This year’s city runoff elections are the most important in years, what with the mayor’s office, the Council presidency and two of the Council’s 15 seats up for grabs. It’s doubly depressing, then, to hear about how lousy turnout is likely to be.
Therefore, we’re asking you, the voters, to show up in force at the polls. And so, in order to stoke your enthusiasm, we’re offering you four compelling reasons to head to your local polling place next Tuesday. After all, as the man said, if you don’t take part in the process, you can’t complain about the results.
Dust off your webcams! At 4:30 p.m., Committee for a Better Atlanta, the citywide business coalition that recently graded City Hall hopefuls, will kick off its inaugural “virtual press conference.”
The innovative marriage of new media and voter engagement will offer desk jockeys and shut-ins the chance to read Atlanta mayoral and City Council candidates’ responses to TOUGH QUESTIONS from local journalists and bloggers.
Here’s the schedule:
4:30 pm Kasim Reed
4:45 pm Amir Farokhi
5:00 pm Clair Muller
5:15 pm Ceasar Mitchell
5:30 pm Mary Norwood
5:45 pm Liz Coyle
6:00 pm Alex Wan
6:15 pm Aaron Watson
If you’re on the fence about which candidates deserve your vote on Dec. 1, the press conference should offer some insight. Even if you’ve made up your mind, it’ll be interesting to see how the experiment unfolds. Considering that the format appears to be a classic type-and-submit chatroom setting, it’s unlikely the press conference will devolve into the phallus-infested catastrophe that was the Second Life virtual ‘interview.’ (NSFW?)
On Nov. 3, thousands of Fulton County residents cast their votes for candidates who weren’t even on the ballot. Courtesy of the county’s election gurus, we present the more interesting write-in results:
Clark Howard: The city’s penny-pinching guru earned 33 votes in nearly every Atlanta race, including mayor, City Council president and Atlanta school board.
Musicians: Voters placed their trust in Frank Zappa, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine, Jello Biafra, Jerry Garcia, Henry Rollins, Ted Nugent, David Lee Roth and Mick Jagger.
Conservative icons: Glenn Beck led the crowded pack of right-minded write-in candidates. Others: George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Neal Boortz, Karl Rove, Ronald Reagan, Joe the Plumber, Cain, Chuck Norris and Joe “You Lie!” Wilson.
Karl Marx: The long-dead father of communism was a write-in for the Atlanta school board and Atlanta City Council District 7.
Sid Mashburn: The Howell Mill Road haberdasher who can magically turn Atlanta’s slobs into dapper dons garnered one vote for the Post 1 At-Large seat won by Michael Julian Bond.
Cartoons: Jesus, what is with people and Mickey Mouse? The squeaky-voiced rodent garnered 34 votes. Other pen-and-ink candidates: Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Goofy, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Scooby Doo, Mr. Magoo, Porky Pig, Homer Simpson and Garfield.
Hilariously generic “people”: “A Christian name person,” “Reasonable person,” “No lawyers,” “Indie rock elitist,” “Dirt road repairman” and “Cracker fuck.”
Reptilians: When Norm Coleman and Al Franken quibbled over votes in their 2008 congressional race, much ado was made about write-in votes for “Lizard King.” “Hail the Lizard King” and “Lizard King 4 USA,” you had a friend on Nov. 3.
Click here to download an Excel document listing the full write-in results for all municipal and Gold Dome races in Fulton County.
UPDATE 11:45 p.m. Um, we’re pretty positive Norwood and Reed will be duking it out on Dec. 2 Dec. 1. I for one am going to bed. Thomas and Scott will continue partying. (Thomas just showed up at Kyle Keyser’s gathering at Noni’s.) You’ll hear more from them soon, I’m sure. Nightie night!
UPDATE 11:33 p.m. Kasim Reed tells the crowd gathered at the Hyatt that in the “darkest days” of his campaign, Andrew Young was there to help by assuring him, “If you’re not sleeping, I don’t want to sleep.” Reed also says, “Several weeks ago, not many people thought we would be here with 37 percent, did they? … I’m ready to go for this city. I will fight for you. I will stand up for you. And I will make Atlanta the city on the hill again.”
UPDATE 11:22 p.m. Reed’s about to take the podium at the Hyatt Regency, the TV people say. With more than 80 percent of precincts reporting, we’ve got Norwood at 45 percent, Reed at 37 percent, Borders (who has conceded the race) at 14 percent.
UPDATE 11:15 p.m. Text message from Thomas Wheatley: “Norwood announces she anticipates a runoff.”
UPDATE 11:11 p.m. Via Scott Henry, as he leaves the Varsity (Norwood’s party) for the Hyatt Regency (Reed’s shindig): “I just had to get a few pictures of Eldrin Bell and his wife in the Varsity. He’s dressed to the nines. Mary just walked back in, and the crowd is chanting, ‘Mare-EE, Mare-EE.’ I just bumped into Rodney Cook, the Buckhead millionaire. Anne Fauver is sitting right next to me in her white Prius as she leaves.”
UPDATE 10:54 p.m. Thomas here. Reporting from the Varsity, which honest to God has some of the best ice in the country. There’s a lull in activity as Norwood supporters watch votes continue to line up in the councilwoman’s favor. She’s expected to return at 10:45. While we wait, it’s worth taking a look at the other races.
Perhaps most surprising: We might see a runoff in the City Council President race between Ceasar Mitchell and Clair Muller. City Hall gadfly Dave Walker has managed to pull nearly 10 percent of the votes counted thus far. That’s surprising, considering that Walker’s reported zero funds raised in this race. (CL’s profiled Walker before. Here’s a video interview shot.) Where’d he get the support? It’s worth considering that some of those are protest votes. You should also remember that Walker attends nearly every single council meeting (literally). He’s a fixture on Channel 23, usually found badgering councilmembers.
Post 3 At-Large: Embattled incumbent H. Lamar Willis faces a tough contest from challenger Shelitha Roberston. 52-48. WIllis could very well lose his seat.
District 3: Incumbent Ivory Young appears headed for re-election, with 80 percent of the vote. 63 percent of the precincts reporting.
District 4: Incumbent Cleta Winslow leads closest challenger LaShawn Hoffman by 20 points. 46 percent of precincts reported.
District 6: Alex Wan leads Liz Coyle in the crowded race that’s almost certainly headed for a runoff. Looks like it will be Wan v. Coyle or Tad Christian. Too close to call.
District 8: Yolanda Adrean commands a strong lead over Rick Coleman in the race to fill Clair Muller’s seat.
District 11: The race to fill longtime Councilman Jim Maddox’s seat quickly filled up after he announced his retirement. A runoff seemed virtually guaranteed — but Keisha Lance Bottoms currently leads the pack of nine with little over 50 percent of the vote.
District 12: It appears Joyce Sheperd has a solid lead, with 57 percent of votes. 85 percent of precincts reporting.
UPDATE 10:47 p.m. It’s now up to 60 percent of precincts reporting, folks — Norwood: 45 percent. Reed: 37 percent. Borders: 14 percent. But it ain’t over yet. Can Norwood close in on the 6 precious points that will give her an outright win? Or will it be a Norwood-Reed runoff in December???
UPDATE 10:29 p.m. In other city races (with 52 percent of precincts reporting) … City Council Prez: Ceasar Mitchell, 48 percent; Clair Muller, 42 percent. City Council Post 1 At-Large: Michael Julian Bond, 55 percent; Adam Brackman, 22 percent. City Council Post 2 At-Large: Aaron Watson, 43 percent; Amir Farokhi, 41 percent.
UPDATE 10:23 p.m. With 48 percent (yes, I double-checked this time) of precincts reporting — Norwood: 46 percent. Reed: 36 percent. Borders: 14 percent. Could the magic be ever-so-slightly slipping away from Norwood? Well … even if she can’t avoid a runoff, it’s been an impressive showing. Who knows? She could still pull it off.
UPDATE 10:03 p.m. With 48 30 percent (oops) of precincts now reporting — Norwood: 47 percent. Reed: 35 percent. Borders: 14 percent. According to the AJC, “Norwood flirting with magic majority.” Ooh la la.
UPDATE 9:55 p.m. Text message via Thomas Wheatley: “That’s Norwood entering the Varsity. Talking now.”
UPDATE 9:51 p.m. So says Scott Henry: “There’s quite a crowd down here at the Varsity. I walked in and [Norwood's] press person tells us that the early returns put Mary at 51 percent. There are a lot of people with Mary T-shirts. Glenn Thomas just walked in. It’s a very mixed crowd, older African-American folks and Buckhead Betties — two groups you never see together. Ralph Long is here. Lee Morris is here. Ahh, here we have Anne Fauver. She just walked by. A lot of people with families. A very different crowd than at the W. For one, they are giving away free food. Pretty nutty. I got a chicken salad sandwich on rye. But I can’t do their onion rings. Those will kill ya. After I finish my sandwich I’m going to walk around some more and talk to some people.”
UPDATE: 9:35 p.m. This is what I’m hearing from Scott Henry, who was en route from Lisa Borders’ party (at the W) to Mary Norwood’s (at the Varsity): “Not a lot of people there [at the W], maybe 100, maybe 80. Not a lot of energy. Please put in there that I had to suffer through someone singing ‘Wind Beneath My Wings.’ Yeah, I would not say it’s downbeat, but no one was totally psyched or anything like that. I couldn’t tell if it was because they thought that they were gonna lose or what. I’m pulling into the Varsity parking lot now. It is difficult to find a parking space at the Varsity. Is that unusual?”
UPDATE: 9:16 p.m. In case I left anyone wondering, that last update was left by me, Mara. Carry on.
UPDATE: 9:11 p.m. Greetings! I’m stuck on the couch at home while the esteemed Scott Henry and Thomas Wheatley get to party-hop, so let’s make the most of this, shall we? Starting now, I’ll be keeping a close watch on the election returns while Scott and Thomas deliver dispatches from the field. With 11 percent of precincts reporting, here’s what Fulton County’s vote-o-meter is spouting — Norwood: 44 percent; Reed: 39 percent; Borders: 13 percent. Thoughts, y’all? Predictions? Hopes? Dreams?
UPDATE: 9:03 p.m. Results now rolling in. Kasim Reed at 49 percent, Mary Norwood at 31 percent, Lisa Borders at 15 percent, Jesse Spikes, Kyle Keyser and Peter Brownlowe at 3 percent, 1 percent and 1 percent, respectively. One percent of precincts reporting.
UPDATE8:39 p.m. Ahoy, Atlantans. Thomas here, writing from my car outside Manuel’s. For an election night, the Poncey-Highland pub is surprisingly empty. Granted, polls closed roughly 30 minutes ago. If you’re looking for a place to watch the election results in peace, it’s an option.
Political gadfly Tom Houck was holding court with a table of somewhat familiar faces. His itinerary for the night includes Atkins Park to see Atlanta City Council District 6 candidate Liz Coyle and Shout in Midtown to see Post 2 At-Large hopeful Amir Farokhi. He also plants to drop by the Hyatt Regency to hobnob at mayoral candidate Kasim Reed’s soiree. Emory Morsberger was also in attendance at Manuel’s, but he’s high-stepping to several parties as well. When I asked how he was doing, he greeted me with his trademark “incredible!”
Atlanta City Council President candidate Clair Muller might owe Norwood a thank you card tomorrow morning, one political observer said. Muller, a longtime councilwoman who represents the affluent area, might see a boost in support thanks to Norwood’s solid grip on Buckhead. If Muller’s successful in her race against Ceasar Mitchell — and Norwood in her own contest — the city could have a white mayor and a white city council president.
Still no results to speak of in the Atlanta races. Lisa Borders tweeted earlier that election results are set to come in first from Buckhead, then Midtown, and finally South Atlanta. If that’s the case, don’t be surprised if you first see Norwood way ahead in the polls. But we’ll see.
It’s getting cold and I need to drive somewhere else. More to come.
After countless candidate forums, weird commercials with ACTUAL CRIMES and even some debate about race and closetedRepublicans, Election Day has finally arrived. And if you haven’t already cast your ballot for the city’s next mayor and other elected posts, be sure to get out and do so.
Polls are already open and will close at 8 p.m. You can find your polling place here. Here’s a PDF that lists all polling precincts and locations. Here are sample City of Atlanta ballots. (If you encounter any monkey business at the polls, let us know.)
CL Staff Event Planner Scott Henry has a list of the campaign parties where you can eat free food, hobnob with politicos, and tell the next mayor to shut down the crack house on your street. Or you can just go to Manuel’s.
We’ll be providing election results coverage tonight. Look for fireworks, flame wars and sock puppets posting links to anonymous websites. Just kidding, we’ll moderate those fools out of existence.
Low turnout is expected, which means your decision could help make or break many of these contests. So get out there and help determine who’ll lead Atlanta out of its mess. We’ll have more throughout the day.
If you’re still on the fence about who to vote for in Atlanta’s Nov. 3 elections — and there are plenty of you out there, we’re sure — be sure to tune to PBA on Oct. 25 and on Nov. 1.
The Atlanta Press Club’s wrangled candidates for Atlanta mayor and city council, forced them to stand at podiums, and allowed journalists to pummel them with questions.
Prerecorded APC debates for Atlanta City Council’s three At-Large posts will air Sunday morning. Atlanta mayoral candidates will participate in a live one-hour debate at 7 p.m. And a prerecorded debate between Atlanta City Council president candidates will air on Nov. 1.
The full broadcast schedule follows after the jump.
As a non-voting cat herder whose only mandated duties are running Council meetings and making committee appointments, the job of Council prez hardly seems worth the time, effort and expense it takes to win it.
Still, we have a hard-fought race between two councilmembers — one young and ambitious, the other a veteran who sees the post as way to leverage her accumulated experience.
An at-large councilman for the past eight years, Ceasar Mitchell is bursting with ideas. He wants the city to adopt zero-based budgeting. He’d like to allow private sanitation companies to compete with city trash collectors. Mitchell even suggests that pumping desalinated water in from the coast might be a way to solve the region’s water issues.
Community advocacy group Georgia STAND-UP will host a forum on Tuesday night for Atlanta mayor, City Council president and City Council District 11 candidates to say where they stand on such issues as economic development, affordable housing, transit and transportation and public safety, among others.
From Georgia STAND-UP:
The forum puts candidates (sequestered until their time slots) in the hot seat with questions addressing issues identified in a 6-month community-issues process led by Georgia STAND-UP and presented in the Community Issues Platform Report released on August 21st.
Unlike most candidate forums this election cycle, all mayoral hopefuls have been invited to participate in Tuesday night’s event. The forum, which is free and open to the public, starts at 5:30 p.m. and will take place at the IBEW Auditorium in Southwest Atlanta.
Take note, ballot casters! Today’s the last day to register if you want to vote for Atlanta’s next mayor and councilmembers on Nov. 3.
We ran through a list of links and how-to’s last week, so you can jump back to that post for info. But here they are again if you want to save a click.
Check to see if you’re already registered to vote. If not, here’s how you can get registered. Look here to see how you can vote via absentee ballot. To view Early and Advance Voting dates and locations, check out our previous post. This FAQ can answer a lot of questions about the upcoming municipal elections. Your county elections office can answer more specific questions or help you out with specific problems. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has a convenient one-stop resource to handle general registration and election concerns.
Many municipal races will end up in a runoff, which traditionally have low voter turnout. That means your vote could make or break your favored candidates’ hopes for actually winning office. Now go forth and get registered!
The political process sure has a helluva way of sneaking up on ya, don’t it?
If you want to help decide Atlanta’s next mayor and city councilmembers, you have to get legit with the state before Oct. 5. That’s… seven days away.
Don’t know whether you’re registered to vote? This handy tool courtesy of the Georgia Secretary of State can tell you. If you’re not registered to vote, here’s the info about what you gotta do if you want to cast a ballot. If you have any specific questions, it’s best to contact your county elections office. (The Secretary of State has an easy-to-use one-stop resource that can provide you with most registration and election information. Here’s a list of frequently asked questions about the upcoming Atlanta elections.)
You’ll have the option of voting before Nov. 3. Registered voters can cast ballots Oct. 12-23 during Early Voting. Advance voting will be held Oct. 26-30. We really don’t understand the difference between the two, only that there are additional polling locations. We gleefully copied a chart from the city’s elections website that lists dates and locations and pasted it after the jump.
If you want to vote via absentee ballot, you can download an application from the Secretary of State’s website and a ballot will be mailed to you.
Remember to bring one of these valid forms of ID to the polls. And grab a doughnut or some coffee if they’re available. We’ll have more details as voting time approaches. But in the meantime, get registered.
At a time when public safety and the need for strong leadership are on the minds of all Atlantans, the Georgia Equality Board of Directors has voted to endorse Lisa Borders in the 2009 election for Atlanta Mayor, as well as Ceasar Mitchell for the position of Atlanta City Council President.
Borders, the current City Council President, stands out among a group of highly-qualified mayoral candidates running this year. The Georgia Equality Board of Directors found Borders to be the candidate with the best fluency and understanding of the issues important to LGBT Atlantans, as well as the candidate best-equipped to govern a city in need of a decisive leader with keen insight into public safety and municipal management.
Atlanta City Councilman Jim Maddox’s surprise decision not to seek re-election has apparently caused a District 11 free-for-all. At the end of qualifying on Friday, nine candidates had filed to run to represent the southwest Atlanta district.
There are some familiar names who wants to take over Maddox’s office. Former Fulton Commissioner Reginald Eaves, Jr., is one. He’s got a interestingpast. Another is Morris “Mo” Finley, a former councilman whose last attempt at office was city council president in 2001. (He won only three percent of the vote.) Keisha Lance Bottoms, who last year ran an unsuccessful bid against Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford for his seat, also wants to represent the district.
Councilmembers Carla Smith, Kwanza Hall, Natalyn Archibong, Howard Shook, Felicia Moore and C.T. Martin will run unopposed, which essentially means they’ve already won another term. The only way to make it on the ballot now is as a write-in candidate. And good luck with that.
There are a lot of familiar names in the races. Perennial candidates, former elected officials, rabble-rousers and the like. See who you can spot.
After the jump, the list of who qualified to earn a place on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Nonprofit think tank Georgia STAND-UP will hold the first of two candidate forums for Atlanta City Hall hopefuls tomorrow in Southwest Atlanta.
The organization’s spent the better part of the year working with more than 160 neighborhood leaders to craft a “community issues platform” that covers such issues as public safety, affordable housing, transportation and economic development in Atlanta. Last month, 17 candidates — including mayoral hopefuls Kasim Reed and Mary Norwood — signed on to the platform. Other candidates will be asked to sign the community issues platform during the forum. (The platform’s too large to upload to the Web. If you’d like to take a gander, shoot me a line and I’ll email it to you.)
Tomorrow’s event, which is free and open to the public, focuses on all City Council At-Large posts and races in Districts 1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Another forum will be held on Oct. 1 for the mayoral and City Council president races.
The forum begins at 5:30 p.m. at the IBEW Auditorium on Pulliam Street. Click here for directions to the event.
Before now, if you wanted to see who gave money to a mayoral candidate, you had to schlep down to City Hall, find your way to the municipal clerk’s office, park yourself in front of a computer — there’s only the one — that looks like it still runs Windows 95 and click on a PDF file. If you wanted the information printed out, it cost 25 cents a page, as I recall. If you wanted it put on a disc so you could view it using an operating system from this century, it cost $30 a pop.
I recently described this set-up to someone as what you’d put in place in order to meet the absolute minimum requirements of state open-records laws if you didn’t actually want anyone to have easy access to these documents.
Well, lo and behold, the clerk’s office has just launched a new page that allows online access to city disclosure filings — just as if they were county or state filings! And it works!
Now it only takes a moment to confirm that perennial City Hall hanger-on Dave Walkerhasn’t raised one red cent for his “campaign” for Council president.
State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, is leaning against running for Atlanta City Council President, a source very close to the lawmaker tells CL. He’s expected to make a decision tomorrow.
If Fort opts not to run, that leaves Atlanta City Councilmembers Clair Muller and Ceasar Mitchell vying for the top spot. As of right now, at least.
Just yesterday, I blogged that “the Council president’s job … seems suited to someone who excells at process and mediation.” Well, one such person has just filed her paperwork.
Now in her 20th year in office, Clair Muller has served on Council longer than any current member save for Jim “40 Winks” Maddox. During that time, she’s become the Council’s reigning technocrat, with expertise in virtually every aspect of public infrastructure. It was Muller who persuaded then-incoming Mayor Shirley Franklin to put fixing the city’s sewers at the top of her agenda.
Temperament-wise, Muller would fit in well with the list of previous Council presidents, from Lisa Borders to Robb Pitts, stretching back to the days when a young Wyche Fowler presided over Atlanta’s Board of Aldermen. The Council president has typically served as the adult in the room during Council meetings: calm, steady, unruffled, non-reactionary, even a little boring. That’s not to say the Council president couldn’t be a firebrand, but for whatever reason, Atlanta has opted to elect even-keeled types over the last few decades.
This year’s city runoff elections are the most important in years, what with the mayor’s office, the Council presidency and two of the Council’s 15 seats up for grabs. It’s doubly depressing, then, to hear about how lousy turnout is likely to be.
