One Dallas Council Race, Hiram Incumbents Unopposed, Precincts Changing

Deadlines to qualify for municipal elections ended last week on Wednesday for Dallas and Friday for Hiram.
Dallas council members qualified for the Ward 1 and 3 seats and one of two At-Large seats. Incumbents in those seats include Chris Carter, Griffin White and Nancy Arnold. Carter will face a challenge from Terry David Johnson, while both Arnold and White are unopposed in the election.
White will serve a third full term after his appointment to the council in 2008. Arnold will serve a fourth term. Carter was appointed to the seat in 2011 to succeed his father, Kelly Carter, who died while in office. He was elected to a full term in 2013. Hiram’s council members all qualified for four-year terms for the Post 3, 4 and 5 council seats. Current council members in those seats include Derrick Battle, Jeff Cole and Mayor Pro-Tem Kathy Carter.
There were no other qualifiers in any of the Hiram races, thus the three council persons will run unopposed, said Deidre Holden, supervisor, Elections & Registration.
But Ms. Holden, contacted by phone last week, noted that the Hiram election remains despite no incumbent races resulting in challenges to be voted on, since the special election regarding a homestead exemption to property taxes will be included on the Nov. 7 ballot. In the Hiram races, Cole and Carter were seeking re-election this year. Cole won a special election in 2015 for his Post 3 seat and will now serve his first full four-year term. Carter, who represents Post 5 and is mayor pro tem, began in 2013 and will serve a second term. Battle is a veteran councilman and began in 2010.
Both elections are set for Nov. 7. Voting in the Dallas election is scheduled for the Dallas City Council chambers at 129 E. Memorial Drive in Dallas. Voting in the Hiram election is set for The Events Place at 855 Hiram Douglasville Hwy., including early and advance voting, Holden said.
The deadline to register to vote in both elections is Oct. 10. For more information about the election, call 770-443- 8110.

PRECINCT LOCATIONS
The county elections board recently voted to reduce the number of single-day voting precincts from 14 down to 12, affecting up to 30,000 registered voters who will be placed in new voting precincts, Ms. Holden told Paulding commissioners recently. New voter applications to the Elections & Registration offices are coming at a rate of about 200 a day, Holden said.
The board is also ending use of P.B. Ritch Middle School as a voting precinct and plans to split its assigned voters between the Hiram High School and new West Ridge Church precincts. A majority of Paulding voters have tended to use early voting rather than waiting until Election Day for the past several years, Holden said.
The elections office wants to discontinue use of Mt. Tabor, Poplar Springs, and Burnt Hickory as early voting locations and find three new replacements, that are spread out geographically, she said. New early voting locations include West Ridge Church on Hiram- Acworth Highway and the Paulding County Airport Authority also recently voted to allow the use of the Silver Comet Field terminal building as an early voting location next year and in 2020.
The Events Place on Hiram-Douglasville Highway will replace Poplar Springs Church as the early voting site serving Hiram and south-east Paulding, and additional sites are being sought along Cedarcrest Road to serve northeast Paulding, and in the New Georgia community to serve southern Paulding, Holden told Paulding commissioners.

Photos: Nancy Arnold and Griffin White