District 1 Election Day Open Thread
Decatur Metro | March 19, 2013Today’s the day to cast your vote in the special election to fill Bill Floyd’s vacant seat on the Decatur City Commission. Two Decatur residents, Greg Coleson and Scott Drake, are up on the ballot. Use this open thread to report issues at your polling precincts, any wait times to vote, or just complement your polling station volunteers!
If you still don’t know where you need to vote, you can access the State’s voter webpage to pull up the address of your assigned precinct. Happy voting Decatur!
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Smooth sailing at First Baptist this morning. Saw two other voters so that’s a good sign in terms of voter turnout for an off-off-off-season election! I think I saw a sign that there would be some kind of food sale at lunchtime, raising money for Clairemont Oaks. Made me wish I had held off to vote at lunchtime! Not sure if Clairemont grandmas or First Baptist members will be cooking but either one is promising! (If I’m wrong about the food sale, so sorry. But at least you went out to vote!)
I was the 68th voter at Decatur Heights Baptist at 11:00 this morning. C’mon neighbors, vote!
Just curious, but how many voters are in the district? Sorry if this has been asked before, but I know this is an important election and I am curious as to how many eligible voters there are. Thanks!
Registered Voters – 2012 General Election
Clairemont West – 2729
Clairemont East – 2495
Glenwood – 1766
Ponce de Leon – 2006
Total – 8996
from DeKalb County Website – http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/Voter/pdf/SOVC_20121106.pdf
Thank you! It will be interesting to see what the turnout is. I am partial to one candidate, but I really just hope everyone who can vote does so.
Never saw a single Coleson sign. Not one. Don’t think he really contested it. Sad. Would have liked to have seen some issues discussed.
Really? I’ve seen quite a few walking and driving around. Not as colorful or eye-catching as the Scott Drake signs, but they’re out there. Plus, I had a flyer from him on my front door this weekend, with a long list of folks who’ve endorsed him.
Sir, I’m not sure what world you live in. Even if you never encountered any signs (of which there were many), then you should know that the candidates were active in promoting themselves in other ways. As an example, I received a large card in the mail with Coleson’s face on it. Also, as a follower of local politics on the internet, you should have known that the candidates participated in an hour long, face-to-face forum on March 9. For you to say that no issues were discussed is a slap in the face to the 50+ community members who took time out of their Saturday to be in attendance at that event, the countless others who have watched it on YouTube (I just checked it’s been viewed 185 times), and the rest of us who found multiple ways to inform ourselves of each candidate’s stand. I think maybe the problem is with you and not the candidates.
Jeez. Touchy touchy…
Dana,
Do you live within the City of Decatur? The election is only for District 1, City of Decatur, which is mostly the north side of the city.
Dana, there were SO MANY Coleson signs around town! Many in Chelsea Heights, Westchester, Ponce de Leon Heights, and Lenox Park, to name just a few neighborhoods on the north side of town, Do you live on the south side of town?
And I agree with Warren Buffett. Both candidates campaigned pretty hard. Each held town hall types of meetings and did participate in the debate mentioned above. Websites were good, mailers were mailed, etc. Or maybe you live just outside of Decatur city limits?
The barrage of petty negativity.
We are not supposed to get back into snarkiness on this thread, right guys? DM will shut us down just like the last time. This thread is to “…report issues at your polling precincts, any wait times to vote, or just complement your polling station volunteers!”
I have seen tons of both signs on the northside, including near the First Baptist polling place. (Note the tie-in to the thread topic.) The ones with the big font are easier to read from a car. The ones with the smaller font are easy to read if one is walking or driving by slowly, not so much from a fast moving car. I don’t recommend judging either candidate by their yard signs. But I do recommend that you go vote. It will be very embarrassing if there are more posts on this blog about the election than there are actual votes cast.
I voted at First Baptist around 11:00, and there was just one other voter. I do hope many more people will vote! The poll worker was telling me that at the end of the election, at each precinct, a tally will be posted with the totals for each candidate. That would tell you the total number of votes cast at that particular place.
I early voted last week (out of town today). Walked in and out in 1 minute with no wait and 2 bored Dekalb County employees waiting on me.
It is still kind of bizarre to drive a few miles out of town to the 4800 Memorial Drive facility to do this, but I guess it is easier to let Dekalb take care of it?
I wonder how many early votes were actually cast in the 2 previous weeks it was available?
Hey Dr. B, I talked with the poll workers for a while after I voted since there was plenty of time to chat (with so few voters there). All elections are handled by the county (GA law), so that’s why the early voting was at Memorial Drive. The city has to pay for the election, but the county runs it. Hope that makes sense. And by the way, I didn’t know any of this before today.
It’s damn close folks.
Mary, how do you know? Has anything been posted/published anywhere?! Results soon?
Scott Drake by 14 votes.
Where are you finding results?
Ah. I see. City of Decatur’s website is indeed reporting Scott Drake winning 539 to 525.
Congratulations Scott!