Scott Morgan cried, “Yessss!” and threw his hands in the air after discovering why a pair of volunteers approached him at Wild Heaven Brewery at Lee + White on Saturday. They’d asked the 29-year-old barista to sign a petition to put the controversial police and fire department training center known as “Cop City” on the ballot in November.

“This afternoon, I was gonna go and sign in person anyway, but you’ve come to me,” exclaimed Morgan. “You took an errand off my list, but I’m also super excited you’re here.”

Strangers with clipboards seeking signatures don’t tend to draw a lot of enthusiasm, but the mood was jubilant for some Atlanta residents who signed the petition this weekend. “I’m easy, I don’t like cops, and I really don’t want an urban warfare center nearby,” said Evan, a young West End resident, as he signed the petition.

Whether that excitement will translate into the required 70,000 signatures over the next seven weeks is an open question. Organizers with the Cop City Vote Coalition told Atlanta Civic Circle they are close to obtaining their 10,000th signature, less than a week after the Atlanta Municipal Clerk’s office approved their petition language and form. They’ll still need to average about 10,000 signatures a week to meet the August 14 deadline. 

Public opinion on the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center is split, and the petition’s requirements are strict. Only those who live in the city of Atlanta and have been registered to vote since Oct. 4, 2021 can legally sign. Additionally, Atlanta residents must sign the petition while physically inside the city limits, and all signatures have to be witnessed by another registered Atlanta voter.

These qualifiers have prevented people like Sandra Williams from signing the petition, as the retired teacher lives in Fulton County outside of the city limits. Williams told ACC she…