East Cobb 2022 Primary Election Day: Cityhood referendum, more

UPDATED:

For primary election and East Cobb cityhood referendum results, click here.

ORIGINAL POST:

After record-breaking early voting turnout across Georgia, voters are finishing up the 2022 primary elections Tuesday at their home precincts. cobb advance voting, Cobb voter registration deadline, Walton and Dickerson PTSA candidates forum

The polls are open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Click our election day voters guide for more details about on what’s on the ballot, and how to cast it.

East Cobb News will provide real-time coverage and results on a separate post to be published after the polls close.

In addition to a number of local, state and federal races, voters in a portion of East Cobb will be deciding whether to incorporate a City of East Cobb.

It’s one of three cityhood referendums in Cobb County, along with Lost Mountain and Vinings.

During the final days of the campaign, the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood has sent messages urging voters to “preserve the suburbs in East Cobb” and stop high-density development.

The group’s bogeywoman during the campaign has been Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.

“The county is changing, like it or not,” according to a Cityhood group e-mail that was sent Sunday.

“Chairwoman Cupid is already working hard to put her plan for Cobb County in place . . . one that promotes higher taxes, more spending, density, and mass transit. Cityhood is a real and effective strategy to put the decision-making for East Cobb in the hands of the people who live here.”

Although it’s pledged to be non-partisan, the Cityhood group blamed federal government policies for the high-density push.

“Closing the housing gap, and manipulating the housing market, is a top priority of the Biden White House,” the e-mail states. “Predictably, President Biden falsely blames state and local zoning laws (i.e., the same ones that preserve and maintain the character of a community) for creating a land shortage that drives lot and property prices to higher levels. Thus, the Democrats’ plan is to incentivize states and localities to buck market forces to increase housing density.”

They’ve also accused the East Cobb Alliance, which opposes cityhood, of being run by Democrats.

In response, the Alliance said it’s “co-led by an even mix of Republicans and Democrats, as a lot of people of all political persuasions are against cityhood for East Cobb.”

The Alliance has used allegations of voter fraud against former State Rep. Matt Dollar in the final days to solicit donations and to urge citizens to vote against the referendum.

Cobb Democratic Party Chairwoman Jackie Bettadapur said Dollar, who resigned his seat in February, illegally voted in the cityhood referendum.

He sold a condo near Parkaire Landing Shopping Center in late February and moved into a home outside the proposed city limits.

But the complaint said the voter affadavit he signed when he voted early—and obtained by the Alliance via an open records request—shows that he listed his Parkaire Landing residence.

The Cobb Elections office has forwarded the complaint to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office to be investigated.

The Alliance also has complained that the pro-Cityhood group hasn’t filed a financial disclosure report. The Cityhood committee says it’s not obligated to do so, but pro-cityhood groups in Lost Mountain, Vinings and Mableton have filed those reports.

Visit our Cityhood tab for more information about the referendum, which will be the last item on the ballot of voters eligible to cast a vote regarding cityhood.

A Republican primary for District 3 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners pits three-term incumbent JoAnn Birrell against political newcomer Judy Sarden. After redistricting, that district includes most of East Cobb.

Several East Cobb-area GOP legislative incumbents also are facing primary challenges: District 32 Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick and State Rep. Sharon Cooper, who has switched from District 43 to District 45.

Gov. Brian Kemp and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock also are facing challenges in the Republican and Democratic primaries, respectively.

A number of non-partisan judicial elections also are on the ballot; see our previous story on all who’ve qualified.

Voters will have to choose from three separate ballots, samples of which are linked to here:

Democratic | Republican | Non-Partisan

Absentee ballots must be delivered to designated drop boxes or received by mail at the Cobb Elections office by 7 p.m. Tuesday.

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!