Democracy Digest: It’s the day of the second round of elections

Atlanta Civic Circle will bring you voter voices and reporting in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties.

Follow us on our live blog from the second round of elections.

If you’re not sure which races are on your ballot, use the create your ballot feature in our Georgia Decides voter guide.

You can also view your ballot using the My Voter page on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website. If you voted by mail, you can also check the status of your ballot on the My Voter page.

🗳️ Who can vote?

– You can vote in the second round, even if you did not vote in the May 21 primary.

– You can only vote in a Democratic or Republican runoff election if you voted in that party’s May 21 primary election, or if you voted using a nonpartisan ballot, or if you didn’t vote.

Polling stations open today at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

😒 Tired of going to the polls? What about preferential voting?

It may be annoying to have to return to the polls only a month after voting in the primary, but that’s the voting system in Georgia. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in a multi-candidate race, the top two vote-getters face each other in a runoff.

As a result, voter fatigue can lower turnout and counties must pay for additional elections. Does it have to be like this?

Ranked-choice voting is an alternative voting method that is gaining traction in some cities and states because it eliminates runoffs. Read our story about how it works and what Atlanta voters think about the option.

Runoffs count, even if participation is low

A number of important races will be decided today, depending on which county you reside in. DeKalb, for example, will elect its next CEO, as well as a county commissioner and a judge. The CEO has significant power to shape key policy issues such as housing and infrastructure.

Check out our latest story on DeKalb CEO and District 4 Commissioner candidates discussing their affordable housing priorities at a community forum last week.

Fulton will also elect a county commissioner, where District 4 incumbent Natalie Hall faces a tough re-election bid against challenger Mo Ivory.

Meanwhile, Clayton will elect a sheriff, and in Cobb County, a post-redistricting boundary dispute is complicating the race for a county commission seat.

Here’s a look at some of the races that will be decided today:

Clayton County

• Democratic primary runoff for sheriff: incumbent Levon Allen vs. Jeffrey Turner
• Democratic primary runoff for county commission chair: Alieka Anderson v. Terry Baskin
• Democratic primary runoff for County Commissioner, District 3: Tashe’ Allen v. Attania Jean-Funny

Cobb County

• Democratic primary runoff for County Commission, District 2: Jaha Howard vs. Taniesha Whorton

DeKalb County

• Democratic runoff for CEO: Lorraine Cochran-Johnson v. Larry Johnson
• Democratic primary for County Commissioner, District 4: Lance Hammonds vs. Chakira Johnson
• Nonpartisan Judicial Runoff for State Court Judge Division A-3: Yolanda Mack v. Dionne McGee

Fulton County

• Democratic primary runoff for County Commissioner, District 4: Incumbent Natalie Hall v. Mo Ivory

Gwinnett County

• A non-partisan second round for School Board, District 1: Karen Watkins v. Rachel Stone
• Nonpartisan runoff for District 3 school board: Steve Gasper v. Shana White

State Legislature

• Democratic primary runoffs for State Senate District 55: Iris Knight-Hamilton vs. Randal Mangham (DeKalb and Gwinnett counties)
• Democratic primary runoff for State Senate, District 38: RaShaun Kemp vs. Ralph Long III (Fulton County)
• Democratic primary runoff for State Senate, District 34: Valencia Stovall v. Kenya Wicks (Clayton and Fayette counties)
• Republican primary runoff for State Senate, District 7: J. Gregory Howard vs. Fred Clayton (Gwinnett County)
• Democratic primary runoff for State House, District 96: Arlene Beckles v. Sonia Lopez (Gwinnett County)

VOTER PROFILE: BRIDGEMON BOLGER

Age: 39

Occupation: City of South Fulton Public Defender; Political consultant

Neighborhood: Stone Mountain (DeKalb County)

Political affiliation: Democrat

Did you vote in the May 21 primary? Yes.

Are you planning to vote in the second round? Yes, I already voted early.

Are you planning to vote in November? Yes, I will do it.

Which elections and issues are most important to you?

I said this before everything happened in Atlanta with the water (crisis). I feel like drainage, wastewater, and watersheds are the most important problem in DeKalb County. It’s not one of the sexiest questions: People focus more on economic development and crime.

But if you’ve been in DeKalb County for several years, you know that when we have heavy rains, some areas turn into lakes and puddles – and you know that negatively impacts our infrastructure throughout the county because we live in a flood zone.

It messes up roads, messes up sidewalks, gets into people’s basements, and the county hasn’t really done a good job of maintaining proper drainage. This has led to many of the other problems we see.

What other issues concern you?

Economic development and jobs, especially in South DeKalb, I feel like the focus is on developing North DeKalb, i.e. Dunwoody, Chamblee, Brookhaven, Doraville, Tucker.

If you live in South DeKalb and are a white-collar worker, you need to travel to North DeKalb, the airport, or the city to find a job and maintain your lifestyle. I think we need to market ourselves better to businesses. I definitely think this is something the next CEO needs to prioritize.

How would things change if people agreed with you more?

Everyone is talking about crime. Crime is… It’s not a problem. It’s certainly a problem, especially where I live – but if you look at history, and I’ve been here since 1989, crime is down compared to 10 or 20 years ago. We’re back to pre-pandemic crime levels, but the media and all the candidates – everyone is so focused on crime and it takes up all the energy, all the attention.

And now we have this Cop City (Atlanta’s public safety training center) under construction, which I think is unnecessary. To connect this to sewers and drainage, Cop City is built in a floodplain next to a river, and this development causes a lot of erosion. This will worsen the sewage and drainage problem.

So if people looked at it the way I do, we wouldn’t be putting unnecessary police training facilities in an area that needs to be protected to ensure proper drainage. People focus more on crime than drainage, and as a result we spend more money on public safety than infrastructure. Indirectly, many infrastructure problems are linked to (negative) economic problems, which often lead people to a life of crime.

(Photo courtesy of Bridgemon Bolger)

Today’s Democracy Digest was written by Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon. It was edited by Meredith Hobbs.