Voters Trickle In for Runoff Elections

There is still work to be done for Peachtree Corners voters who return to the polls today to elect four city council members. Only the mayor and council members for Posts 1 and 2 were elected on March 6.

Mike Mason was elected as the city's first mayor, Phil Sadd won the Post 1 seat and Jay Lowe the city council seat for Post 2.

The majority of city council seats are yet to be filled. Still undecided are the city council members for Posts 3, 4, 5 and 6, which makes today's runoff election even more important to this new city.

Traditionally runoff elections do not draw the same number of voters, many choose not to go back to the polls to cast their vote again for the same candidates they had already voted for.

But that was not the case for Laura Dardaman, the Amberfield resident had just cast her vote at Simpson Elementary School. "I think all elections are important," she said. "It's our duty as Americans to vote."

Noting the sparse number of voters around noon today, she said spring break probably added to the low turnout.

Peachtree Corners is made up of some 38,000 residents and will be the largest in Gwinnett County when it officially becomes a city on July 1 of this year. The city's borders stretch from Winters Chapel Road where residents have Atlanta addresses northward to the Chattahoochee River where many residents have Duluth addresses.

At the Pinckneyville Center, voter turnout was slow, but steady near the noon hour when Patch caught up with Jerry McDonald and Andy Loftis who had just left the polling station.

The two live in an area where most residences have Duluth addresses but the men said they are reconciled that they are now a part of Peachtree Corners and have embraced the idea of being a part of the new city.

"It's still a good place to live," said McDonald who added that he and Loftis had lived in Morningside (inside the perimeter) for 38 years before moving to their current home seven years ago.

"We were very involved in the Zoning Review Board," said Loftis and says he expects to be involved in the new city as well. "I will be down there, I will be involved," promised Loftis.

In District 1, Patch caught up with Marie Bartliff, who has been a Lockridge Forest resident since 1989. "In the long run, it will be a good thing," said Bartliff of now being part of the new city.

Bartliff says she hopes that now her community will have more of a voice to get a few things done such as finding a way to keep people from parking on the street in her subdivision. She said she was pleased to have a council member who also lives in her same subdivision.

Peachtree Corners is at the threshold of becoming the county's 16th city - electing council members is part of that step. Polls are open until 7 p.m. tonight. Patch will update the election results throughout the evening so check back often.

If you have not yet voted, here is a list of candidates and the posts they are seeking. (Click on the links for information about the candidates.)

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