East Cobb Politics & Elections Archives

East Cobb 2022 precinct votes in U.S. Senate, Governor’s races

November 22, 2022 7:31 PMNovember 22, 2022 6:53 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb results 2022 U.S. Senate general election

With early voting starting this weekend and continuing into next week for the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff, we took a deeper look at the general election results in that race as well as the governor’s race in East Cobb precincts.

While some parts of East Cobb have been trending Democratic in some areas over the last three election cycles, the area remains, along with north Cobb, a stronghold for Republican candidates.

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams led a Democratic ticket of statewide candidates who prevailed in Cobb County.

East Cobb votes 2022 U.S. Senate general election — *Precincts for Walker in blue, and for Warnock in green. The beige precinct (Fullers Park) ended in a tie. **Click here** for more precinct details for the U.S. Senate general election results.*

But only Warnock is left standing statewide after GOP candidates, including incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, were victorious in the Nov. 8 general election.

Kemp, who defeated Abrams in a rematch of their bitter 2018 race, finished strong in East Cobb precincts, earning around 60 percent of the vote in a number of them.

But Warnock, who is completing the end of Johnny Isakson’s term in seeking a full-six year term against Republican Herschel Walker, was competitive in many of those same East Cobb precincts.

Walker’s highest percentage in any East Cobb precinct was 53 percent. Much has been made of supposed “split” voters—those voting for both Kemp and Warnock.

A total of 11 of the 48 precincts in our coverage area were won by Kemp and Warnock: Addison, Bells Ferry 2, Bells Ferry 3, Davis, Elizabeth 5, Nicholson, Powers Ferry, Sandy Plains, Sewell Mill 1, Sewell Mill 3, Simpson, Sope Creek 2 and Timber Ridge.

East Cobb votes 2022 governor's general election results — *In the governor’s race, precincts for Kemp are in blue and for Abrams are in green. For more details **click here**.*

In some typically strong GOP precincts, Warnock also finished well. He lost by 19 votes in Eastside 2, by 15 votes in Mt. Bethel 3, by 4 votes in Murdock, by 46 votes in Roswell 1, by 20 votes in Roswell 2 and by 47 votes in Sope Creek 1.

The Fullers Park precinct was dead even, with Walker and Warnock each getting 1,212 votes.

An asterisk denotes the precinct winner; the hashtag indicates the tie in Fullers Park.

	Abrams	Kemp	Warnock	Walker
Addison	730	854*	830*	709
Bells Ferry 2	786	940*	868*	819
Bells Ferry 3	605	618*	640*	543
Blackwell	830*	755	901*	657
Chattahoochee	1,899*	759	1,996*	606
Chestnut Ridge	847	1,409*	995	1,182*
Davis	627	735*	701*	621
Dickerson	807	1,201*	949	1,001*
Dodgen	608	867*	691	751*
East Piedmont	764*	611	823*	527
Eastside 1	843	1,294*	1,003	1,069*
Eastside 2	1,159	1,666*	1,355	1,374*
Elizabeth 2	611	863*	679	761*
Elizabeth 3	772	1,162*	865	1,021*
Elizabeth 4	839*	655	925*	540
Elizabeth 5	912	1,005*	994*	869
Fullers Park	956	1,343*	1,121#	1,121#
Garrison Mill	818	1,146*	922	1,006*
Gritters	992	1,380*	1,080	1,226*
Hightower	1,194	1,731*	1,352	1,449*
Kell	507	727*	574	615*
Lassiter	955	1,453*	1,097	1,252*
Mabry	409	782*	487	664*
McCleskey	471	766*	552	646*
Marietta 6A	682*	234	701*	206
Marietta 6B	981*	913	1,081*	775
Mt. Bethel 1	1,100	1,782*	1,329	1,450*
Mt. Bethel 3	887	1,305*	1,052	1,067*
Mt. Bethel 4	783	1,272*	919	1,074*
Murdock	1,167	1,639*	1,359	1,363*
Nicholson	630	793*	693*	687
Pope	861	1,212*	971	1,026*
Post Oak	874	1,486*	1,051	1,332*
Powers Ferry	946	998*	1,044*	850
Rocky Mount	887	1,335*	1,015	1,127*
Roswell 1	1,555	2,223*	1,787	1,833*
Roswell 2	1,047	1,576*	1,257	1,277*
Sandy Plains	856	999*	960*	831
Sewell Mill 1	1,014	1,254*	1,171*	1,045
Sewell Mill 3	1,300*	1,084	1,411*	901
Shallowford Falls	953	1,433*	1,116	1,183*
Simpson	510	723*	615*	574
Sope Creek 1	628	930*	732	779*
Sope Creek 2	1,561	1,615*	1,761*	1,338
Sope Creek 3	715	1,169*	832	1,011*
Terrell Mill	1,705*	867	1,796*	712
Timber Ridge	730	1,021*	862*	842
Willeo	812	1,178*	939	1,004*

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!

Cobb adds Saturday session for U.S. Senate runoff early voting

November 21, 2022 5:05 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb tag offices reopening — *The East Cobb Government Service Center will be a polling station for all seven days of early voting for the U.S. Senate runoff.*

Following Fulton and DeKalb counties, the Cobb Elections office will offer early voting for the U.S. Senate runoff this coming Saturday.

A court ruling last week allowed county elections offices to hold early voting on Saturday.

A runoff was called for Dec. 6 after neither Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock nor Republican Herschel Walker could get 50 percent plus one vote in the general election.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger initially had prohibited voting on Saturday, as it falls the day after the Thursday-Friday official state holidays for Thanksgiving.

But Warnock’s campaign filed a lawsuit and a Fulton County judge ordered that counties could decide for themselves whether to have voting on Saturday.

Cobb had previously approved Sunday early voting for this coming Sunday, as well as Monday-Friday next week.

This Saturday, voters wishing to cast their ballots in person can do so between 12-5 p.m. at the following locations:

Cobb Elections and Registration Main Office, 995 Roswell Street, Marietta
North Cobb Senior Center, 3900 S Main Street, Acworth
East Cobb Government Center, 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta
South Cobb Regional Library, 805 Clay Road, Mableton
Boots Ward Recreation Center, 4845 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs

The East Cobb Government Services Center also will have early voting on Sunday from 12-5, and next Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Absentee ballots can be dropped off at a designated drop box there as well, but only during early voting hours.

The Tim D. Lee Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road) will have early voting from Monday, Nov. 28 through Friday, Dec. 2 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Those voting early in-person can plan ahead by tracking the Cobb GIS estimated wait-time map.

There will be no early voting Dec. 3-5. On Dec. 6, voters who cast ballots in person must go to their regular precincts.

For those requesting absentee ballots, they’re urged to apply immediately. Absentee ballots must be received at the Cobb Elections office (995 Roswell Street) by 7 p.m. on Dec. 6.

For more information on the runoff election, visit the Cobb Elections website.

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!

Recertified Cobb election results change outcome in Kennesaw race

November 18, 2022 9:43 PMNovember 18, 2022 6:28 PM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration recertified general election results on Friday to include data from a memory card that was not uploaded earlier in the week.

In a 2-1 vote (with two members absent), the board included accepting 789 additional votes from the memory card.

The board voted Tuesday to certify elections results from Nov. 8. But the latest error involving Cobb Elections during the general election cycle changed the outcome of a Kennesaw City Council election.

Madelyn Orochena, who had been initially been certified as the winner of that race, instead finished 31 votes behind Lynette Burnett in a special election.

At the start of Friday’s special-called meeting, Orochena said that “due to gross incompetence, lack of transparency and communication, I am left with no choice but to doubt this election.”

Later, she said, “apologies, however sincere, are not good enough.”

A special recount has been called for Sunday in that race since the final vote margin is within the 0.5 percent threshold allowed under Georgia law.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s office is expected to certify all county election results on Monday.

No other races were affected by the additional votes from the previously uncounted memory card, Cobb Elections director Janine Eveler said.

Elections board chairwoman Tori Silas said the board was told on Wednesday about the issue with the uncounted memory card. The error was detected when elections officials were preparing an audit.

Cobb Elections failed to mail out around 1,000 requested absentee ballots days before the Nov. 8 general election, and a Cobb Superior Court judge issued a consent decree to extend the deadline for returning them to this past Monday.

Eveler called that a “human error,” and it’s unclear how many of those voters weren’t able to get their ballots returned in time.

During early voting, some voters in East Cobb were mistakenly assigned to Post 4 in a Cobb Board of Education election when they in fact live in Post 5.

A total of 112 incorrect votes were cast, but Post 4 incumbent David Chastain comfortably won re-election.

Eveler has cited high turnover on her senior staff for some of the errors, as well as expanded early voting dates and locations.

Six days of early voting in the U.S. Senate runoff begin on Sunday, Nov. 27, at 12 locations in the county.

Cobb Elections could add Saturday voting after a judge’s ruling on Friday.

The runoff will be decided on Tuesday, Dec. 6 with voters going to their normal precincts to choose between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.

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Cobb early voting schedule released for U.S. Senate runoff

November 16, 2022 6:41 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb early voting U.S. Senate runoff — *For a larger view, **click here**.*

There will be six days of early voting in Cobb County for the U.S. Senate runoff election.

A runoff was declared for Dec. 6 after neither Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock nor Republican Herschel Walker could get 50 percent plus one vote in the general election.

There are 12 early voting locations for the runoff, including the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road) and the Tim D. Lee Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road).

At the East Cobb center, there will be early voting on Sunday, Nov. 27 from 12-5 p.m. and from Monday, Nov. 28 through Friday, Dec. 2 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. There also is an absentee ballot drop box inside the polling station that will be open during early voting hours.

Early voting at the Tim D. Lee center will be Monday, Nov. 28 through Friday, Dec. 2 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Those voting early in-person can plan ahead by tracking the Cobb GIS estimated wait-time map.

There will be no early voting Dec. 3-5. On Dec. 6, voters who cast ballots in-person must go to their regular precincts.

For those requesting absentee ballots, they’re urged to apply immediately. Absentee ballots must be received at the Cobb Elections office (995 Roswell Street) by 7 p.m. on Dec. 6.

Those who cast absentee ballots can monitor the progress of their ballot at the Georgia Secretary of State’s BallotTrax feature.

There will be a special-called meeting of the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration on Friday to re-certify the general election results.

The five-member board certified the election on Monday, but on Wednesday said re-certification is necessary becuase it was discovered that a memory card had not been uploaded.

The meeting takes place at 2 p.m. at the Cobb Elections office.

For more information on the runoff election, visit the Cobb Elections website.

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Cobb schools to have ‘virtual learning’ on U.S. Senate runoff day

November 11, 2022 3:57 PMNovember 11, 2022 1:51 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb virtual learning day, Eastvalley ES — *Eastvalley ES in East Cobb is one of 17 schools in the Cobb school district still being used as a voting precinct.*

The Cobb County School District announced Friday there will be what it’s calling “a virtual learning day” on Tuesday, Dec. 6, the date of the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff.

A release by the district said that because some school facilities will be in use for the election, that day will be an “asynchronous virtual learning day for all students. Students will work independently, at home, and teachers will have reviewed expectations with students the previous school day. There will not be required, live, virtual sessions.”

The Cobb school district uses a proprietary digital learning platform called the Cobb Teaching and Learning System.

The runoff was declared after neither Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock nor his Republican opponent, former UGA football star Herschel Walker, failed to get a majority of the vote in Tuesday’s general election (results here).

Schools are traditionally closed for the primary and general elections. Warnock and fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff won U.S. Senate runoffs on Jan. 5, 2021, but that was during a school holiday break.

The Cobb school district has 112 school campuses, and 17 of them are voting precincts. They include Kell High School, Shallowford Falls Elementary School, Sope Creek Elementary School and Eastvalley Elementary School in East Cobb.

“As was the case on Election Day, this run-off election also impacts the entire county, not just a few schools,” a district spokeswoman said. “We are confident this is the safest decision for all students who have access to standards aligned content and a high quality platform, CTLS.”

In recent election cycles Cobb Elections has moved voting precincts away from schools at the request of the Cobb and Marietta districts for access, security and scheduling issues.

In 2020, 15 precincts in East Cobb that had been at schools were relocated to community and senior centers, houses of worship and other facilities.

Those schools were Lassiter and Pope high schools; Daniell, Dickerson, Dodgen, Hightower Trail, McCleskey and Simpson middle schools; and Addison, Blackwell, Davis, Kincaid, Garrison Mill and Nicholson elementary schools.

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Two Democrats elected to open East Cobb legislative seats

November 11, 2022 2:50 PMNovember 11, 2022 9:49 AM by Wendy Parker

Jason Esteves, State Sen.-elect — *Jason Esteves*

All incumbent legislators with East Cobb districts won re-election on Tuesday, including five Republicans and a Democrat.

The two open seats were won by Democrats, one in each chamber.

Current Atlanta school board member Jason Esteves defeated Republican Fred Glass to win State Senate District 6, which includes some of East Cobb and Buckhead (see map).

Esteves got 56 percent of the vote (results here) in a seat that was vacated by Jen Jordan, who lost her bid for Attorney General on Tuesday.

Glass won several East Cobb precincts, including Eastside 1 and 2, Mt. Bethel 3 and 4 and Sope Creek 1, 2 and 3.

Esteves said he is resigning his seat on the Atlanta school board on Dec. 31.

Since 1997, House District 43 has been represented by Republican Sharon Cooper, the House Health and Human Services Committee chairwoman.

*Georgia Senate districts in Cobb. For a larger view, **click here**.*

But after narrowly defeating Democrat Luisa Wakeman in 2018 and 2020, Cooper was redrawn into District 45.

She easily won another term over Democrat Dustin McCormick (results here), getting nearly 59 percent of the vote in a district formerly held by Matt Dollar.

The new District 43 was won by Democrat Solomon Adesanya, a restaurant owner, over Republican Anna Tillman (results here). He got more than 56 percent of the vote in a district that includes areas around Wheeler High School and parts of the city of Marietta.

Democratic Rep. Mary Frances Williams was re-elected in District 37, as she defeated Republican Tess Redding with 57 percent of the vote (results here).

East Cobb 2022 legislative elections, Solomon Adesanya — *Solomon Adesanya*

Esteves, Adesanya and Williams will be part of a Democratic majority of the Cobb legislative delegation.

But Republicans lost only a few seats statewide as they continue to control both houses of the legislature.

GOP Rep. Don Parsons in House District 44 (results here) and Republican Rep. John Carson in District 46 (results here) were easily re-elected on Tuesday.

*Georgia House districts in Cobb. For a larger view **click here**.*

So were Republican senators Kay Kirkpatrick and John Albers.

Kirkpatrick won a third full term in District 32, which now includes some of Woodstock and Cherokee. She got more than 61 percent of the vote (results here).

District 56 was redrawn to include much of the Johnson Ferry Road corridor in East Cobb. Albers, a Republican from Roswell, also won with more than 61 percent of the vote (results here).

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!

Mableton cityhood referendum passes after 3 others failed

November 10, 2022 7:10 PM by Wendy Parker

*Mableton cityood leaders Tre’ Hutchins and Galt Porter spoke at an East Cobb cityhood town hall meeting at Walton High School in early 2019.*

The last of four Cobb cityhood bills to pass the Georgia legislature this year was the only referendum approved by voters.

After cityhood bills failed in May in East Cobb, Lost Mountain and Vinings, a majority of voters in the proposed city of Mableton voted to create a new municipality on Tuesday.

It will the first new city in Cobb in more than 100 years and also the county’s largest city, with around 77,000 residents.

Voters approved the measure 53-47 percent (full results here), and by about 1,487 votes.

The reason the Mableton referendum didn’t get on the May ballot is because the bill took longer to make its way through the legislature.

The three failed Cobb cityhood referendums were pushed through in quick order by Republican lawmakers who wanted to accelerate the referendum date to May 24, the date of the Georgia primaries.

But that’s not the only different set of circumstances separating the Mableton cityhood effort from the others.

The South Cobb Alliance, created to support cityhood, began holding town hall meetings and other community events in 2015. Its leaders, unlike organizers in East Cobb, weren’t reluctant to be in the spotlight.

Mableton cityhood referendum passes — *For a larger view of the Mableton city map, **click here**.*

Also unlike East Cobb, Mableton cityhood leaders weren’t proposing expensive public safety services.

They included Galt Porter, at the time a member of the Cobb Planning Commission, and Tre’ Hutchins, who’s now a member of the Cobb Board of Education.

In early 2019, they were invited to speak at an East Cobb cityhood town hall meeting at Walton High School, and extolled the benefits of more local control.

Their message was that their area wasn’t getting proper services from Cobb County government, especially development.

The proposed services in Mableton are planning and zoning, code enforcement and sanitation.

The East Cobb and Mableton cityhood groups revived their efforts in 2021, and vocal opposition arose in those communities, as well as in Lost Mountain and Vinings.

Cobb government officials also held town halls in all four communities, insisting they were impartial, but drawing objections from pro-cityhood groups.

The Preserve South Cobb group, which opposes Mableton cityhood, says it may be pursuing a deannexation process in precincts of the new city in which 70 percent or more voted against the referendum.

A full transition to cityhood will take two years, with Gov. Brian Kemp appointing a transition committee to get the process started. Mableton will have a mayor selected at-large and six city council members elected by districts (see map).

Those elections will start next March, and they will be non-partisan.

Mableton was a city from 1912 to 1916, then became unincorporated after flood damage was too cost prohibitive in the city’s budget. No other cities in Cobb have been created since.

More on Mableton’s next steps from the Cobb County Courier.

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East Cobb Votes: Birrell, Chastain re-elected in county races

November 9, 2022 12:35 AMNovember 8, 2022 7:00 PM by Wendy Parker

Birrell, Chastain re-elected

UPDATED, 12 A.M.

The Cobb Board of Education will remain in Republican control after Post 4 incumbent David Chastain won a third term on Tuesday.

And Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, seeking her fourth term, ensured that Republicans would hold two of the five seats on the board with an easy re-election victory in District 3.

Gov. Brian Kemp was re-elected in a 2018 rematch with Stacey Abrams, and the U.S. Senate race appears headed to a runoff.

In the Cobb school board race, Chastain fended off Democratic newcomer Catherine Pozniak in a heated Post 4 campaign (Kell, Lassiter, Sprayberry clusters).

With all but one of the post’s 29 precincts reporting, Chastain received 21,061 votes, or 55.29 percent, to 17,034 for Pozniak, or 44.71 percent (results here).

Chastain was the only Republican on the school board up for re-election. Democrats won contests for open seats in Post 2 and Post 6, meaning that the GOP will continue to hold a 4-3 advantage for at least another two years.

Birrell had little trouble against Democrat Christine Triebsch in a newly redrawn district that includes most of East Cobb.

With all but two of 52 precincts reporting, Birrell received 46,019 votes, or 59 percent, to 31,921 votes for Triebsch, or 42 percent (results here).

Keli Gambrill, the other Republican Cobb commissioner, won a second term Tuesday after being unopposed in Post 1 in north and west Cobb.

You can find all Cobb results, including Cobb solicitor, another contested school board race and the Mableton cityhood referendum, at this link.

You also can track all results around the state compiled by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office by clicking here.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is neck-and neck with Republican Herschel Walker in a bid for a full 6-year term. With 90 percent of the vote in, Warnock had 49.07 percent of the vote compared to 48.92 percent for Walker in results that went back-and-forth all night.

Libertarian Chase Oliver has received 2 percent, and a Dec. 6 runoff looms between Walker and Warnock if the top vote-getter does not get 50 percent plus one vote. (updated real-time results here).

Kemp defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams in their rematch from 2018, holding a 55-44 percent advantage. Unlike four years ago, Abrams conceded this race.

Republicans swept all statewide constitutional offices (click here for results), including incumbents in Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr.

In U.S. House races, Republican Rich McCormick cruised over Democrat Bob Christian in the 6th Congressional District, an open seat after U.S. Lucy McBath moved to the 7th District following reapportionment.

She won a third term in the Gwinnett-based district Tuesday, and in District 11, which includes some of East Cobb, GOP U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk won easily over Democrat Anthony Daza.

Democrats won two open seats in the Georgia legislature from the East Cobb area, one each in the House and Senate.

More updated and detailed results to come Wednesday and later in the week.

UPDATED, 10:30 P.M.

Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell leads by 17 points in her re-election bid in District 3 with 82 percent of precincts reporting;

Cobb school board member David Chastain leads with 54.7 percent of the vote and 80 percent of precincts reporting in Post 4.

UPDATED, 9:25 P.M.

Some very early election-day voting results are trickling in for the two East Cobb local elections we’re tracking.

With 33 percent of the precincts reporting, Republican incumbent JoAnn Birrell has opened a 13-point lead over Democrat Christine Triebsch for the seat on the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The Cobb Board of Education Post 4 race was neck-and-neck early, and with 37 percent of the precincts reporting, Republican David Chastain leads Democrat Catherine Pozniak 52.5 percent to 47.4 percent.

ORIGINAL REPORT:

The polls have closed in Georgia, and the counting has begun for the 2022 general elections.

East Cobb News will continuously update this post all evening with results, reaction and more coverage.

(Here’s our election day set-up post that breaks down key races and candidates at the local, state and federal level.

Typically early voting and absentee figures are tallied first, followed by same-day voting results and more recent absentee votes.

Earlier absentee ballots are expected to be counted rather quickly, as they have been processed to prepare for tabulation when the polls close.

While we await full results, we’ll post early voting and absentee figures as they are revealed.

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!

Cobb extends deadline for absentee voters not mailed ballots

November 7, 2022 6:21 PMNovember 7, 2022 5:27 PM by Wendy Parker

A Cobb Superior Court judge on Monday issued an emergency consent order that will enable several hundred voters who didn’t get absentee ballots to return them after Tuesday’s general election deadline. Cobb absentee ballots

Judge Kellie Hill said those voters will have the same Nov. 14 deadline as military and overseas voters to return their ballots.

The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration was the subject of a lawsuit filed Sunday by the American Liberties Union of Georgia and the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of four absentee voters who were never mailed ballots they requested.

The suit sought the deadline extension and replacement ballots sent to affected voters, and Cobb Elections agreed in a Monday hearing before Hill.

The court order instructs Cobb Elections to count returned absentee ballots that are postmarked by 7 p.m. Tuesday and received on or before Nov. 14.

Those affected voters also can vote in person on Tuesday and have their absentee ballot request cancelled at their precinct.

They also can fill out a federal write-in absentee ballot and mail it in by 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Cobb Elections acknowledged over the weekend that a total of 1,036 requested absentee ballots were not mailed on Oct. 13 and Oct. 22 because elections workers failed to upload ballot information to a mailing machine.

At a press conference Monday, Cobb Elections director Janine Eveler repeated her apology for what she called “a human error” and Daniel White, the agency’s attorney, said “we were being transparent” in working quickly to identify the affected voters and get ballots sent to them.

The ACLU blamed a new Georgia elections law that reduces the window for requesting and receiving absentee ballots.

“The anti-voter law put tremendous pressure on elections officials to accomplish a number of responsibilities under a very tight deadline, and in Cobb County, that pressure has resulted in a huge error and hundreds of voters at risk of being disenfranchised,” ACLU of Georgia senior voting rights attorney Rahul Garabadu said in a statement.

Dozens of those affected voters cancelled their requests and cast ballots in-person during the early voting period. Cobb Elections has already sent 247 absentee ballots via overnight delivery and more were being sent Monday in similar fashion.

The consent order indicated that “as many as 469 voters” may not have received their replacement ballots.

Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt said in a release late Monday afternoon that the latter figure is now 276, after Cobb Elections analyzed in-person early-voting figures.

The only place to deliver an absentee ballot on Tuesday is at the Cobb Elections office (995 Roswell Road) between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

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!

Cobb Elections: More than 1K absentee ballots never mailed

November 5, 2022 4:32 PMNovember 5, 2022 2:23 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb Elections director Janine Eveler said that 1,046 absentee ballots requested by Cobb voters were never mailed because elections workers failed to upload ballot information to a mailing machine.

Those procedures were not followed on two days in what Eveler called a “human error.”

Absentee ballots must be received at the Cobb Elections office by 7 p.m. Tuesday to be counted.

“Last call” absentee ballots also can be hand-delivered to several Cobb library branches from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, including the East Cobb and Mountain View branches.

A release sent by Cobb government Saturday afternoon said that absentee ballots were overnighted to 83 out-of-state addresses of voters who didn’t get those ballots and included pre-paid overnight return envelopes.

Another 194 residents had overnighted absentee ballots that they requested, and 271 other residents in that group cancelled their request and voted during the early voting period that ended Friday, the Cobb release said

The other 498 residents identified, the Cobb release said, “are urged to vote in person on election day.”

The Cobb release said Cobb Elections is attempting to contact them by phone or e-mail to inform them of the issue and direct them to their correct voting precincts.

The errors were discovered after voters who had requested absentee ballots but not received them contacted the Cobb Elections office.

Early voting ended on Friday, with a record of nearly 175,000 Cobb in-person votes cast.

Eveler wrote a note explaining the situation to the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, a five-member appointed body, saying that “I am sorry that this office let these voters down. Many of the absentee staff have been averaging 80 or more hours per week, and they are exhausted. Still, that is no excuse for such a critical error.”

Tori Silas, the chairwoman of the elections board, said in the Cobb statement that “I am very disappointed that we have placed these voters in a position where they may not have an opportunity to cast their ballots in this general election.”

She pointed to the reduced time for absentee ballots to be requested and returned under a new Georgia elections law and staff turnover in the Cobb Elections office.

“With only three days until election day, we are constrained in what we can do,” Silas said. “That being the case, we are taking every possible step, notwithstanding those constraints, to ensure these voters have an opportunity to cast their ballots.”

As early voting got underway earlier this month, Cobb Elections discovered that 1,112 voters registered in the Sandy Plains 1 precinct in East Cobb were incorrectly given ballots to vote in the Cobb Board of Education Post 4 race.

They live in Post 5, and Eveler said 111 of those voters cast ballots that cannot be changed.

That race features Republican incumbent David Chastain and Democrat Catherine Pozniak in what’s become an intense campaign.

It’s unclear what might happen if the margin of difference in that election is less than 111 votes, but the results could be challenged and a new election could be called.

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East Cobb 2022 general election day voters guide and info

November 5, 2022 11:44 AM by Wendy Parker

On Tuesday voters will be going to the polls in the 2022 general elections.

This post rounds up everything we’ve put together before you head to your precinct—if you haven’t already voted. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at all precincts.

Absentee ballots must be received at the Cobb Elections office, either in person or via mail, by 7 p.m. on Tuesday (more details about that below).

Voters in East Cobb will be deciding on a county commissioner and a school board seat, two seats in the U.S. Congress and eight legislative members among local elections.

There’s just one countywide seat being contested, for Cobb Solicitor.

Statewide offices will be decided, including governor, and a U.S. Senate seat is on the ballot.

You can find a consolidated Cobb ballot by clicking here. To get a sample ballot customized for you, and to check which races you will be able to vote in and precinct information, visit the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page portal by clicking here.

Cobb Elections estimates that more than 175,000 Cobb voters took part in three weeks of early voting at a dozen locations, slightly more than the record numbers of early voters in 2020.

More than 21,000 people voted at bot the East Cobb Government Service Center and the Tim D. Lee Senior Center, trailing only the Smyrna Community Center (22K+) among satellite polling stations.

Cobb Elections has sent out more than 30,00 absentee ballots, with a little more than 19,000 returned and 18,706 accepted, as of Thursday.

But the AJC reported Saturday that around 1,000 absentee ballots that had been requested were not mailed, due to what Cobb Elections director Janine Eveler said were election workers not uploading ballot information to a mailing machine.

Those voters will have to vote in-person at their precinct on Tuesday. So will anyone who received an absentee ballot but either didn’t mail it or cannot deliver it in-person at designated “last call” return locations.

Cobb Elections said absentee ballots can be brought to several library branches, including the East Cobb Library and the Mountain View Regional Library, until 5 p.m. Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday.

Each location has a registrar who will prepare the ballot on-site for electronic tabulation that will commence with the closing of the polls on Tuesday.

The only way to return an absentee ballot in-person on election day is at the main office for Cobb Elections (995 Roswell Street), from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Voters must present a valid photo identification or a special voter ID card with them to the polls.

Any general election runoffs, if necessary, are scheduled for Dec. 6.

For more local information, visit the Cobb Elections website.

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!

Open-seat campaigns headline East Cobb legislative elections

November 4, 2022 6:13 PM by Wendy Parker

Reapportionment carved up East Cobb substantially across the board for the 2022 elections, including legislative seats.

Two of them—one each in the Georgia House and Senate—are guaranteed to have new representatives.

The Senate District 6 seat was vacated by Jen Jordan, who is the Democratic nominee for Georgia Attorney General. It’s a district that now includes some of East Cobb and the Cumberland area but is mostly in Buckhead, and the two candidates are both from the city of Atlanta.

They are Democrat Jason Esteves, the former chairman of the Atlanta Board of Education, and Republican financial services business owner Fred Glass.

You can see the new District 6 map by clicking here.

House District 43 has been represented by GOP Rep. Sharon Cooper since 1997, but she was drawn into District 45 (map here), where Republican Matt Dollar served until resigning early in the 2022 legislative session.

A special election was held in April that was won by Republican Mitch Kaye, a former lawmaker who said he would not be running for the seat this fall.

His Democratic opponent, Dustin McCormick, is challenging Cooper, the chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services Committee and who had close calls in the 2018 and 2020 elections.

District 43 (map here) has been redrawn to include much of the East Marietta area, Wheeler attendance zone and the Powers Ferry Road corridor.

East Cobb legislative elections, Anna Tillman — *Anna Tillman*

The candidates vying for that seat are running for office for the first time in a race that could determine party control of the Cobb legislative delegation.

Cobb Democrats hold a one-seat advantage in House representation, and District 43 is in an area of East Cobb that has produced stronger Democratic results in the last two election cycles.

Democrat Solomon Adesanya is a restaurant owner whose priorities are expanding Medicare, protecting abortion rights and addressing climate issues.

Republican Anna Tillman is a retired geologist who is campaigning to support small business, promote job training and technical education and champion public safety, saying she would “oppose radical efforts to defund the police or any other Public Safety organization.”

Two Republican House members from East Cobb are seeking re-election in districts that include some of Cherokee County. They are Don Parsons of District 44 (map here), who was first elected in 1994 and who is the chairman of the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee.

His Democratic opponent is Willie Mae Oyogoa, who owns a travel business in Woodstock.

In District 46 (map here), GOP incumbent John Carson is seeking another term against Democrat Micheal Garza, who owns a web development business.

District 37 (map here) retains some portions of Northeast Cobb. Incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Frances Williams is seeking re-election against Tess Redding, who works in the criminal justice field.

State Senate District 32 (map here), which had included most of East Cobb, also has been redrawn to include Woodstock and other areas of Cherokee.

Republican incumbent Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick is seeking a third full term after winning a special election in 2017. The Democratic candidate is Sylvia Bennett, an ordained minister and former social worker.

Georgia Senate District 56 has been expanded from its North Fulton base to include some of East Cobb (map here). Incumbent Republican Sen. John Albers of Roswell, who has been in office since 2011, is running for another two-year term.

His Democratic opponent, also from Roswell, is Patrick Thompson, a clean energy entrepreneur with technology sales and marketing experience.

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!

Cobb Elections to offer ‘last call’ absentee ballot returns

October 31, 2022 6:49 PMOctober 31, 2022 2:06 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb Absentee Last Call Flyer — *For a larger view **click here**.*

Cobb Elections is offering two additional days and extra locations for voters to return absentee ballots before the Nov. 8 general election.

In addition to being able to drop off absentee ballots at previously designated locations—including the East Cobb Government Service Center—during early voting hours through Friday, there will be drop off availability on Saturday and next Monday.

It’s called “Last Call,” and it’s being done because of the proximity to the general election and to give absentee voters the assurance their ballots will be collected on time.

Absentee ballots can be dropped off at the early voting designated location drop boxes by 7 p.m. Friday or received by mail at the Cobb Elections office by 7 p.m. next Tuesday, Nov. 8.

In addition, the “Last Call” locations—all of them at public library branches around the county—will be available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday.

They include the East Cobb Library (4880 Lower Roswell Road) and the Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road), along with the North Cobb Regional Library, the Powder Springs Library, the South Cobb Regional Library, the Switzer Library and the Vinings Library.

Jennifer Mosbacher, an East Cobb resident and a member of the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, said voters using the “Last Call” service will hand-deliver their ballots to an official registrar at the library branch of their choice.

That registrar will then prepare the ballot on-site for electronic tabulation that will commence with the closing of the polls on election day.

Mosbacher said the voter will be notified that their ballot has been received and that it will be counted after 7 p.m. on Nov. 8.

On Election Day, Nov. 8, absentee ballots may be returned only to one location, the Cobb Elections main office (995 Roswell Street), between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

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!

More than 100K early votes cast in Cobb; 1M+ clicks on wait-time map

October 29, 2022 1:17 PM by Wendy Parker

We were wondering this back in 2020, when the Cobb government GIS (Geographic Information Service) launched a real-time wait-time map to assist voters during an extraordinary set of circumstances for elections:

Cobb Elections Wait Time Map 1M+ Clicks — *To get the latest wait-time estimates, **click here**.*

How many people clicked that map link?

Our traffic figures reflected a high level of interest in that feature (including our most-clicked individual post link on Oct. 12, 2020, more than 75K times).

Cobb government said earlier Saturday that after two weeks of early voting in the 2022 general election, the wait-time map has been clicked more than one million times.

That’s also roughly the number of people in Georgia who have cast ballots during early voting, with one more week remaining.

In Cobb, the number of early voting is at 107,503, according to Cobb Elections, about 20 percent of registered voters in the county.

Through the first two weeks of early voting, 14,957 people have voted in-person at the East Cobb Government Services Center, the most of any location.

The Tim D. Lee Center is third, behind East Cobb and the Smyrna Community Center, with 14,620 votes cast.

That’s through Friday, with Saturday being the last Saturday for early voting. Sunday voting will take place for the first time in Cobb tomorrow, Oct. 30, from 12-4 at the Cobb Elections main office, 995 Roswell Street.

The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot passed on Friday. Those receiving them can mail them back in to Cobb Elections or drop them off at designated drop boxes during early voting hours only.

A drop box is located inside the East Cobb Government Services Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road).

All absentee ballots must be received at the Cobb Elections office or delivered to a drop box by the time the final election day polls close (7 p.m., Nov. 8)

This year voters will be choosing candidates in some new boundaries following redistricting, and there was an error in assigning some voters to the wrong post in a highly-watched Cobb school board race.

That’s in Post 4 in Northeast Cobb, where 111 voters have cast ballots although they’re actually in Post 5. Cobb Elections director Janine Eveler said 1,112 voters registered in the Sandy Plains 1 precinct were coded as Post 4 voters although they live in Post 5.

She said the votes that already have been cast cannot be changed, but the error has been corrected.

That race features Republican incumbent David Chastain and Democrat Catherine Pozniak.

It’s unclear what might happen if the margin of difference in that election is less than 111 votes, but the results could be challenged and a new election could be called.

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!

Cobb school board candidate profile: David Chastain, Post 4

October 28, 2022 1:10 AMOctober 27, 2022 5:12 PM by Wendy Parker

After easily winning election to the Cobb Board of Education in 2014 and 2018, incumbent Post 4 member David Chastain is facing opposition that has prompted a different campaign approach than in the past.

Typically circumspect and mild-mannered in public, the Republican chairman of the seven-member board has issued newsletters, press releases and other statements that are anything but reserved.

The intensity of his campaign against political newcomer Catherine Pozniak (our profile of her is here), a Democrat, has ramped up as the Nov. 8 general election date approaches.

While he’s sent out his own broadsides against Pozniak on issues that include the Cobb County School District’s accrediting agency, some proxies also have piled on.

Last weekend, State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, a Republican from West Cobb, claimed Pozniak improperly took a senior school tax exemption on a home formerly owned by her late father.

Pozniak denied the charge, saying Chastain “has stooped to mining my father’s obituary and weaponizing the details of his death and his estate to launch personal attacks.”

She previously accused him of campaign finance violations he has rebuked, although he has hired a former Congressional candidate and state ethics chairman to defend him in Pozniak’s complaint that will be decided after the election.

In a Post 4 area (Kell, Sprayberry, Lassiter clusters) that was redrawn by the GOP-dominated Georgia legislature to preserve a Republican seat, Chastain acknowledges there’s a different dynamic this year.

Since his last election, Democrats have become the majority party on the Cobb Board of Commissioners and the Cobb legislative delegation.

Until recently, she held a sizable campaign finance advantage over Chastain, who recently held a fundraiser at Atlanta Country Club. As of the end of September, both campaigns reported raising around $45,000 each, which is much higher than other recent school board elections in Cobb.

“Voters here have to show up and participate,” Chastain said in a recent interview with East Cobb News, referring to his conservative base. “I’m being attacked for things that have nothing to do with policy. You’re seeing this at the federal and state levels too.

“It’s not like me,” he said when asked about the charged rhetoric from his campaign, including his taking a shot at Harvard, where Pozniak earned a doctorate degree.

“But it’s important to get our message out.”

Chastain’s campaign website can be found by clicking here.

For a larger view of the Post 4 map, click here.

A proposal analyst at Lockheed Martin, Chastain is campaigning on the Cobb school district’s test scores and defending its academic accreditation, and is hailing a high employee retention rate and designation by Forbes magazine of being one of the top employers in Georgia.

Chastain also is a stalwart supporter of retaining the senior exemption in Cobb County for school taxes.

But he’s also frequently referencing what he thinks Democrats have in mind to in their attempts oust him, saying much of Pozniak’s support comes from “outsiders.”

“My opponent isn’t so much about our kids but to fulfill some sort of an agenda, more oriented toward more liberal social reforms and away from academics,” he said.

“It boils down to a power struggle and they want the power.”

Republicans hold a 4-3 majority on the board. Chastain is the only GOP member up for election this year; Post 6 will stay in Democratic hands and Post 2 in the Smyrna area is Democratic-leaning.

Those new representatives will replace outgoing members Charisse Davis and Jaha Howard, respectively, Democrats who were at the center of several mostly partisan disputes on the Cobb school board the last four years.

Chastain has twice been chairman in his second term, including in 2019, when he proposed a policy to ban board member comments.

He said it was necessary because some members had become “too political” in some comments that weren’t related to schools. Howard and Davis complained they were being censored, but Chastain defends the policy.

He also defended Superintendent Chris Ragsdale for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic response.

“He’s done a good job,” Chastain said. “We are getting back now close to where we were before and are planning for the future.”

He rattled off some areas of emphasis, including expansion of digital learning, improving Individual Education Program options and increasing school safety.

Pozniak has been critical of the Cobb school district for flagging reading scores at the third-grade level as well as others, and said Chastain is mistaken in asserting that “things are good enough.”

Chastain said it’s at the third-grade level “when you first see who is going to need some help. I think we’re doing as much as we can. COVID was a mess but the resources have come together” for a recovery.

He also took issue with criticisms that he and the Republican majority on the board haven’t been responsive to some parents and students.

“Who are we talking about?” Parents and their children’s educations? Our policies and curriculum are aligned with state standards,” he said, adding that the Cobb school district is “building on success.

“We’re doing well for a school district that’s so diverse,” Chastain said, adding that “there’s this desire on the part of the Democrats to take power.”

A Wheeler High School graduate, Chastain doesn’t think his alma mater needs a name change, as some in that school community and beyond have been advocating due to Joseph Wheeler’s role as a Confederate general in the Civil War.

The board hasn’t taken up the issue since a board majority is required to add meeting agenda items other than those submitted by the chairman and superintendent.

That’s another controversial matter that’s come up in Chastain’s second term, as was a vote last year to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory. A board discussion wasn’t allowed, and the Democratic members abstained, but Chastain said the topic is “still relatively new.

“It’s difficult to define,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure that there’s no curriculum that limits a child’s perspective about their color and ethnicity.”

The Cobb school district has come under fire for some finance and spending issues, including some that were part of a special review by Cognia, the district’s accrediting agency, pertaining to COVID-19 safety measures.

“That became a dumpster fire,” he said of the Cognia review.

Cognia reversed the review findings earlier this year, but a special grand jury recommended procurement changes.

While Pozniak has said the district’s finances and contractual procedures are “opaque” and lack transparency, Chastain said he’s confident that the district’s procurement processes are solid and claims that the district “is a great steward of taxpayer money.”

Chastain said maintaining Cobb’s academic progress is his ultimate priority, and cited recent managerial issues and changes in the Gwinnett school district, the largest in Georgia, as a cautionary tale.

Once a solid conservative area, Gwinnett now has a Democratic majority on its school board that terminated the contract of 25-year superintendent Alvin Wilbanks in 2021, a year before his planned retirement.

“What has happened in Gwinnett—I don’t want that to happen here,” he said.

“Cobb is still the best place to teach, lead and learn in metro Atlanta. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

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!

Cobb school board candidate profile: Catherine Pozniak, Post 4

October 26, 2022 7:49 PM by Wendy Parker

After leaving home to attend college, teach and become an educational administrator, Catherine Pozniak has returned to her Northeast Cobb roots to put that background to local use.

When she moved back to her family home in 2020 following the death of her father, she said she hadn’t thought about running for elected office.

But the effect of the COVID-19 response on schools and eventful developments in the Cobb County School District where she graduated prompted her run for the Post 4 seat on the Cobb Board of Education.

Pozniak, 43, is an educational consultant and Democrat who’s challenging two-term Republican incumbent David Chastain for the post that represents her alma mater, Sprayberry High School, as well as the Kell and some of the Lassiter clusters.

“This is an important moment in time in education,” Pozniak said in a recent East Cobb News interview. “This is an opportunity now to build something better than what is there now.”

You can visit Pozniak’s campaign website by clicking here; East Cobb News has interviewed Chastain and will be posting his profile shortly.

In addition to addressing what she says are lagging test scores and curriculum issues—especially for grade-school reading—Pozniak also said she is running on behalf of parents, students and other stakeholders who feel they’re not being heard by the current board majority.

“My opponent is saying that things are good enough,” Pozniak said. “But for so many families and students, they are not good enough.”

Although she is a first-time candidate in the political world, her candidacy quickly caught notice. Neither she nor Chastain had a primary opponent, but over the summer, she outraised him with more $20,000 in contributions.

He held a fundraiser at the Atlanta Country Club and both are reporting having raised around $45,000 each.

With Republicans holding a 4-3 majority, party control of the school board is on the line, and the highly-watched contest has led to mutual and even third-party mudslinging.

Pozniak has accused Chastain of campaign finance violations he has heatedly denied; GOP lawmakers earlier this week alleged Pozniak of improperly taking a school tax exemption she has refuted.

Republican legislators also have said that if Pozniak is elected and Democrats gain control of the school board, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale will be replaced and Cobb schools will indoctrinate students in social and cultural issues instead of basic academics.

Despite the charged rhetoric, Pozniak said she’s been encouraged with what’s she seen, heard and learned on the campaign trail.

“I’m optimistic about the involvement from the community on both sides,” she said. “People get how important the school system is. It’s pretty remarkable how a school board race is getting this kind of attention.”

Pozniak, a 1997 Sprayberry graduate, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Sydney in Australia, a master’s from Cambridge University in Britain and an educational leadership doctorate degree from Harvard.

She taught on a Native American reservation in South Dakota and was an assistant secretary in the Louisiana Department of Education. She currently consults on educational fiscal policy for Watershed Advisors.

For a larger view of the Post 4 map, click here.

Her priorities include improving the Cobb school district’s literacy curriculum, which she says “is lowly rated and not founded in the science of reading.”

She said she wasn’t pushing for a particular curriculum to replace it, but hears from teachers “who say they’re frustrated” and that “kids aren’t reading proficiently.”

As a school board member, she said it would be one of her primary responsibilities to help set academic expectations for the Cobb district, the second-largest in Georgia.

Pozniak also has been critical of Cobb’s algebra curriculum and noted the Cobb school district’s 50.5 percent score in that portion of the Georgia Milestones end-of-course test.

“That’s even lousy for high school students in Post 4,” she said, arguing that Cobb needs a comprehensive math curriculum.

On the subject of the senior tax exemption for schools, Pozniak said she doesn’t favor revisiting that—Chastain has been adamant that it should not be touched—and said it’s a matter for the legislature to take up.

On fiscal issues, Pozniak said the Cobb school district is not as transparent as it should be. She said that not all contracts are made publicly available before board meetings or even voted on.

“Except for SPLOST [construction and maintenance projects whose contracts are required to be disclosed by law], you really don’t see that in Cobb. It’s really an opaque system.”

Pozniak pointed to the recent decision by the school district to switch its crisis alert system vendor, from AlertPoint to Centigex.

“That’s a $2.9 million contract,” she said. “To not have it come up for approval, it’s stunning. There’s no oversight.”

Chastain, the current chairman, Pozniak said, “has been part of how we got to this point. There’s an erosion of transparency and accountability and he hasn’t taken any measures to change that.”

Pozniak has tried to steer clear of cultural wedge issues that have flared up recently on school boards across the country.

She called the clamor over Critical Race Theory—the teaching of which the Cobb school board banned last year—as “political theatre” and said that’s not a concern she’s hearing from parents.

“It’s not about issues that are hot-button issues,” she said. “It’s about what is going on in the schools and the students’ experiences there.”

As for diversity, equity and inclusion issues that also have been raised in schools, including Cobb, Pozniak said she understands “why the partisan narrative gets the play that it does.

“But not until recently was this an issue. It’s just where we are.”

She said the opportunity she sees this year “is to get educators on board” to help address learning issues in the wake of COVID-19 disruptions.

“I have a crossover of bipartisan support,” she said, “parents of kids with dyslexia, special-education students. These are very frustrated parents who are looking for something better.”

Pozniak has been accused of taking campaign contributions from outsiders. Her biggest donation, $3,000, is from Democrats for Educational Equity.

There’s not much publicly available information, but it’s a Washington, D.C. political action committee that “is dedicated to helping to elect a new generation of leaders, who will bring their shared experiences for the goal of educational equity,” according to information Pozniak provided at the request of East Cobb News.

She said that “I am one of many educators that Democrats for Educational Equity supports, but being an educator is not a requirement.”

Pozniak said most of her other campaign donors are from those oriented around education issues or people she knows.

“If they’re not a friend, they’re a friend of a friend.” she said.

“They know what I’m trying to accomplish,” Pozniak said, adding that a number of local contributors, including educators, are doing so anonymously.

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!

Cobb passes home rule redistricting resolution in party-line vote

October 27, 2022 12:50 PMOctober 26, 2022 9:33 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb commissioners redistricting resolution — *The current Cobb Commission map (at left) shows District 2 in pink; a redrawn map (at right) placed most of East Cobb in District 3, shown in yellow.*

Cobb commissioners voted along partisan lines Tuesday to submit an unprecedented home rule resolution over commissioner redistricting to the state in a dispute that’s expected to be decided by the courts.

The 3-2 vote was the second of a required two votes to invoke home rule provisions. The board’s three Democrats voted in favor, and the two Republicans were opposed.

During reapportionment earlier this year, District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson, a first-term Democrat who represents some of East Cobb, was drawn into the new District 3 with incumbent Republican commissioner JoAnn Birrell.

Richardson said never before has the Georgia legislature redrawn a county commission incumbent into another district during the middle of a term, and called that an example of state overreach into local matters that home rule is designed to prevent.

Cobb Republican lawmakers ignored a map drawn by State Rep. Eric Allen, the county’s Democratic legislative delegation chairman, that would have left the current lines relatively unchanged, and instead pushed through a map that put most of East Cobb into District 3.

That’s the justification Richardson and her Democratic colleagues gave for making a home rule challenge that Birrell and other Republicans said flouts the Georgia Constitution.

The resolution, which includes reverting the commission district maps to those drawn by Allen, starting Jan. 1, 2023, does not have any bearing on 2022 general elections.

Legislatures in Georgia have the duty to conduct reapportionment.

In its legal challenge, Cobb will be asserting that the state pre-empted the county’s home rule powers, a claim that hasn’t been tested regarding redistricting.

“The electoral district lines established by HB 1256 [Allen’s map, which was not voted on], satisfy the traditional redistricting principles of compactness, contiguity, respect for political boundaries, preserving communities of interest, and protection to incumbents,” the Cobb resolution states.

“I love my district—it’s a true slice of America,” Richardson said in prepared remarks before the vote. “Local government is the operational arm that comes the closest to the community.”

She said that the “historic precedent” of the home rule challenge isn’t just about how her district was redrawn, but preventing the legislature from enacting similar measures that would trample on local home rule.

“This is about the balance of power between all 159 counties and the state,” Richardson said.

Richardson moved to a home off Post Oak Tritt Road in 2021 from an apartment in the Delk Road area, which remains in the new District 2.

She has until Dec. 31 to move into District 2 if she wants to seek re-election in 2024, and some public speakers at Tuesday’s meeting suggested that she do that.

Birrell, who is seeking re-election this year to a fourth term in the new District 3, repeated previous comments that while she thought what happened to Richardson was unfair, the home rule resolution is “politically motivated” and said “this board has no power or authority over the legislature.”

She said the county should take up the issue with the legislature during the 2023 session.

Keli Gambrill, the other Republican commissioner, stressed that “this is not personal. It’s about the rule of law and we can’t be making things up as we go along.”

Richardson’s mother Valerie spoke emotionally on her daughter’s behalf, saying she was “appalled that this election can be null and void after two years.”

She said GOP legislators not only ignored Allen’s map but did not consult with commissioners before having their own drawn up.

“Did they think [Jerica Richardson] would move back to her old apartment or just cry?” Valerie Richardson said. She also referenced previous District 2 commissioner Bob Ott, saying that if he were still in office, “this would not have happened.”

Valerie Richardson also referenced the Civil Rights movement, and asked “Do we have to wait another 100 years to fix this wrong? You have the authority to fix this now.”

Cobb Republican Party Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs said that while she likes Richardson, the maps approved by the legislature were signed into law early this year and wondered why Democratic commissioners didn’t issue a home rule challenge then.

“This was an apparently calculated plan by Commissioner Richardson,” Grubbs said. “She chose to move in 2021, knowing that redistricting was coming.”

A home rule challenge, Grubbs added, is “not fair to the citizens of Cobb County.” She wanted Richardson to recuse herself due to a “major conflict of interest,” which would have resulted in a tie vote.

Richardson not only didn’t recuse herself, she seconded the motion to adopt the resolution.

South Cobb Commissioner Monique Sheffield, a Democrat, took issue with those who suggested Richardson move, saying it’s code for “you don’t belong, go back to where you belong. . . . She has a right to live anywhere in her district.

“When there was flooding in East Cobb [in September 2021], it was Commissioner Richardson, not the state, holding town halls and advocating on your behalf.”

The board’s other Democrat, Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, in acknowledging the Cobb resolution as “a novel question of law,” said that “this is not something that we can just move past . . . this is not something that we can just take lying down.”

Cobb County Attorney William Rowling said during the discussion that the Allen map would be filed with the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, where it’s expected to be challenged by the state Attorney General’s office.

In March, after the Republican maps were adopted, Richardson vowed that “I will not step down.”

On Wednesday, she wrote a message on her Facebook page saying that due to the resolution, “on January 1, I will continue to work on behalf of my constituents and no longer be forced to resign 2 years before the end of my term. I appreciate all that came out to have their voices heard and the support for defending local control. It was a beautiful showing of our Cobb community.

“We still have much work to do and must stay committed to doing the good works daily. We cannot forget that the tenets of a republic must be defended, and not taken for granted. The only guarantee is that we will always defend our community regardless of what is yet to come. In the meantime, it’s full steam ahead on the issues that matter to you: infrastructure, economy and workforce, quality of life, and breaking the walls of division.”

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!

Cobb school board candidate denies school tax exemption claim

October 24, 2022 4:22 PM by Wendy Parker

Catherine Pozniak, Cobb school board candidate — *Catherine Pozniak*

Two Republican legislators from Cobb are accusing a Democratic candidate for a seat on the Cobb Board of Education of improperly claiming a senior exemption from school taxes.

State Reps. Ginny Ehrhart of West Cobb and John Carson of Northeast Cobb are alleging that Catherine Pozniak is violating state law for claiming a homestead exemption from paying school property taxes in 2021.

“Ms. Pozniak stole from the students of the Cobb Public School system by failing to pay duly owed school property taxes,” Ehrhart said in a press release over the weekend. “What’s worse, she illegally used the senior tax exemption of a deceased individual to claim a fraudulent homestead exemption. This action is inexcusable. No one should commit such a violation, and most certainly not someone running for the Cobb School Board.”

Ehrhart wants the Cobb Solicitor’s office to conduct an investigation.

Pozniak is challenging Republican incumbent David Chastain for the seat in Post 4, which includes the Kell, Lassiter and Sprayberry clusters in what has become an increasingly bitter campaign.

She responded by saying that “for Mr. Chastain and his political cronies to retaliate with a smear campaign launched on a family tragedy is beyond reprehensible.”

In Cobb County, homeowners aged 62 and older can claim an exemption from school property taxes if they are the official homeowner as of Jan. 1 of a given year.

Pozniak, a Sprayberry graduate, is listed on Cobb property tax records as the owner of a home that previously belonged to her father, who died in April 2020.

Those records indicate that a senior exemption was reflected on 2020 and 2021 tax bills with Edward Pozniak listed as the property owner.

The 2021 bill was issued on May 13, according to tax records.

A Cobb real estate deed dated June 9, 2021 listed Catherine Pozniak as the executor of her father’s estate and having granted ownership of the home to herself and her sister and then to Catherine Pozniak as the sole owner of the home where she now lives.

Her 2022 tax bill includes $3,019 in school taxes.

In a statement to East Cobb News, Pozniak said that “our family has ample documentation to show that we settled Dad’s affairs with honesty and integrity, just as he lived his life.”

She said the transfer of property took longer than expected due to his death occurring at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and that the Cobb Tax Commissioners’ office didn’t know of the ownership change when the 2021 bill was issued.

Pozniak said that “when I asked to pay for the exemption, the tax commissioner’s office said that they can’t bill a new owner for a previous owner’s exemptions.”

Senior exemptions are automatically renewed unless there is a change in the ownership of the property.

Ehrhart and Carson were sponsors of redistricting bills for Cobb commission districts and school board posts that sidestepped maps drawn up by the county’s Democratic-led legislative delegation.

The school board lines were drawn at the behest of the board’s Republican majority by attorneys at Taylor English Duma. Its affiliated company, Taylor English Decisions, a lobbying and political consulting firm, is run by Ehrhart’s husband, former legislator Earl Ehrhart.

The latest allegations come after Pozniak accused Chastain of campaign finance violations that include contributions from Ginny Ehrhart.

His campaign responded by calling it “baseless and politics at its worst.” On social media, Chastain denigrated Harvard, where Pozniak earned a doctorate in educational leadership.

In her statement Monday, Pozniak said that “with two weeks left in this race, David Chastain has already stooped to mining my father’s obituary and weaponizing the details of his death and his estate to launch personal attacks because Mr. Chastain has nothing to say about the fact that half of Cobb’s 3rd graders can’t read and half of Cobb’s students can’t pass algebra.

“My father served this country for 25 years in the Army, signed-up for two tours in Vietnam, and was a Bronze Star recipient. Mr. Chastain cannot trample on the reputation and memory of a decorated Vietnam Veteran to deflect from his own failures as a leader.”

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!

More than 50K vote in Cobb in first week of early voting

October 22, 2022 12:54 PM by Wendy Parker

Record turnout for the first week of early voting in Georgia for the 2022 general election included a record number of voters in Cobb County casting ballots. cobb advance voting, Cobb voter registration deadline, Walton and Dickerson PTSA candidates forum

According to Cobb Elections, 51,779 early votes have been cast in person during the first week, pending Saturday’s results.

Friday’s total of 11,388 was the highest individual day thus far, with 12 days of early voting continuing through Nov. 4.

Cobb Elections also has accepted 3,862 absentee ballots, after issuing 26,237 absentee ballots by request. Voters had until Friday to request an absentee ballot.

There are 13 early voting locations in Cobb, and the two in the East Cobb area have had the highest turnout.

A total of 7,109 votes have been cast at the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road) and 6,868 at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road).

Another 6,357 votes have been cast at the Smyrna Community Center.

During early voting, voters can go to any location in the county to cast their ballots.

Nearly 730,000 voters have voted this week across the state, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.

That’s ahead of the record pace of the 2020 elections. With a presidential race on the ballot, a little less than 500,000 early votes were cast two years ago for the general elections.

This year Georgians are selecting all statewide constitutional officers (governor, secretary of state, etc.) as well as deciding a U.S. Senate race, all 14 U.S. House seats and all state legislative seats.

In Cobb, there’s only one countywide race, for Cobb solicitor. In East Cobb, contested races include District 3 Commissioner, Post 4 Cobb school board and several legislative and Congressional offices (see our early voting guide for more).

Early voting continues Monday at the East Cobb Government Service Center and the Tim D. Lee Senior Center.

Hour are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8-5 next Saturday, Oct. 29. There also will be early voting on Sunday, Oct. 30, from 12-4 p.m. at the new Cobb Elections office at 995 Roswell Street.

The Cobb Elections office and the Cobb government GIS office also are teaming up again with an estimated wait-time map for early voting, with updates provided at each location by the polling managers.

Absentee ballots may be dropped off at drop boxes at designated drop box locations, including the East Cobb Government Service Center during early voting hours only.

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!

Accusations intensify in bitter Cobb school board race

October 22, 2022 1:31 PMOctober 21, 2022 6:59 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb school board race Post 4

What’s been a highly charged campaign for a Northeast Cobb seat on the Cobb Board of Education from the start got even more contentious this week.

The battle between Republican incumbent David Chastain and Democratic first-time candidate Catherine Pozniak for Post 4 has been waged over the Cobb County School District’s accreditation review, test scores and the endorsements of educators’ groups, among other issues.

In her latest attack, Pozniak filed an official complaint about Chastain’s campaign contributions.

That was after he took shots at an Ivy League university Pozniak attended in an off-handed comment congratulating victories by local sports teams.

What’s at stake is party control of the Cobb school board. Chastain, the current board chairman whose Post 4 area includes the Kell, Lassiter and Sprayberry attendance zones, is seeking a third term.

He’s part of a 4-3 GOP majority on a board that has been divided along partisan lines in recent years on a number of issues.

Pozniak, who graduated from Sprayberry High School and returned to Georgia two years ago, has been leading in campaign fundraising until recently.

Cobb school board Post 4 map — *The newly drawn Post 4 boundaries as approved by the Georgia legislature. For a larger view, **click here**.*

Filings for both candidates on Sept. 30 indicate they have raised roughly $45,000 each.

In her complaint, Pozniak accused Chastain of violating state laws by accepting contributions in excess of state individual limits.

They include $5,500 from State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, a Republican from West Cobb who sponsored a bill redistricting lines for the Cobb school board favored by the board’s GOP members and bypassing a map recommended by the Democratic-led Cobb legislative delegation.

The GOP maps pushed Post 6, which currently includes the Walton and Wheeler attendance zones, fully into the Cumberland area, covering East Cobb with Chastain’s Post 4 and Post 5, held by Republican vice chairman David Banks.

Attorney Jonathan Crumly, whose firm Taylor English Duma redrew the school board lines the Republicans approved, is cited in Pozniak’s complaint as having contributed $4,000 to Chastain’s campaign.

The individual limit under Georgia campaign finance law is $3,000.

“The donors that gave David Chastain campaign contributions in excess of the campaign contribution limits are not just any donors. They are donors who benefitted from a no-bid contract David Chastain authorized as a member of the Cobb County Board of Education to draw a map that is not even the responsibility of the school board,” Pozniak said in a release issued by her campaign on Wednesday.

“David Chastain’s disregard for campaign finance laws raises serious questions about his leadership and conduct as Chairman of the Cobb County Board of Education, which oversees the district’s $1.5 billion budget.”

Chastain, who filed an amended campaign report in August splitting those contributions in two, between the primary and general elections, said it was an error that was corrected and heatedly denied violating state campaign laws.

In a press release his campaign issued Thursday, he said Pozniak has availed herself of the same “built-in amendment process for her own campaign.”

He said the complaint, filed with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, is “baseless and politics at its worst,” and shows “a deliberate attempt by Catherine Pozniak and her small platoon of Democratic socialists [that] is on full display by Cobb County.”

Chastain has hired Jake Evans, a former Republican 6th District Congressional candidate and a former head of the State Ethics Commission, to represent him in the complaint. That won’t be acted upon until after the Nov. 8 general election.

In his release, Chastain continued to hammer away at what he has charged is a coordinated campaign by outsiders to influence the Cobb school board.

Among Pozniak’s contributors is Emma Bloomberg, the daughter of former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who gave $300.

She’s among the “far-left fringe supporters” of Pozniak that include “the scandal-ridden Southern Poverty Law Center, the Teach-For-America organization, the radical National Education Association, among many other liberal groups/individuals in the far left Hall of Fame,” Chastain’s release said.

He asserted he “will not be distracted by the antics of this ‘woke’ candidate.”

Chastain came under fire over the weekend for a comment on his campaign Facebook page mocking the value of an Ivy League education.

Pozniak holds a doctorate in education from Harvard, and on Sunday, Chastain congratulated the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs for their football win—he’s a UGA graduate in a post bragging on Cobb schools recent SAT scores.

He also congratulated “my opponent’s far-left, Northeast, out-of-touch liberal, Ivy League university as well. Go, Harvard Football!”

More than 100 comments followed, many of them critical of the post. You can read through them by clicking here.

One commenter said “Love my Dawgs!!! …. Also, why are you tearing down someone for their school? Wouldn’t want my daughters to hear a school board member mock schools that kids in their district might attend (Ivy League, Northeast, or Liberal).”

Said another: “I hope there are more cogent arguments in favor of his opponent than the objectors present. Who will be better for education in Cobb? That is the issue, not perceived alma mater insults.”

In an interview earlier this week with East Cobb News, Chastain said he mentioned Harvard in the context of questioning Pozniak’s doctorate credentials.

“My opponent, when she emphasizes that she’s a doctor, what did this person do?” he said. He claimed that what she completed was not a dissertation but a capstone project that is being embargoed until 2057.

Normally mild-mannered in public, Chastain admitted that the pitched rhetoric from his campaign “is not like me, but it’s important to get out our message.”

A full candidate profile of Chastain is forthcoming, as is a similar profile of Pozniak.

In her interview with East Cobb News, she noted Chastain’s refusal for a direct debate (they’ve appeared at differing forums but not together).

She also said her education background (she taught on a native reservation in South Dakota and was a state education administrator in Louisiana) are needed on the board to ensure the Cobb school district improves, especially for students at-risk, after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My opponent is saying things are good enough,” Pozniak said. “But for so many families and students, it’s not good enough.”

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!

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