Bill Would Limit Weekend Voting In Metro Atlanta

But state Rep. Renitta Shannon from DeKalb County, along with other Democrats, said the bill would make it more difficult for candidates from their party to win elections.

When Shannon was in high school, her father was a pastor at a predominately African-American church in Florida. In the weeks before elections, she remembers him encouraging parishioners to go vote immediately following the Sunday service.

“That was an opportunity to remind them, ‘Hey, if you hadn’t voted, if your life has been so busy you’ve just been working to pay for the basic necessities of your family, voting is important, and we have now made it convenient and easy for you to be able to vote,’” Shannon said.

Today in some parts of metro Atlanta, churches still hold “souls to the polls” events on Sunday. Buses may even drive attendees to vote.

It’s only possible in a few counties where early voting is held on Saturdays and Sundays, among them are Democratic strongholds like DeKalb and Fulton.

The total of three or even four weekend days in those counties, Shannon said, makes voting easier.

“Most folks work a shift that is determined by their employer, and so they need those extra opportunities to be able to vote,” she said.

In its current form, Sen. Brass’s bill (SB 363), would limit counties to one weekend day of early voting before an election. They’d have to pick one Saturday or one Sunday. Brass said the bill would require 15 counties around the state change their policies.

“If we mandate it that you have to have to have a Saturday and you have to have a Sunday,” Brass said, “I don’t think all our counties are going to like that.”

According to Brass, smaller counties don’t have the staff or resources necessary for more early voting on the weekend. He hasn’t advocated for the legislature to hike state funding for counties to run elections.

Atlanta Polling Hours 

Included in Brass’ bill is a measure reducing the hours polls are open in the City of Atlanta for some elections.

Polls around the state for all elections typically close at 7 p.m. But for municipal elections in Atlanta, state law dictates they remain open until 8 p.m.

Municipal elections for positions like mayor and city council in Atlanta are held every four years, and always during an odd-numbered year. They’re not held the same year as federal mid-term elections, or presidential elections.

During municipal elections in 2017, the 8 p.m. closing time for polls in Atlanta created confusion.

Leading up to the election the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page website inaccurately said all polling places in the entire state, including Atlanta, were open from 7 a.m to 7 p.m. The Secretary of State’s office ultimately removed polling hour information from its website completely.

In state Senate District 6, which includes parts of Cobb County and the City of Atlanta, polls closed at different times. The same issue arose in DeKalb County, which includes a small portion of the City of Atlanta.

“The fairness there just doesn’t add up,” said Brass. “To me, ‘one person one vote’ means we all have the same amount of time to vote.”

Helen Butler is executive director of the Georgia Coalition of the People’s Agenda, a civil rights group that sometimes drives people to the polls.

She said the extra hour Atlantans have to vote can make a difference if someone makes it to the polls or not, especially for working people who have to navigate the city’s traffic.

“We should really want to have as many people to be able to participate in the process as possible. To me there should be no barriers because again that’s what our democracy is built on,” Butler said.

Since at least last year, Fulton County elections director Rick Barron has been calling on the legislature to end the extra hour of voting in Atlanta for municipal elections.

Barron said it’s unusual nationally, and creates confusion. He originally supported Brass’s bill, but has changed his position since language was added to limit weekend voting. Barron no longer supports the bill.

“I do not support restricting weekend voting because for Fulton County it’s been a benefit,” Barron said. “One of the reasons we do it is to shorten our lines on Election Day and some people can’t vote during the week or it’s harder for them to vote during the week.”

To become law, the bill, SB 363, still needs approval from the full House and Senate before the end of next week.