Mableton mayor and council elections scheduled for March 21

Jake Busch, Marietta Daily Journal, Ga.
·5 min read

Dec. 15—Elections for the new city of Mableton's mayor and six-member city council are scheduled for March 21, 2023, according to Cobb Elections Director Janine Eveler.

Eveler said the special election will be officially called on Dec. 30 by the Cobb Board of Elections.

Qualifying and voter registration

Candidate qualifying will be held over three days at the main elections office at 995 Roswell St. in Marietta. It begins Wednesday, Jan. 18, at 8:30 a.m. and end Friday, Jan. 20, at 4:30 p.m. The hours for qualifying are set for 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day.

Qualifying fees will be $900 for mayoral candidates and $600 for council candidates, to be paid by cash, personal check, money order or cashier's check made out to Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration.

Candidates must meet the qualifications laid out in the bill signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in April that put the Mableton cityhood referendum on November's general election ballot.

Candidates for both mayor and city council must be at least 21 years old and have lived within the city's boundaries for at least 12 months immediately prior to the election. City council candidates must have lived in the council district in which they are running for at least 12 months immediately prior to the election.

Terms for the first council will be staggered, per the city charter, with three members serving from March 2023-December 2025, while the other three will serve from March 2023-December 2027. All members of successive councils will serve four-year terms, and no elected officials in Mableton will be permitted to serve more than three consecutive terms.

Council members will be elected by the residents of the district they are running to represent, while the mayor will be elected citywide.

The deadline to register to vote before the Mableton elections is Feb 21.

Early voting will start Feb. 27. An early voting schedule will be published on the Cobb elections website.

The earliest day to apply for an absentee ballot is Jan. 2. Ballots will be mailed no earlier than Feb. 27 and must be returned by 7 p.m. on election day.

Residents can call 770-528-2581 if they have questions regarding registration or voting.

The election will be held at the following polling places:

— BIRNEY 02 — C. Freeman Poole Senior Center, 4025 South Hurt Rd, Smyrna, GA 30082

— BRYANT 01 — Trinity United Methodist, 821 South Gordon Rd SW, Austell, GA 30168

— BRYANT 02 — Riverside Epicenter, 135 Riverside Parkway, Austell, GA 30168

— COOPER 01 — Calvary Baptist Church of Austell, 4780 Flint Hill Rd SW, Austell, GA 30106

— HARMONY-LELAND 01 — S. Cobb Comm. Ctr, 620 Lions Club Dr, Mableton, GA 30126

— HARMONY-LELAND 02 — Impact Worship Ctr., 6925 Mableton Pkwy, Mableton, GA 30126

— LINDLEY 01 — Lindley Middle School, 50 Veterans Memorial Hwy, Mableton, GA 30126

— MABLETON 01 — S. Cobb Regional Library, 805 Clay Rd, Mableton, GA 30126

— MABLETON 02 — Mableton Elementary School, 5220 Church St SW, Mableton, GA 30126

— MABLETON 03 — Thompson Comm. Ctr., 555 Nickajack Rd SE, Mableton, GA 30126

— MABLETON 04 — Floyd Middle School, 4803 Floyd Rd, Mableton, GA 30126

— NORTON PARK 01 — Highpoint Christian Tabernacle, 3269 Old Concord Rd SE, Smyrna, GA 30082

— OREGON 02 — Worship with Wonders Church, 1887 Powder Springs Rd SW, Marietta, GA 30064

— PEBBLEBROOK 01 — Mableton Banquet Hall, 6114 Mableton Pkwy SW, Mableton, GA 30126

— RIVERSIDE 01 — City View Elementary School, 285 S Gordon Rd SW, Mableton, GA 30126

— SWEETWATER 02 — Floyd Road Baptist Church, 3996 Floyd Rd, Austell, GA 30106

Cobb's newest city

The city of Mableton, comprising the southernmost portion of Cobb County, will offer four services — zoning, code enforcement, parks and recreation and sanitation — to roughly 77,500 people in the southernmost part of the county, between Austell and Smyrna, making it Cobb's largest city.

Residents in the city limits voted to incorporate in the Nov. 8 general election, when cityhood was approved with 13,191 votes, or 53%, to 11,694 votes, or 47%.

The effort to incorporate Mableton was years in the making, with a group called MabletonYES!, formerly known as the South Cobb Alliance, leading the push for a referendum.

Three other cityhood efforts in Cobb — Lost Mountain, East Cobb and Vinings — failed in the May primary election.

Proponents of the effort, including Cobb Board of Education Member Leroy Tre' Hutchins and State Rep. Erica Thomas, D-Austell, have argued cityhood will bring higher density to an area they believe needs more economic and residential development.

"The people have spoken," Thomas said the night of the election. "This is a great move forward for the people of this district, and they want improvements, and they want a better life for their families, and we think this is a great step in that direction."

Though cityhood won at the ballot box, some residents began organizing in opposition to the cityhood effort earlier this year. Preserve South Cobb, a group opposing cityhood, was active in the lead-up to the referendum.

Supported by State Rep. David Wilkerson, D-Powder Springs, Preserve South Cobb has shifted to pushing for parts of Mableton to de-annex from the city. The group argues that precincts in the city limits that voted overwhelmingly against cityhood should be allowed to de-annex and remain part of unincorporated Cobb County.

De-annexation can occur by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, and Wilkerson has said he will support the effort in the upcoming legislative session in January. Another avenue to de-annex is if 100% of residents in a given area sign a petition in favor of the effort and submit it to the city.

"If we have true local control, it means that we should not be part of the city when it incorporates," said Preserve South Cobb member Christie Lynn, following the election.