’t be able to vote in person until your absentee ballot is cancelled.

There are cancellation instructions that can be found here. If you don’t have your ballot with you when you arrive at the poll on the Nov. 3 election day, you’ll have to fill out an affidavit and poll workers will have to call the Cobb Elections office to have the ballot cancelled.

If you’re planning to vote via absentee ballot, the packet of materials you’ll get in the mail from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office (in the photo at top) includes four separate items: the ballot, a sheet with instructions, and two envelopes.

Cobb absentee ballots

You must mark your ballot with blue or black ink only, and fill in the entire oval next to the name of the candidate you wish to vote for. The process is the same for voting for a write-in candidate and for ballot issues.

Don’t make an “X” or use check marks or vote for more than one candidate in a race.

If you make an error or spoil your ballot immediately contact Cobb Elections to get a replacement.

When you’re finished, fold the ballot and place it in the smaller envelope that says “OFFICIAL ABSENTEE BALLOT” on the front and seal it. Then place that envelope in the larger envelope with a yellow stripe on the left and seal that.

Make sure you sign the back of the larger envelope where it says “Oath of Elector” and print out your name below that.

Cobb absentee ballots

If you wish to mail your absentee ballot, include your return address and proper postage. Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by no later than 7 p.m. on election day, Nov. 3.

You can also drop off that ballot at any of the 16 absentee ballot locations in the county (listings here) 24/7 up through 7 p.m. election day, Nov. 3, when the polls close.

In East Cobb those drop boxes are located at the following:

East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road)
Sewell Mill Library (2051 Lower Roswell Road)
Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road)
Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Drive)

In-person early voting lines that had been 8 hours or longer in some parts of the county (and 4-5 from what we heard from voters in East Cobb) on Monday have been shorter as the week went on.

As of noon Thursday, the estimates were three hours at the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road) and an hour, 20 minutes at The Art Place-Mountain View (3330 Sandy Plains Road).

Those estimates fluctuate throughout the day, and there is no regular schedule for them to be updated.

Eveler said those numbers are revised by poll managers “as they see a change in conditions at that location.”

The estimates are provided to guide voters about when and where they may want to vote in advance.

A total of 22,717 people have voted early through the first three days, Monday-Wednesday. That includes 2,733 people at the East Cobb government center and 2,422 at The Art Place.

Eveler said all of the locations are fully staffed but “but it’s a three-week schedule so it is constantly evolving as people’s situations change,” such as illnesses and no-shows.

Early voting continues in Cobb Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Oct. 30 and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the next two Saturdays, Oct. 17 and 24.

Due to social-distancing guidelines each early voting location has between 6-9 voting machines. Here’s how that breaks down:

Cobb early voting equipment

That’s another reason why Cobb Elections officials have been encouraging voters to vote via absentee ballot.

Cobb Elections has more on absentee voting, advance voting and election-day voting.

If you have any other questions e-mail us: editor@eastcobbnews.com and we’ll try to get answers.

Commissioner: Cobb ‘should do better’ with early voting lines

October 13, 2020 6:42 PMOctober 13, 2020 2:01 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb early voting lines — *Early voting lines at the East Cobb Government Service Center on Monday were as long as four hours, and even longer at The Art Place. (ECN photo)*

The day after citizens waited for hours to start the early voting period, the two Cobb commissioners facing one another in the chairman’s election sounded off on the subject.

At the end of Tuesday’s Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting Lisa Cupid, who represents South Cobb, showed national television news footage of long lines that snaked around one of the county’s 11 early voting locations.

The number of those locations and early voting dates have been expanded ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. But more than 7,000 Cobb voters stood in lines lasting several hours in some places, the result of increased turnout and social-distancing protocols.

Cupid, the lone Democrat on the board, said that “I know we can do better, I know we should do better . . . so people don’t have to wait for eight to 10 hours to vote in Cobb County, in the year 2020.”

She said while the strong voting numbers reflect voter energy and excitement, “it’s another thing to question whether or not our voters should have to experience something like that.”

Cupid was critical of her colleagues for nixing a $200,000 request by the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration in July to mail absentee ballots to all registered voters in the county.

Cobb Elections has set up an expedited process to mail absentee ballots to voters who request them online, but Cupid asked “how much did it cost to have our poll workers to have to stay late” processing the votes of those who stood in line well after closing time.

“This is not a condition that we should ignore,” Cupid said. “When people talk about voter suppression, it’s these types of events that they’re referring to.”

Early voting continues Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Oct. 30 and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the next two Saturdays, Oct. 17 and 24.

The Cobb government GIS office is providing wait-time updates for each of the early voting locations. On Monday the longest estimate at the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road) was four hours; at The Art Place-Mountain View (3330 Sandy Plains Road), it was as long as five hours.

County spokesman Ross Cavitt said there have been some complaints about how timely the wait-time maps are, and that poll managers are updating that information.

Janine Eveler, the director of Cobb Elections, said in an e-mailed statement that “each poll manager at the voting sites has a login and updates the wait times periodically when they have the opportunity. The wait time is an estimate for that particular moment in time, but voter experiences may vary.”

Commissioner Keli Gambrill said of the 7,062 people who voted early on Monday, 1,386 of them had to cancel absentee ballots, which she said also adds to the waiting time at the polls.

That has to be done before a voter can cast a vote in person.

Mike Boyce, the Republican chairman, spoke last, as is the custom at the end of meetings, and pulled down his mask to respond to Cupid’s comments.

Although not addressing her directly, Boyce said it’s “unfortunate that in this day and age that we’ve politicized the voting process.”

He said the partisan actions of both Democratic and Republican parties are to blame for creating a “narrative” of mistrust, regardless of how someone may vote.

Boyce noted that the commission approved spending $300,000 for security cameras to monitor 16 absentee drop boxes that have been placed around the county, “yet there are people who don’t believe those drop boxes are trustworthy.”

A retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel, Boyce admitted that while lines are inconvenient, “what is it worth to you to stand in line for one of the greatest freedoms we have have, called voting? And for those who fought for you to be able to stand in line today?

“Here’s what standing in line means for me: When you show that photo of lines to people living in China, or North Korea, or Belorussia, that shows that people will stand in line to do what it takes to show that the people are in charge.

“Everyone who stands in line stands for those who went before us and gave us this freedom to do what I believe is the most important thing our government responds to, and that is to hear the will and the voice of the people through the ballot box.”

Regardless of the method of voting, Boyce added, “those who go and do it are the true heroes right now. Those who don’t, you have to ask yourself, what is it about this country that you don’t like? That you don’t go and do your duty and don’t vote?”

The county also said Tuesday that voters concerned about their absentee ballot status can use a tracking website from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office that can be found here.

The absentee ballot drop boxes in Cobb include the East Cobb government center, Sewell Mill Library (2051 Lower Roswell Road), Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Drive) and Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road).

A full list of drop boxes can be found here. They will be open 24/7 until 7 p.m. on election day, Nov. 3.

Cobb early voting interactive map shows wait-time estimates

December 14, 2020 9:14 AMOctober 12, 2020 11:06 AM by Wendy Parker

EC Govt Center early voting

UPDATED FOR RUNOFFS, DEC. 14:

Here’s more information about early voting for the U.S. Senate runoffs, which continues through Dec. 31 at several locations in Cobb County, including the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road).

And here’s the link to the interactive map from Cobb GIS, which is updated periodically during the day by poll managers at the early voting locations:

Cobb Elections early voting wait-time map

From Dec. 28-31, voters can also vote in advance at The Art Place-Mountain View (3330 Sandy Plains Road).

Cobb Elections provides the links below for early and absentee voting:

Dropboxes for absentee ballots are open 24/7 through 7 p.m. on election day, Nov. 3, and include the East Cobb government center, the Sewell Mill Library (2051 Lower Roswell Road), Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Drive) and the Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road).

Candidate profile: Jerica Richardson, Cobb Commission District 2

October 10, 2020 12:51 PMOctober 10, 2020 12:20 PM by Wendy Parker

Jerica Richardson, Cobb Commission candidate

With the possibility of significant political change abounding in Cobb County, Jerica Richardson wants to be more than a symbol of what she says has been transpiring for some time.

A self-professed policy wonk and technology professional, the 31-year-old aide in several successful local campaigns is making her first stab at political office.

It’s coming at a time when her fellow Democrats have been gaining momentum in recent elections in the county.

“That I’m running is really separate from that,” said Richardson, who is facing Republican Fitz Johnson for District 2 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners in the Nov. 3 general election.

Johnson has received the endorsement of retiring commissioner Bob Ott, while Richardson is being backed by former Gov. Roy Barnes of Cobb County.

She says she’s part of “new flavor” of Democrats that forms just one part of a “wide spectrum of candidates” who’ve been making inroads into what has been a strongly Republican electorate.

Her sizable campaign staff includes quite a number of young people responsible for such duties as Hispanic outreach, sustainability initiatives and social media fundraising.

Richardson’s website can be found here; East Cobb News profiled Johnson earlier this week.

A former state school superintendent candidate, Johnson has been pointing to his military, business and community experience in attempting to win his first election.

Most recently, Richardson directed the campaign of Cobb Board of Education member Jaha Howard and was his appointment to the district’s SPLOST oversight board until she decided to run.

On Sunday, she’s having a get out the vote rally with Howard at the green space at The Battery Atlanta, and has been “tag teaming” with other Democratic candidates in leaving campaign materials with targeted voters.

She was unopposed in the Democratic primary and received more votes (24,126) than the three Republican primary candidates combined (18,371).

She said she’s not taking those numbers for granted and is learning the lay of a very diverse district, which stretches from the Cumberland-Vinings area to northeast Cobb around Mabry Park.

Richardson, who lives in the Delk Road area, is familiar with the heart of East Cobb. Her family moved to the Hampton Chase subdivision as she was finishing up at North Springs High School, and her brothers attended Walton High School.

The family came to metro Atlanta after evacuating New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina. Richardson graduated from Georgia Tech with a biomedical engineering degree.

She said her vision in seeking office is to help better connect Cobb County—its citizens, communities and organizations—across a range of issues.

“The message is timeless,” Richardson said. “There are so many wonderful things that Cobb County has to offer, but we have some divisions. Connecting Cobb is the overarching message for that.”

She raises similar concerns as Commissioner Lisa Cupid, who’s running against Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce.

Whether it’s land use and development, transit and other issues, Richardson thinks county government leaders need to establish stronger working ties with other public officials and bodies and citizens and community groups.

“A lot of relationships are just broken,” she said, citing the process under which the Atlanta Braves stadium deal was brokered in 2013. “A lot of people felt that their concerns weren’t considered at all, and it was a missed opportunity. They didn’t feel like they mattered, and this is still going on in other parts of the county.”

Richardson said she would prioritize community engagement—what she calls her “empowerment” agenda—in numerous capacities, and according to what she calls “responsible transparency.”

Those include land use, zoning and development issues in a District that ranges from high-density commercial districts in Cumberland and traditional suburban neighborhoods in East Cobb.

Richardson advocates more master planning activities that includes community feedback beyond the current zoning process.

She also said the county needs to do a better job of steering citizens toward community resources.

“Only a certain group of people know how to find that kind of information,” she said.

Richardson said that while “the sky is not falling” in Cobb County in terms of political leadership, she thinks the commission has become too fractious, with commissioners acting “too separately” instead of the county has a whole.

“All five board members have equal votes on the issues that matter the most,” she said. “I want to look for solutions that affect everyone.”

Richardson opposes East Cobb Cityhood. A bill proposed last year by State Rep. Matt Dollar, an East Cobb Republican, included a city map with most of District 2 east of I-75. But a cityhood group said a year ago it was delaying its efforts.

After attending several cityhood town halls over the last couple of years, she said “I was very inspired by the community response. Democrats and Republicans were really united about that!”

She said that with cityhood, “you’re going to see higher taxes, you’re going to see a double layer of government.”

More than anything, Richardson said she questions the motives of those behind cityhood. “Whether it’s for political power or for demographic reasons, I don’t know.

“But I heard from a lot of people who were concerned about what would happen to the rest of the county,” she said, adding that she gets a few e-mails a week about the cityhood issue.

Richardson said she’s encouraged by the start of a step-and-grade salary structure for public safety employees.

She worries that “very conservative leadership” in Cobb over many years has the county, now with more than 750,000 people, budgeted at what she estimates is 60-70 percent of what “counties our size have been operating on.

“It’s thin but I don’t support raising taxes,” Richardson said. “I want to raise the tax base.”

She supports creating a potential Cobb sales tax for extending transit in the county in targeted areas, and would advocate a long-term public health response in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

Among those initiatives would be coordinating pandemic preparations with local school districts and have a strengthened working relationship with Cobb and Douglas Public Health.

“They’re at the table, but we need to figure out how to move past this in the long run,” she said.

As Cobb continues to grow and become diverse, Richardson said she’s eager to tackle the challenge of striking the right balance for a county that’s at an important crossroads.

“The task is to keep Cobb home for those who have been here, but also for those who are yet to come,” she said.

Early voting starts Monday in Cobb County through Oct. 30

October 10, 2020 10:28 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb tag offices reopening

Early voting begins on Monday at multiple locations in Cobb County, including two in East Cobb.

Polls will be open from Oct. 12-30 at the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road) and The Art Place-Mountain View (3330 Sandy Plains Road).

The specific hours are from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 and 24.

There will not be any early voting on Monday, Nov. 2, the day before the election.

Another location in the East Cobb area that had been designated for early voting, Noonday Baptist Church on Canton Road, will be unavailable.

Other early voting locations, dates and times can be found here.

Cobb government said this week that it continues to train poll workers, and has thus far prepared 669 such workers. It’s seeking 1,400 total poll workers to handle what’s expected to be heavy turnout at early voting sites and election-day precincts.

Cobb Elections is urging citizens to vote via absentee ballot, which can be mailed in or delivered 24/7 at several secure dropbox locations in the county.

The dropboxes will be open until 7 p.m. on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, and all the locations can be found here.

On election day, voters who aren’t voting absentee must go to the polling precinct indicated on their voter registration card.

Atlanta Press Club debates include Cobb Commission chair

October 10, 2020 7:02 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb Commission Chair debate

The Atlanta Press Club will be the host of several television, radio and online candidates debates in selected local, state and federal races starting Monday, including the battle for Cobb Commission Chair.

That debate, between incumbent Republican chairman Mike Boyce and Democratic commissioner Lisa Cupid, is scheduled to air at 12 p.m. Wednesday on the Atlanta Press Club Facebook page and at 8:30 p.m. Thursday on WABE radio (90.1 FM).

Also included in the debates will be the candidates for the 6th Congressional District, which includes East Cobb. Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath is being challenged by Republican Karen Handel, who is seeking to regain the seat she lost in 2018.

That debate will be aired on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on the APC website, Georgia Public Broadcasting and gpb.org.

The Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young Debate Series also will host general election debates for the U.S. Senate and other Congressional and local races. The schedule for all the debates can be found here.

All the debates can be seen on demand at the APC website.

Candidate profile: David Banks, Cobb school board Post 5

October 8, 2020 5:26 PMOctober 8, 2020 4:45 PM by Wendy Parker

David Banks, Cobb school board candidate

He’s become a frequent target of criticism from political opponents and some school parents, but veteran Cobb Board of Education member David Banks has proven difficult to dislodge.

The Republican who represents Post 5 (the Pope and Lassiter clusters plus part of the Walton and Wheeler attendance zones) defeated two primary opponents without a runoff in June as he seeks a fourth term.

A retired computer and technology consultant and business owner, Banks said that given the dramatic change that’s underway in a very different school year, retaining an experienced school board voice is important.

“I’ve been on the board long enough to know how to get things done,” Banks said, citing his push for a concert hall at Lassiter High School and support for expanding STEM instruction at the middle- and grade-school level.

Banks does not have a campaign website; here’s his school board biography page.

His opponent in the Nov. 3 general election, Democrat Julia Hurtado, said Cobb County has “outgrown” Banks in a number of respects, especially in response to growing calls for equity.

She’s calling for a more “inclusive” advocacy for the school board that oversees Georgia’s second-largest school district, which effectively has a majority-minority enrollment.

Banks said he’s not concerned he collected only 543 more votes in the primary than Hurtado in what’s been a strongly Republican area, and that he’ll soon send out campaign materials to identified Republican voters.

Banks is the board’s vice chairman this year, and opposed language in a proposed anti-racism resolution that acknowledged “systemic racism” within the Cobb County School District.

The board, which has four white Republicans and three black Democrats, couldn’t come to a consensus on any resolution after several tries this summer.

Banks said the Cobb school district doesn’t have the racial issues that two of his colleagues and others have alleged.

Those board members, first-term Democrats Charisse Davis of the Walton and Wheeler clusters and Jaha Howard of the Smyrna area, have pressed the Cobb school district to hire an equity officer.

Howard also has scrutinized district school disciplinary data along racial lines, and Davis supports changing the name of Wheeler High School, named after a Confederate Civil War general.

They would not support an anti-racism resolution without the “systemic racism” reference.

Banks said they “are trying to make race an issue where it has never been before. . . . I think they feel like they can get votes that way.”

Banks contends there are “black-on-black” racial problems in the south Cobb area, and that it’s really “a cultural thing. When 70 percent don’t have fathers in the house, that’s a problem.”

When asked if he could understand why some might consider those racist remarks, Banks said, “no, that’s not true. It’s more of a socioeconomic situation” that’s beyond the limits of what a school system can address.

In August, Banks came under fire for referring to COVID-19 as the “China virus” in his e-mail newsletter, including a parent in the Lassiter area.

Banks did not respond to a request for comment from East Cobb News before publication, and afterward sent a note saying those who criticized him are Democrats who “are racists and you carried their water.”

Hurtado also supports an equity officer position and school name changes at Walton and Wheeler. In an online advertisement, Banks claims that’s part of Hurtado’s “radical” and “left-wing agenda” and that “Democrat school candidates put our Community at GREAT Risk.”

Among those issues is Hurtado’s support of revisiting the Cobb school district’s senior property tax exemption. Banks, who takes the exemption that’s available for homeowners aged 62 and over, said he still pays for schools through sales taxes.

He advocates a local education sales tax (LEST) to provide additional revenues, and said changing the exemption would require a constitutional amendment.

“It’s not going to happen,” Banks said. “I don’t know a legislator who would commit political suicide.”

Banks also took issue with Hurtado’s claim that the Cobb school district could be doing more for special-education students.

He said the Cobb school district “has one of the best special-needs programs in the country and “we have allocated more money than a lot of other districts have.”

Banks also downplayed criticism that the school board is out of touch with parents and constituencies in the school district pining for change.

“I would prefer to concentrate on doing things to make the educational process better for all students,” he said.

Continuing the extension of STEM programs into grade schools is one of those priorities, as is addressing what could be an evolving learning environment.

Roughly 60 percent of Cobb elementary students returned to campuses this week while the rest are learning remotely. Middle school and high school students whose parents chose the classroom option will be coming back over the next three weeks.

“This has been a real learning curve,” said Banks, who commended the district’s handling of reopening. “It’s how we’re going to define education in the future.

“I think you’re going to have a hybrid [model], but we don’t yet really know what it’s going to look like.”

Banks said the most significant challenge for the Cobb school district in the long run is for it “not to become a school system like Atlanta, DeKalb and Clayton” that he says have declined due to “white flight.” He said he thinks similar trends are taking place in Gwinnett and Henry.

Banks said if Democrats gain control of the Cobb school board, among other priorities there would be an effort to force teachers to transfer to underperforming schools.

That’s another charge he has leveled at Hurtado, and Banks is unflinching in making that claim.

“I can back up everything I’ve said,” he said.

He chuckles at other criticism that he occasionally falls asleep during school board meetings.

“People like to make fun of that, and that’s okay,” he said. “I can take a picture of you and tell you the same thing.

“I don’t fall asleep. I’m wide awake.”

Candidate profile: Fitz Johnson, Cobb Commission District 2

October 6, 2020 3:12 PM by Wendy Parker

Fitz Johnson, Cobb Commission candidate

After winning the Republican primary and runoff by a nose this summer, Fitz Johnson is facing a different challenge as he campaigns in the general election for the District 2 seat on the Cobb Board of Commissioners:

An energized Democratic electorate in the county that could yield historic gains in November.

Johnson, a retired Army officer, entrepreneur and civic leader with strong ties to Cobb establishment institutions, is facing political upstart Jerica Richardson.

Although she was unopposed in the Democratic primary, she received more votes (24,126) than the three Republican primary candidates combined (18,371).

Neither has been elected to public office before. Johnson ran for Georgia School Superintendent in 2014. Richardson is a first-time candidate who has worked on recent local Democratic campaigns, including that of Cobb school board member Jaha Howard, who’s been a firebrand in his two years in office.

Johnson, who serves on the board of the Wellstar Health System and is a trustee of Kennesaw State University, has been touting what he calls “experienced leadership” in the military, business and community service.

Here’s Johnson’s campaign website. Richardson has been contacted by East Cobb News seeking an interview.

The winner will succeed retiring three-term commissioner Bob Ott, a Republican who’s endorsed Johnson.

“The message is the same,” Johnson said. “The target is different.”

District 2 includes much of East Cobb as well as the Cumberland-Vinings area and part of Smyrna.

Johnson is touting an emphasis on public safety, traffic improvements, fiscal conservatism on taxes and spending and protecting neighborhoods.

As he did during the primary campaign, Johnson is stressing his opposition to East Cobb Cityhood, limiting high-density development and boosting salary and incentives for police officers and firefighters.

He said he’s best situated to attend to those ongoing matters, as well as possible budget challenges due to the economic fallout from COVID-19 closures, because of his background.

“What stands out is my experience compared to my opponent,” he said. “I worrying about me and running my own campaign, but when you stack it all up, I’m the clear choice.”

During the primary Johnson campaigned extensively in East Cobb, which was unfamiliar to him but traditionally has been strong Republican territory. He admits that the district is diverse, but the message he’s hearing from East Cobb voters is a desire to maintain a suburban atmosphere of single-family communities.

The county budget that began on Oct. 1 maintained the same property tax millage rate, but the longer-term financial implications could pose some unpalatable budget decisions in the future.

Johnson admitted that “while we’re in an unprecedented” time, he will never support a tax increase to address budget shortfalls.

“That’s a no-compromise issue,” Johnson said, acknowledging that some hard decisions will have to be made.

Also off-limits would be any interruption in continuing a step-and-grade compensation program for public safety employees begun last year by commissioners.

“I will make sure we don’t take a step back,” Johnson said, adding that he thinks commissioners have “done a good job” handling the immediate financial impact of COVID-related revenue drops.

The District 2 winner would become the second African-American on the board, and if current commissioner Lisa Cupid wins her race to become chairman, the five-member board would have a black majority.

Earlier this summer commissioners adopted an anti-racism resolution that caused some consternation, and they voted last month to create a new community diversity council.

Johnson said “this is a very good start they’ve put on the table,” in reference to the latter, whose members include citizen members chosen by commissioners.

Racial concerns and disparities won’t go away, he said, just by appointing people to serve. “What we need now is results. We’re not going to let this go.

“It’s important to the entire quality of life in Cobb County” to address racial and cultural disparities, he said.

“I don’t have a scorecard, but I feel I’m being treated well as an African-American in Cobb County,” Johnson said.

“But we’re not finished by any means,” in reference to making greater progress in racial relations. “We need to make it better so it doesn’t continue to be an issue.”

Johnson said while he’s working to get his based energized, he acknowledges a need for crossover votes from independents and what he calls “soft Democrats.”

An appeal to that kind of open-mindedness, he said, will be important as he seeks to fill “some very big shoes” being left behind by Ott.

“I believe there are many voters out there who willing to zig-zag down the ballot.”

Candidate profile: Lisa Cupid, Cobb Commission Chairwoman

October 2, 2020 4:26 PM by Wendy Parker

Lisa Cupid, Cobb Commission Chair candidate

In serving as the lone Democrat on the Cobb Board of Commissioners for the last eight years, Lisa Cupid has become accustomed to going against the political grain.

But says her decision to run countywide as the chair of the commission comes from a desire to unite citizens, groups and areas of the county that haven’t always felt properly represented on the county’s five-member governing board.

“I know I have the ability to bring people together,” said Cupid, who is challenging Republican incumbent Mike Boyce on the Nov. 3 general-election ballot. East Cobb News profiled Boyce earlier this week.

(Here’s Cupid’s campaign website.)

She was unopposed in the Democratic primary, and worked to support Monique Sheffield, who will succeed her in representing District 4 in South Cobb.

“We need a chair who’s going to move the entire county forward,” Cupid said. “I love the connections I’ve made in the community I serve, and this wasn’t something I was considering when the current chairman took office.”

But Cupid said while she has been an ally of Boyce on a number of votes, and has served as his vice chair, she doesn’t think the board as a whole has worked together like it could.

She said the county has historically fostered good partnerships with organizations and citizens in the community, “but that’s not something I see occurring” now.

A most recent example was her vote in September against the formation of the Council for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation, which Cupid said was done with little community input.

Another was her only opposing vote against the Atlanta Braves stadium deal in 2013, in which she also protested what she said was a rushed process.

Cupid says the board has suffered by not having had any full-fledged retreats since she took office. There have been some day-long meetings, but she said nothing expanding into a format in which commissioners sit down with elected officials from across the county.

“We’re just not building bridges and relationships,” Cupid said.

What’s changed most of all since Cupid won a second term in 2016, when Boyce ousted then-chairman Tim Lee, is the shifting political winds in Cobb County.

Democrats have been highly energized and are seeking all levels of public office, following countywide-wins by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race and Stacey Abrams in the 2018 governor’s race.

Democrats have made some inroads in Republican East Cobb, winning a school board seat and having a Democratic member of Congress for the first time in 40 years. For the second election in a row, there’s a Democrat running in every race for a seat representing East Cobb.

In the primary, Cupid received 90,446 votes to 45,257 for Boyce, who easily defeated two GOP opponents.

She has raised $161,000 in campaign contributions, and had more than $80,000 in cash on hand at the end of June, according to her latest financial disclosure report.

Boyce by comparison has raised around $102,000 overall for his re-election bid and had nearly $40,000 on hand shortly after the primary.

A native of the Detroit area, Cupid had ambitions of a career in the automotive industry, and came South to earn a mechanical engineering degree at Georgia Tech.

Instead, she stayed, receiving degrees in English, public administration and law from Georgia State University. She lived for a while in East Cobb while at Tech when her parents moved into a home of Johnson Ferry Road.

Cupid and her husband Craig have two sons who are home-schooled.

She said many of the issues she has been championing for her district resonate across the county, including affordable housing, land use, transit, public safety and economic development.

“We’re in such a unique time, and we need to have a strategic foundation as a board” in the county’s long-term response to the economic fallout from COVID-related closures. “We need to have a level of trust.”

Her philosophy on land use matters includes not only the traditional issues of density and traffic but also looking at individual projects “that can be transformational” in promoting the health, safety and welfare of citizens.

Those include incorporating quality-of-life amenities, affordability and transportation components that make sense in a given area.

While Cupid said District 4 area has “led the realm” in terms of affordability, “housing values don’t lend themselves to amenities” that are just as much of an attraction for homeowners.

“It’s an issue that resonates the same way across the county,” she said.

Cobb’s vote in 2019 to implement a step-and-grade salary and retention system for public safety employees “is one of the most significant measures we’ve put into place,” and Cupid said “it’s a very important step forward.”

She’s an advocate of community-policing initiatives, and has worked to include home-based business owners in the county’s CARES Act relief grant program.

A supporter of Boyce’s 2018 property tax increase, Cupid said hiking the millage rate again to address a possible COVID-related budget gap would be problematic.

“Our efforts are to keep the same level of service without adding to the monetary burden of citizens,” she said. “A lot of people are hurting right now.”

Cupid said she’s campaigning the same way in all areas of the county and tries to include local leaders when doing events in a particular community.

“I try to be consistent, because we all want the same things,” she said.

There hasn’t been a Democrat to serve as county commission chair since Ernest Barrett, who led Cobb into its initial phase of suburbanization from 1965-1984.

She also would be the first female and black head of the county government if elected. Her background “makes me sensitive to anyone who feels they don’t have a seat at the table.”

But Cupid said while she understands the symbolism of her campaign, that’s not why she’s running.

“I am more than that,” she said. “This could be an historic election, but I don’t want to get elected to make history.

“I want to get elected to make a difference.”

Candidate profile: Mike Boyce, Cobb Commission Chairman

October 2, 2020 4:45 PMSeptember 29, 2020 4:30 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb budget town hall, Mike Boyce, Cobb public safety bonus, Cobb millage rate

As the county’s Republican standard-bearer in the Nov. 3 general election, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has made it clear for several weeks that party turnout has to be better than it was during the June 9 primary that he won with ease.

Even though he dispatched two GOP candidates with 68 percent of the vote, Boyce got only half the overall vote as the unopposed Democratic candidate, Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, his general-election foe.

She received 90,446 votes to 45,257 for Boyce, whose absentee votes (28,493) trailed Cupid’s election-day results (36,145).

In a year in which absentee balloting is looming large, those numbers look especially ominous for Republicans against an energized base of Democratic voters at all levels.

Cupid’s also outraised Boyce with more than $161,000 in campaign contributions, and had more than $80,000 in cash on hand at the end of June, according to her latest financial disclosure report.

Boyce by comparison has raised around $102,000 overall for his re-election bid and had nearly $40,000 on hand shortly after the primary.

“We still need more Republican votes,” said Boyce, an East Cobb resident, “but we can’t do this alone.”

That helps explain why he’s been campaigning a lot in recent weeks in South Cobb, Cupid’s home turf, where she has been the District 4 commissioner since 2013.

After knocking off incumbent chairman Tim Lee in the 2016 GOP runoff, Boyce didn’t have a Democratic opponent.

But the Democratic surge in Cobb began that November, when Hillary Clinton edged Donald Trump to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the county since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Two years ago Stacey Abrams’ Democratic gubernatorial campaign won in Cobb and several Democrats were swept into office, including Lucy McBath in the 6th Congressional District and Charisse Davis for the Post 6 school board seat in East Cobb.

“What I saw in 2018 in the governor’s race is that there are a lot of Democrats in Cobb County,” Boyce said. “Democrats have done a better job of developing a base and getting out the vote. But I’m not conceding anything.”

Boyce said he’s proud of his record that he said has restored financial stability, increased popular services and begun to improve salary and benefits for public safety employees.

(Here’s Boyce’s campaign website.)

East Cobb News has interviewed Cupid and her profile can be found here.

Boyce defends his 2018 property tax increase, pointing to the commissioners’ vote two years before—on the day he beat Lee in a runoff—to lower the millage rate. He said that resulted in a $30 million deficit before he took office.

The tax hike didn’t sit well in some GOP circles, including the Cobb County Republican Party, which spoke out against it. He’s been called a RINO (Republican In Name Only) by some, but Boyce said in looking out for the interests of citizens countywide, “you have to be based in reality.”

He said the additional revenue boosted the county’s budget contingency, which now stands at around $100 million. Boyce said he heard loud and clear from residents about quality-of-life matters like more parks and longer library hours.

“The people are owed the truth,” he said. “You have to tell them, ‘If this is what you want, then this is what it’s going to cost.’ ”

Boyce maintains that his fiscal practices area in line with his Republican predecessors, but that “people love their amenities.”

In 2019, Cobb public safety employees and their advocates began pressing for better pay and retention policies, and commissioners responded with a step-and-grade system that includes regular salary increases for qualified workers.

Cupid was his strongest backer for the tax increase, which he said enabled the public safety step-and-grade to be implemented. She also served as Boyce’s vice chair for two of the four years he’s been in office.

Lately, however, he’s been campaigning Austell and South Cobb, a Democratic stronghold where Cupid had no opposition in the 2016 primary or general election.

“You have to see what I’ve been seeing,” Boyce said, explaining his reasons for making a concerted presence there.

“She’s had no competition. What I’m hearing is that they don’t know who she is.”

Of his campaign funding differences with Cupid, Boyce said he’s raised more than $10,000 in July and maintains that “we have exactly the amount of money we need to run the kind of campaign we need to have.”

Boyce said he’s pressing what’s essentially a non-partisan message, to reach “those who will hear what you’re saying and doing. They’re willing to cross party lines.

“This time you have to go for the November voter,” he said. “A lot of them know me but we’re giving them my record. We’ve responded to what the needs of the county have been.”

Unlike 2016, however, he’ll be on a general-election ballot with Trump in a county that’s a clear suburban battleground at the local, state and federal levels.

“I’m a Republican and I believe in loyalties,” Boyce said, deflecting a question about his level of support for the president. “What I focus on every day is, ‘Have I done all I can for Cobb County?’ ”

He said he’s hearing some from citizens about the challenges the county faces in the aftermath of economic fallout from COVID-related lockdowns, but he can’t make any projections now.

“Nobody knows what the impact is going to be,” Boyce said. “I don’t know what the future holds, but the future has not looked better.”

Ga. Secretary of State’s office creates absentee ballot tracker

September 29, 2020 12:46 PM by Wendy Parker

If you’ve filled out an absentee ballot or will be doing so for the November elections, you can keep track of what happens when you turn it in.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has created an absentee ballot tracker that lets you follow the status of that ballot.

The tracker was launched over the weekend, and you simply fill out your date of birth and ZIP Code (just like you do when you check your voter registration status), and you’ll be asked to register to receive e-mail or text message updates.

Those notifications will come when a ballot application is accepted, when the ballot is sent and if and when that ballot is accepted or rejected.

According to a statement from the Secretary of State’s office, “voters whose absentee ballots are rejected will be provided with the contact information to fix the issue so they can be assured their vote will be counted.”

Last week Cobb Elections officials added absentee ballot dropboxes, including the Gritters and Mountain View libraries, bringing to 16 the number of dropboxes around the county.

They also are at the East Cobb Government Service Center and the Sewell Mill Library.

The dropboxes are secured and have surveillance cameras installed, and will be collected daily by multiple Cobb Elections staffers.

Absentee ballots can be deposited there 24/7 up through 7 p.m. on the Nov. 3 election day.

Absentee ballot applications can be requested from Cobb Elections by clicking here, and you can also get a prompt to a customized application that will be mailed to you.

The deadline for registering to vote is Oct. 5, and you can do that and check your registration status, polling location and get sample ballots by clicking here. More information about registering can be found here.

Advance voting begins Oct. 12, and one location in the East Cobb area that had been designated for that purpose, Noonday Baptist Church on Canton Road, will be unavailable.

Cobb Elections said anyone who had been planning to vote early at Noonday can go to The Art Place-Mountain View (3330 Sandy Plains Road) from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday from Oct. 12-30 and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 and 24.

Those same advance voting dates and times will take place at the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road).

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