Early voting has ended for next week’s special election, in which voters in Athens will have a say in new transportation funding and two hotly contested state house seats.
Athens-Clarke voters will have a chance to vote on a transportation local option sales tax or T-SPLOST, which if approved would raise local sales taxes from seven to eight percent, with the extra revenue earmarked for a variety of transportation-related projects. They include a projected 25.6 million dollars for repaving, 4 million for hybrid buses, and 11 million dollars to help local government catch up on a backlog of new sidewalk requests.
Some Athens-Clarke voters will also vote in special elections for two state house districts which include parts of Athens-Clarke County. In House District 117, Republican Houston Gaines and Democrat Deborah Gonzalez are on the ballot in a district which also includes portions of Oconee, Jackson and Barrow Counties, while in House District 119, which also includes portions of Oconee County, Democrat Jonathan Wallace, and Republicans Tom Lord, Marcus Wiedower, and Steven Strickland are on the ballot.
Other TSPLOST projects include improvements to Athens-Ben Epps Airport, a new bus line serving Athens Tech, and beautification of so-called gateway corridors. Polls will be open on from 7 Am to 7 PM on election day.