Potholes, Permits and Public Safety
Next year, Georgia voters will once again be inundated with hundreds of millions of dollars of ads for some of the most competitive races in the country to determine our U.S. senator, governor and dozens of offices down the ballot. If 2020 and 2024 are any indication, you won’t be able to go a day without seeing Sen. Jon Ossoff on TV or hearing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ voice on the radio.
Despite their importance, municipal elections rarely receive a fraction of that attention or investment, which is why millions of Georgians may not be aware that their voices are needed at the polls beginning this month. From Atlanta to Columbus and beyond, city residents will have the opportunity to elect new leaders who will have a far more direct impact on their lives than anyone sitting in Washington.
Municipal elections typically have lower turnout than federal elections, and it’s not just because there aren’t as many ads running. While some cities benefit from higher turnout due to municipal elections overlapping with statewide elections, the ones that don’t often have just a small portion of city residents deciding their future.
Even in Atlanta, the largest city in the state by a significant margin with a voting-age population of around 400,000, less than 80,000 voters cast a ballot in the November 2021 mayoral runoff between Andre Dickens and Felicia Moore. That’s not even 20% of the voters who were eligible in a crucial election.
If there is any one level of politics you should pay the most attention to between local, state and federal, it should always be local.
In smaller cities, turnout is often even more muted. In the city of Stone Mountain, for example, just 17% of registered voters cast a ballot in their competitive mayor’s race in 2021. The story is the same across mayoral and council races across the state.
That lack of engagement extends to the work of those officials once they are in office. If you go to your local city council meeting, you’re likely to see dozens of empty chairs and just a handful of people there to observe the inner workings of their government.
If you happen to be one of the few people who show up, however, you will realize quickly just how much influence your local elected officials have over your day-to-day life. Municipal officials are usually responsible for the quality of local roads, the abundance of green space, your water and sewage systems, public safety departments, transit and new development, just to name a few.
If you’ve ever driven over a pothole or wondered why your 911 call was on hold for 10 minutes, the decisions made by your city council likely played a role.
City governments are often also the first line of defense when state government is neglectful or dismissive. Georgia lacks strong nondiscrimination ordinances which has led cities like Atlanta, Savannah and Doraville to pass their own in order to better protect their residents and foster a more inclusive community. When the state fails to properly fund services like healthcare and housing support, cities also have the power to fill the gap and make sure people have access to critical resources.
I get it – elections get exhausting. Especially in the current political climate where we are bombarded with news about politics 24/7, it is often much easier to tune out rather than sort through all the noise to determine what matters. That being said, if there is any one level of politics you should pay the most attention to between local, state and federal, it should always be local.
If you only have 10 minutes in your day dedicated to catching up on the latest news, skip the national outlets and check out your local paper. Journalism is struggling right now and nowhere is that truer than in your downtown newsroom. When voters don’t pay much attention to local government, those journalists are the ones keeping your elected officials accountable.
As early voting for the current municipal elections begins, now is the time to check your voter registration at mvp.sos.ga.gov to ensure your voter registration is active and see what you might have on the ballot. Running a city, even a small one, is a herculean task that requires leaders with vision, integrity and expertise. Your vote has tremendous weight when there are only a few thousand or even a few hundred people going to the polls.
Make sure you use it.
Tharon Johnson can be seen Sunday mornings on The Georgia Gang on Fox 5 Atlanta. He received a Green Eyeshade award for journalism in 2023.
