As a poll worker, former candidate and forum moderator, Ken Cochran has maintained more than just casual interest in Flowery Branch politics.

But he doesn’t recall a manic year like this one.

Flowery Branch residents will make monthly or more trips to the ballot box this year — two different polling places on Nov. 2 alone — as they wade through the bevy of local, state and congressional races.

“It’s going to be hard for the (candidates) to keep the voters energized to keep voting because we’ve got so much going on,” Cochran said.

Beyond the boundaries of this South Hall town, the question becomes whether voters angered by what they see as dysfunctional government at every level across the U.S. will become too overwhelmed by the issues, races and campaign chatter to keep showing up at the polls.

“I hope they’re not getting tired because the election season has just begun,” said Charlotte Sosebee, Hall County interim elections director. “I haven’t heard many complaints yet from my view. People have been doing early voting with a smile, and I’m hoping if people get tired of going to polling locations, they’ll consider sending in an absentee ballot where they can vote in the comfort of their own homes.”

Hall County has seen about 900 early voters drop in to cast their ballots for the 9th District U.S. House runoff Tuesday. Although it is a lower number than Sosebee expected, she’s hoping for a 11 percent turnout Tuesday after the May 11 special election turnout of 18 percent.

“I think we’re going to see something different this season with more days of early voting,” she said. “I’ve noticed in Hall County that it’s a popular thing, and we have voters who are vocal and want to let their votes be known. The 18 percent is a lot for a special election, and we had record numbers compared to a lot of other counties.”

In Forsyth County, elections supervisor Barbara Luth has also recorded 900 votes but expects a lower turnout.

“I’ll go with less than 5 percent. For the special election, voters surprisingly proved me wrong with 11.5 percent, and I was really thrilled,” she said. “Numbers drop for a runoff, but I don’t think they’re getting tired of going to the polls yet. They want to do their civic duty, but it hasn’t helped that it has rained. Weather often has an effect on turnout like that.”

Though the surrounding area has seen stretched out elections and campaigns, Flowery Branch politics has turned topsy-turvy in a short period of time.

The city started the year with three newly elected City Council members, a newly elected mayor and two council members in the middle of their four-year terms.

No elections in sight.

The turnover began Jan. 21 when Councilman Craig Lutz announced he would seek the District 1 seat on the Hall County Board of Commissioners. He resigned at the April 15 meeting, saying he intended to qualify for the post later in the month.

The city voted May 20 to set the special election to replace Lutz for Sept. 21.

Then, on May 24, Mayor Diane Hirling, announced she was stepping down from her post as she and her husband, Bob, are retiring to Florida. Her resignation became effective Monday.

Thursday, the council voted to set the special election to replace Hirling for Nov. 2.

In the meantime, Councilman Mike Miller, the mayor pro tem, has said he plans to run for mayor. And that would mean another special election to replace him.

City Clerk Melissa McCain said that to keep the council operating with a majority, Miller would need to announce by the end of August that he intends to qualify in late September for mayor.

“I can process all the paperwork and we can fill his seat at the same time we fill the mayor’s seat,” she said. “It saves the city some money if we do them all at the same time.”

The alternative would be to hold the special election for Miller’s seat next year, likely in March.

“One concern we have is that we will have low turnout because (residents) are going to have to go to their polling station for the county and then come to City Hall for their city elections,” she said.

Kris Yardley, one of the newly elected councilmen, said he can sympathize with voters in their weathering the busy election season.
“The only thing we can hope is they stick with us and keep going out there to get the representation that they want,” he said.

“What’s great about Georgia is that we do have early voting and I wish people would take more advantage of that.”

For Dahlonega resident John Lees, 62, there’s not enough emphasis on primary elections to keep voters going back.

“I see more interest in other states in primaries, but there’s a hard time getting turnout here,” he said. “When it’s time for a runoff, people think they’ve gone once and don’t care to go twice.”

People start trickling off when they have to take more time away from the office, he said.

“You have to get off work, and it’s also expensive when you run these elections,” he said. “You have to staff the places, even if hardly anyone comes out, but I don’t really know an alternative.”

The more times during a year that voters can go to the polls, the lower the turnout tends to be, said Douglas Young, political science professor at Gainesville State College.

“We’ll probably have a healthy voter turnout for the November general election because of so much anger regarding Congress and national policy, and that will increase turnout regarding the other offices on the ballot,” he said. “But I’m not so sure about the primaries.”

Casting a ballot during primary elections could be one of the most important times to show up to vote, especially for this year’s gubernatorial race, he said.

“We don’t have an incumbent or lieutenant governor running for the spot, and that’s somewhat unusual,” Young said. “There are major names in the race for both parties, and a lot of voters haven’t expressed a preference yet for who they support.”

This sense of complacency is disturbing to Hoschton resident Roy Lathan.

“Americans aren’t good citizens when we expect everything to happen for us, and we can’t sit back and do it that way. That’s a recipe for destroying America,” he said. “If we don’t turn things around by this November and get more people in Washington to balance policies out, we’ll all be in a hole, digging that hole.”

Oakwood resident Jim Arnold, for one, is fired up about change.

“If we send the same ones back up there, we’re going to get the same thing they’ve been feeding us,” he said. “I think I’m going to make a pledge. I’m not going to vote for an incumbent. I don’t care how good they think they’ve been.”