For the moment the “Sunday Sales” Referendum vote won’t be on the November Special Election Ballot. As reported by the Athens Banner Herald, on May 29, 2011, “Athens-Clarke commissioners say they are delaying a referendum on Sunday package sales until next year’s presidential primaries.” And the reason for this delay appears to be due to the special election in November, itself. There is currently a special election scheduled for Novemeber to vote on a continuation of the Education Local Option Sales Tax, or ELOST and at least one commissioner has gone on record saying: “We don’t want to clutter up the ELOST vote,” Commissioner Alice Kinman said. “I don’t think it’s good to have those two hitched together.” Commissioners say they are concerned that Sunday sales could draw opponents to the polls who also would vote against the Education Local Option Sales Tax, which will fund school construction.
It appears that the Athens Clarke County Commission wants to manipulate the outcome of an election by denying the citizens of Athens Clarke County more than one item on the ballot.
There is also mention in the story that the County doesn’t have the money to hold a special election, and that the special election is currently being held by the Clarke County School District. According to Doug Lowery, ACC Commissioner District 1, it would cost Athens Clarke County $54,000 to vote on Sunday Sales, money the School District budgeted, but not the County. This seems a little ridiculous, since the County Board of Elections is responsible for all elections, not the School District, there will already be a special election in November and to add another issue to an electronic ballot will cost exactly zero dollars. Sounds like more double talk to confuse the issue of the ACC Commission’s attempt to manipulate the ballot.
The next Athens Clarke County Commission meeting will be held June 7, at 7:00pm. Their agenda can be found here. As you can see from the agenda, there is no scheduled disscussion about the Sunday Sales Referendum, so if you would like to speak to the Commission about the issue, you will have to wait for all other business to be completed and Citizen Input is called for under “Item J”. It will be a long night indeed, but you are encouraged to go to the meeting and be heard.
