I called the elections officer in DeKalb a moment ago, to see how turnout had been in elections today for the new city of Stonecrest. Fewer than 900 people had cast a ballot so far.
Stonecrest has 55,000 residents.
Both Stonecrest and the shiny-new 100,000-person city of South Fulton have municipal elections today, while Cobb County voters will consider an E-SPLOST sales tax to raise about $800 million for the county school system.
Fewer than 1 percent of Cobb County voters had drawn an early ballot — another indication of anemic turnout.
I’m watching two races in the municipal elections. Two Black Lives Matter local leaders — Mary-Pat Hector in Stonecrest and Khalid Kamau in South Fulton — have laid their activist credentials on the line as a test of the movement’s political strength.
Kamau is an attorney and served as a Democratic delegate for Bernie Sanders last year. He’s also one of the main organizers for the Black Lives Matter movement in Atlanta. The South Fulton ballot is a hot mess — more than 60 people have qualified to run for the seven council seats. (The annual salary is $17,500, if anyone thinks this is actually worth the trouble.)
Hector is a 19-year-old Spelman College student who also serves as national youth leader for the National Action Network. She had to survive an attack on her qualifications because of her age — the success of which has given her the kind of national publicity candidates only dream of.
Also, liquor by the drink is on the ballot in Rossville, Ga.
Priorities, people. You know what to do.