Citizens in Waycross District 1 will have a new voting location in Georgia’s 2025 Primary Election June 17.
The Waycross City Commission approved a resolution last week moving the precinct from the Ware County Board of Education office to the C.C. McCray City Auditorium. The change now has voting locations for District 13 at the auditorium for all elections.
The change follows recommendations by the Ware County Board of Elections and Registration on several occasions in the past few years to help avoid confusion for voters, particularly when county, state and national issues also were on the ballot.
Those elections often had city voters, like those in District 1, forced to cast ballots in two locations in order to vote in all races.
The resolution was among four the commissioners passed during their bi-monthly meeting Tuesday, February 18 in City Hall. Two of the other measures also dealt with voting.
Commissioners chose to hold the special election to fill the District 4 seat formerly held by the late Diane Hopkins November 4 during the year’s General Election.
Commission seats for District 1-3 also will be on the ballot that day.
The other resolution related to elections made official the 2011 map of voting districts resulting from the 2010 U.S. Census for all future Muncipal Elections.
In addition to the resolutions, commissioners also set a public hearing for next month to consider a zoning request as well as approved two privilege license requests.
Mayor Michael-Angelo James conducted the meeting with Commissioners Shawn Roberts, Sheinita Bennett, Katrena Felder and Alvin Nelson in attendance.
Resolutions
The location change for District 1 was a topic of discussion earlier this year. At that time, Roberts asked for time to gauge the sentiment of his constituents on the matter before it was brought to a vote.
The issue seemingly came before commissioners every year, but also met with resistance from Roberts’ predecessor in the District 1 seat, the late Norman E. Davis.
A handful of District 1 voters were on hand to voice their views change during the commission’s planning and information session Monday, February 17. Only one of the group was against the change, which passed unanimously.
Commissioners voted 3-1 on the date of the special election with Felder against. The first date available to the commission to determine a replacement for Hopkins, who died January 29, was June 17.
The panel rejected the resolution presented with that date when no motion for a vote was brought when the item was reached on the agenda.
Instead, Bennett moved to hold the election in November with Roberts providing a second and Nelson joining them with an affirmative vote on the call for a decision.
The voting map question resulted from a Georgia Supreme Court recommendation in a ruling involving a lawsuit contesting the 2023 voting between then-incumbent Henry Strickland and Nelson for the District 5 seat.
Strickland said the incorrect map (2005) was used to determine district voters instead of one from 2011.
The Supreme Court ruled the 2005 map was valid because the other one hadn’t properly been filed with the Office of the Secretary of State.
The final resolution surplussed five vehicles from the Waycross Police Department and Public Works for sale on govdeals. com. All the vehicles, four of which were more than 20 years old, no longer were operational or serviceable, Purchasing Director Mamie Jackson said.
Public hearing
The request for a zoning change at 100 M Street will be held at 4:45 p.m. March 17 prior to the commission’s bi-monthly meeting.
