So, officially, I am 90 percent retired from the newspaper business. However, I still go into the office. I still manage a few relatively minor – with one exception – parts of the business. So, I am still privy to at least some of the goings on, including the newsroom.
I had a conversation with my son Carl who is managing the newsroom, and among several topics, the state of Milton’s decision to take elections in-house as opposed to continuing to allow Fulton County to manage local elections came up.
All other North Fulton cities (excluding Sandy Springs, which has no municipal election this year) thought about managing their own elections and decided to not do it. The surface reason for all the fuss was the idea that the cost of having Fulton County run the elections was excessive and that by bringing them in-house, the cost would be significantly less. At least that was my understanding.
So, Milton has taken a few steps toward setting up to administer elections. The number of polling locations in Milton has now gone from eight previously to two – one at Milton City Hall and one at Milton City Park and Preserve.
To me, that seems like it should cut expenses, I suppose. But it also feels like making it harder to vote by reducing the number of polling places is counterproductive. Is that progress? I suppose by some standard it may be.
What about early voting?
I asked Carl how Milton was going to manage early voting. In the last election I voted early at the Alpharetta library. If I had been a Milton resident, I also could have voted early at the Alpharetta library, because within Fulton County, any legitimate voting location could accept early votes regardless of what city they lived in.
Hmmm. So, I am guessing now that because Milton is conducting their own election, the only location where one would be able to vote early would be…
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