Elections start today

In Senate District 14, Bruce Thompson led the field in the special election to fill the vacancy created when Barry Loudermilk resigned to run for Congress. Early voting in the December 3d runoff begins today in that election, as well as two City Council seats in Canton.

Voting will take place at the Cherokee County Elections Office at 400 East Main Street in downtown Canton.

Voters can cast ballots between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday Nov. 18; between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 19 through Friday Nov. 22; and between 8:30 and 5 p.m. Monday Nov. 25 through Wednesday Nov. 27.

Voting will not take place on Thursday Nov. 28, Friday Nov. 29 or Monday Dec. 2. Polls in Canton and the Senate district will open between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday Dec. 3 for the runoff.

In Cobb County, advance voting for Senate District 14 and Austell City Council Ward 3 runoff elections begins in one week and runs from November 25-27th at the Cobb County Board of Elections at 736 Whitlock Avenue in Marietta from 8 AM to 5 PM or at Austell City Hall, 2716 Broad St., SW, Austell, GA 30106-3206 from 9 AM to 5 PM.

We’ll add information on Early Voting in Bartow County as soon as we learn details.

Early voting also begins today in the runoff election for State House District 127 between Brian Prince and Diance Evans.

Early voting hours in Richmond will be 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each weekday at the Board of Elections main office, 530 Greene St. in Augusta. Early voting hours in Jefferson will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the elections office, 415 Green St. in Louisville.

Early voting in the runoff election for House District 104 between Teresa Cantrell and Chuck Efstration begins Friday, November 22d, with Saturday voting available the 23d.

2014 Elections

The Bob Barr campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission alleging that fellow candidate Tricia Pridemore illegally solicited campaign contributions from donors on Barr’s FEC report.

“I don’t know if this was intentional or just sloppy work, but I would hope the Pridemore campaign would clean up its act,” said Barr campaign manager Derek Barr.

When contacted about the complaint Thursday afternoon, Pridemore’s office told Patch that they have not been able to verify that a complaint was filed. “The campaign has not received anything from the Federal Election Commission regarding any complaint.”

The complaint, which Barr’s office said it filed Wednesday, said that the Pridemore campaign had mailed a solicitation to a dummy address that most campaigns sprinkle their fundraising reports with, while providing the FEC with a list of those names.

Barr’s campaign claims that “it is highly likely that the misappropriation of Barr Congress’ contributor data by TPC extends far beyond this one ‘salted’ name.”

Nancy Jester, 2014 candidate for State School Superintendent, spoke at the Georgia Republican Assembly “Let Freedom Ring” event this weekend.

One Republican activist wrote on Facebook: “I had the pleasure of meeting Nancy Jester last night at the GRA event. She is running for School Superintendent and I have to say that I was enormously impressed. This lady is worth getting to know.”

Dahlys Hamilton has announced that she will run against State Rep. Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) in the Republican Primary for State House District 97.

Cobb County “Land Grab” for stadium

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a flurry of land sales preceded the announcement of a new Braves stadium in Cobb County and speculates that news of the announcement may have leaked.

Tens of millions of dollars have changed hands since June in deals involving hotels, vacant land and office buildings. One property owner in the area said he received two unsolicited purchase offers in the past six weeks, after receiving nothing of that sort for the past year.

The rash of purchases raises questions about who knew what and when, suggesting buyers of nearby land were either incredibly lucky or incredibly connected.

“Probably more of the latter,” said Cobb Taxpayers Association Chairman Lance Lamberton, who wants the state Attorney General’s office to investigate whether anyone could be profiting improperly. “It just seems too coincidental to me. This whole thing really stinks.”

Buyers who responded to interview requests denied having advance knowledge of the Braves’ plans.

Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee has said he began talking to Atlanta Braves executives in July and that he and Brooks Mathis, a vice president of economic development for Cobb’s Chamber of Commerce, were the only two county officials privy to the secret negotiations. The county finance manager, James Pehrson, has since told the AJC that he was also in on the talks.

If an investor did get wind of the Braves’ move and snatched up properties in anticipation of higher values, that would not be illegal or even unethical. But most of the purchasers are limited liability companies whose partners and backers are not public record, and Lamberton said he wants to know if any public officials might have a stake.

The Marietta Daily Journal “About Town” has a good analysis of how voters may view the vote on financing the public portion of the proposed stadium:

The deal is structured in ways that avoid a direct property tax increase for those outside the Cumberland/Galleria area. So opposition is likely to hinge on three factors:
• Whether the public perceives as “a tax increase” the proposal to extend for an additional 30 years the parks bond taxes now due to expire in 2017 and 2018. The bonds total 0.33 mills worth of debt service, equivalent to $26 a year on the owner of a $100,000 house. Lee and stadium supporters argue it is a “continuation” of a voter-approved tax, not a new tax or a tax increase;
• Whether the county will take adequate measures to mitigate the stadium’s impact on traffic in the already congested I-75/285/Cobb Parkway corridor;
• And whether Lee and his commission are transparent and have given the public sufficient time to digest the funding proposal, which has more moving parts than a Porsche engine.

A new detail in the public financing is that in addition to the previously disclosed details, Cobb County taxpayers will also be on the hook for 50% of the routine maintenance for the proposed stadium if it is built. From the AJC:

The team and county will be “jointly responsible” for capital maintenance expenses, eventually including costly items such as replacing scoreboards and seats. The team and county have not released details on how those costs will be shared.