After months of hearing candidates’ pitches, voters in metro Atlanta are making their choices for the candidates they want to run courts, prosecutor’s offices, local jails, and various other positions that, while relatively obscure, have a big impact on the lives of thousands of people.
In some cases, today’s primary elections will function as the final vote in races where the winners won’t face a challenger from another party in November. In others, the victory today only sets up another battle in the fall. Either way, Capital B’s reporters fanned out across the area today to hear from local voters about why they made it a point to hit the polls, and what the most important issues are to them.
Here’s what they told us.
Roz Tandy, 73, South Fulton
Tandy, who runs the nonprofit family caregiving company It’s You AND Me Inc., was one of several voters who spoke to Capital B Atlanta this morning outside the Enoch Church polling station in College Park.
Tandy said she voted in Tuesday’s Democratic primary because of her concern about issues such as homelessness, mental health, and crime.
“Too many things are done, and not necessarily done correctly, when we ignore the vote or find excuses not to vote,” she told Capital B Atlanta.
She said she supported Lucy McBath in the Democratic primary for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, and Fulton County Clerk candidate Keisha Sean Waites.
McBath is the incumbent U.S. representative whose district has been redrawn multiple times in recent years by state Republican lawmakers, a fact that bothers Tandy.
“We saw what they did, that redistricting,” she said. “I like [McBath]. I like what she stands for. So I absolutely did vote for her.”
As for the Fulton County Superior Court clerk’s race, Tandy said she voted for former Atlanta City Council member Waites over incumbent Clerk of Courts Ché Alexander because she wanted to give Waites a shot.
“It’s not that I dislike Ché,” Tandy said. “I wanted to give [Waites] an opportunity.”
Todd Dozier, 60, South Fulton
Dozier, a customer service agent, said crime, housing, and Georgia’s homeowners association [HOA] problems are top issues for him this election cycle. Some Georgia lawmakers have been working to address HOAs charging too much for fees and foreclosing on people’s homes for unpaid fees.
State Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta, introduced multiple related bills earlier this year after hosting hearings on the matter last year. None of those bills were signed into law this year.
Other members of the General Assembly have announced plans to reintroduce HB 1032 during next year’s legislative session, which begins in January. The measure would bar HOAs from foreclosing on people’s homes due to unpaid fees.
Dozier said he’s dealt with out-of-control HOAs in his own subdivision in South Fulton.
“There’s a lot of [HOAs] that aren’t doing right by their people, charging them extra things that really they shouldn’t have,” he said.
Ufuoma Oyibo, 37, South Fulton
Oyibo, a mental health counselor, was among several South Fulton residents who said they cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary elections just because they value the right to vote.
“It’s something that I don’t take for granted,” said the mother of three. “It’s not just for this particular primary, but just any opportunity I have [to vote]. It’s something that I also want to make sure my kids are able to do even as they [reach] the age to vote.”
Inflation, she said, tops her priority list this election cycle, despite the fact that most of the candidates in local primaries are running for offices that can’t make policy impacting consumer prices. Still, she said it’s something she often hears her mental health clients complain about. “That’s usually one of the pressing things that comes to mind as to why they’re facing some mental health concerns,” she said.
Jerren Banks, 33, of South Fulton
Banks is a finance manager who focused on the Fulton County sheriff’s race between incumbent Patrick “Pat” Labat and challengers Kirt Beasley, James “JT” Brown and Joyce Farmer.
Labat has faced criticism for the string of inmate deaths and attacks that have happened at the Fulton County Jail under his leadership. Banks declined to say which candidate he voted for, but said he also has a personal connection to the race.
“My girlfriend’s a police officer, so that hit home,” he said. “I don’t think [Labat] can’t change it, but of course it’s an issue.”
Voting problems in Adamsville
Georgia’s redistricting efforts and voting rule changes impacted some voters at the C.T. Martin Natatorium and Recreation Center in West Atlanta’s Adamsville neighborhood on Tuesday.
Felicia Grant, 69, Adamsville
Grant, a retired administrative assistant, said she’s been voting at the rec center her entire adult life. But on Tuesday, poll workers told her she’d been reassigned to a new precinct 30 minutes to an hour away.
“I gotta go way cross yonder,” Grant told Capital B Atlanta Tuesday afternoon. “I am pissed. … I really don’t want to [drive so far], but I’m on my way to trying to get to vote.”
Kenya Ward, 38, Adamsville
Abortion rights were a major concern for Ward, a phlebotomist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The married mother of two said she voted “yes” in response to a Democratic ballot question about whether she supported the repeal of Georgia’s abortion restriction law.
“I really want to go back to where a woman does have a right to choose,” Ward said.
Ward also said she voted “yes” on another ballot question about whether she supports raising the state’s minimum wage, and to support Brandi Reeves in the Fulton County Superior Court judge race. She voted against incumbent Patrick Labat in the Fulton County sheriff’s race, but wouldn’t tell a reporter who she supported instead.
“I feel like we need a change,” Ward said of Labat.
Alden Hughley 62, of Adamsville
Hughley was one of several voters who did support Labat in the Fulton County sheriff’s race, noting that the county jail issues that the embattled sheriff has dealt with since taking office aren’t the fault of one person.
“He inherited the problem that is going on now,” Hughley said of Labat. “It’s long overdue for a new facility for housing the prisoners.”
The 62-year-old Adamsville resident also voiced support for Lucy McBath in the 6th Congressional District Democratic primary race.
“She’s been doing a great job, and I continue to see her [make] progress in her district,” Hughley said.
