Early Voting starts Saturday at the Dunwoody Library - review the ballot in advance.

The City of Dunwoody has contracted (and paid) to have the Dunwoody Library be an early polling place for this election and intends to do so for all future elections.  Early voting starts Saturday 9 am at the library and it is then available from 8 to 5 Monday through Friday.

There are two main items on the ballot, first is the election of your local district city council seat. 

The City of Dunwoody is broken into three voting districts with the lines running North / South, whereby we have District 1 on the far West Side of the city, District 2 in the middle & District 3 on the East side of the city.  Each district has two elected representatives, one elected by only the residents voting in the local district (that is happening this year) and the other elected citywide or at large.  I believe this system works wonderfully as every resident votes for the Mayor and four of the six other city council members.  Four of the seven of us always have to think & vote on issues from a city wide perspective yet there are representatives who are more focused about the specific communities they represent.

In District 1 the election is between the incumbent Pam Tallmadge & Joe Hirsch.
In District 2 the election is between the incumbent Jim Riticher & Bobby Zuckman.
The election in District 3 is between Henry Bierenfeld & Tom Lambert to fill the seat being vacated by incumbent Doug Thompson.

The Dunwoody Crier & the Dunwoody Homeowners Association held a forum where all candidates attended and answered questions - there is a recap here. 

The second item on the ballot is a series of three referendums that when put together, raises sales tax a penny on items other than food and medicine, it lowers our property tax bills, increases money for transportation and it makes permanent the homestead tax freeze.   Mark Niesse of the AJC does a comprehensive overview of the items and I know Senator Fran Miller worked hard with the DeKalb County CEO to put these compromise measures together for the benefit of all jurisdictions and he has an overview in The Crier.

To obtain a sample ballot for yourself to read all of the measures that you will be voting on please visit here or if you would like to see what my ballot (District 3) looks like including all of the referendums, click here but know if you reside in District 1 or 2 your city council choices will be different.