After the early voting ends on Friday, October 29th, Election Day will be the last chance for voters to vote for the November 2nd elections in Cumming County and Forsyth County.
On Tuesday, voters must report to their designated polling station in order to vote in the city’s mayoral election and whether to continue to impose special-purpose local education sales tax or E-SPLOST (1% sales tax for Forsyth County schools) Hold a referendum. Although only residents of Cumming City can vote in the mayoral campaign, all registered voters in the county can vote on E-SPLOST.
The results of the election will be published in the Forsyth County News from November 6-7, and will be announced on Forsythnews.com on election night.
The following is information that voters need to keep in mind before election day.
When and where to vote
Unlike advance voting, when voters could cast ballots at any precinct, on Tuesday, voters will need to report to their precinct on Tuesday. Voting time is from 7 am to 7 pm, and anyone who queues up before the end of voting can vote.
Voting also requires photo ID, Georgia driver’s license, photo state or U.S. ID, U.S. passport, valid government employee ID with photo, valid U.S. military ID with photo, or valid tribal ID with photo Photo.
First-time voters who register by mail without providing a photo ID will also need to provide copies of current utility bills, bank statements, government checks, paychecks, or other government documents containing the voter’s name and address.
Voters in the Polo and Sony constituencies should note that the voting location for this year’s election has changed. Polo voters go to Fowler Park and Sony voters go to the Great Highland Baptist Church.
You can find sample ballots, voter registration information, and voting locations on election day at mvp.sos.ga.gov.
For more election information, please visit forsythco.com.
01 BIG CREEK- First Redeemer Church, 2100 Peachtree Parkway Cumming 30041
02 BRANDYWINE- Calvary Chapel, 200 James Road Alpharetta 30004
03 BROWNS BRIDGE-Central Park Recreation Centre, 2300 Keith Bridge Road Cumming 30040
04 CHESTATEE-Atlanta Cricket Ground, 5395 Keith Bridge Road Cumming 30041
05 COAL MOUNTAIN-Meishan Park Community Building, 3560 Setdown Road Cumming 30028
06 CROSSROADS-Hampton Park Library, 5345 Setdown Road Cumming 30041
07 CUMMING- Cumming City Hall, 100 Main Street Cumming 30040
08 MASHBURN- Lanier United Methodist Church, 1979 Buford Highway Cumming 30041
10 MIDWAY- Midway Park Community Building, 5100 Post Road Cumming 30040
13 Absent-Forsyth County Voter Registration and Election Office, 1201 Sawnee Drive Cumming 30040
15 HEARDSVILLE- Sawnee Mountain Park Community Building, 3995 Watson Road Cumming 30028
16 OTWELL-First Baptist Cumming, 1597 Sawnee Drive Cumming 30040
19 OLD ATLANTA- Olde Atlanta Clubhouse, 5745 Olde Atlanta Parkway Suwanee 30024
21 SOUTH FORSYTH- Sharon Springs Park Community Building, 1950 Sharon Road Cumming 30041
25 WINDERMERE- Windermere Lodge, 4444 Front 9 Drive Cumming 30041
27 CONCORD-Concord Baptist Church 6905 Concord Road Cumming 30028
29 POLO- Fowler Park Recreation Center, 4110 Carolene Way Cumming 30040
34 FOWLER- Fowler Park Recreation Center, 4110 Carolene Way Cumming 30040
35 JOHNS CREEK- Johns Creek Baptist Church 6910 McGinnis Ferry Road Alpharetta 30005
36 NICHOLS-Old Atlanta Park Recreation Center 810 Nichols Road Suwanee 30024
37 SAWNEE-Greater Heights Baptist Church, 3790 Post Road Cumming 30040
Although the three seats in Cumming City are to be elected, only the mayor's election has attracted challengers.
Incumbent Mayor Troy Brumbalow, who was elected in 2017, and challenger William Stone, III will face off for the mayoral race.
Bloom Barlow, who is seeking a second term, is a business owner. He graduated from South Forsyth High School in 1990. He touted the upcoming Cumming City Center, the city’s financial situation and the revitalization of the Cumming Police Department. It was his first semester of success.
Stone is a tax lawyer who graduated from Forsyth Central High School in 2006. He believes that the growth of the city and the expenditures of city officials are key issues in his campaign. After graduating from Central University, Stone graduated from the Terry School of Business at Georgia State University School of Law and received a Master of Laws in Taxation from the Levin School of Law at the University of Florida.
Cumming City Councilmen Jason Evans and Chad Crane, who were also elected in 2017, did not draw challengers for their seats.
The county-wide special election is a referendum on the proposed sales tax or E-SPLOST of local options for educational special purpose local options. The resolution requires the community to re-collect a 1% sales tax to pay for capital projects in Forsyth County schools.
Voters in the county have approved five other E-SPLOST referendums in the past, the most recent of which was in 2016. As E-SPLOST V ends in June 2022, the new E-SPLOST VI referendum gives voters the opportunity to continue to sell taxes for the next five years.
E-SPLOST is used to pay for capital projects in Forsyth County schools. This is different from the SPLOST collected by the county or city, which is used for traffic lights, roads and other projects.
A new elementary school to replace Midway Elementary School is one of the capital projects. Due to the small number of students, the school has been facing overcrowding problems for many years, and because it is close to Highway 9, the school cannot be expanded.
It is planned to be built in many places near the Danish high school, and the replacement of the school’s buildings and furniture is expected to cost 38 million US dollars.
In addition to the replacement of Midway Island, most of the other projects include upgrading, repairing and updating old schools and equipment in the area. This includes furniture, technology, facilities, and other supplies in district schools and buildings that need to be repaired or replaced.
The total cost of these projects is expected to exceed $264.7 million.
If approved, E-SPLOST will also be used to pay the $50,000 bond payment taken by voters after the school district’s latest bond was approved in 2018, which will help fund new facilities and schools that will open in the new school year starting in August, such as Dongfu Seth High School and Hendricks Middle School.
When voters approved of the bond in 2018, they also agreed to pay the remaining $50,000 in bond payments out of E-SPLOST VI. Almost completed.
Before Election Day, thousands of Forsyth County residents had voted during advance voting in person and by mail.
According to information provided on the Forsyth County Voter Registration and Election Department website, as of Thursday, October 28, more than 3,600 people had voted during the early voting period.
During the last mayoral election in 2017, which included a special election to fill the unexpired term of Representative Jeff Duncan of the 26th District House of Representatives at the time, he has stepped down to run for deputy governor. There are 954 voters, accounting for approximately that. Compared to 36% of the city’s 2,680 voters, the state legislative elections registered at the time had 3,207 votes, or about 8% of the region’s nearly 40,000 voters.
In 2016, when the last E-SPLOST was approved, 63.35% of county residents (approximately 59,450 voters) voted for the bond, while 36.7% (approximately 34,500 votes) opposed. Nearly 94,000 county residents voted at the time, although the president, the Senate, and Congress were also voting.
Before that, the next most recent E-SPLOST vote was in March 2011, when it was the only question on the ballot.
In that election, about 6,700 voters cast their votes. Among them, 5,337 (approximately 80%) agreed and 1,339 (approximately 20%) opposed.