Carter wins Dallas council race, Hiram Homestead Exemptions approved

Voters went to the polls for municipal elections last week in one Dallas city council race and one ballot question in Hiram. Deidre Holden, supervisor, Elections & Registration, contacted by phone earlier this week, said that turnout was light, with 4.2 percent of registered voters participating.
“But it depends on what’s on the ballot,” Holden said. “Hiram didn’t have any candidates; it’s different if you have a Mayor [on the ballot].”
Dallas council members qualified for the Ward 1 and 3 seats and one of two At-Large seats. Incumbents in those seats included Chris Carter, Griffin White, and Nancy Arnold. In the only actual race, Carter faced a challenge from Terry David Johnson, a member of the city planning commission, while both Arnold and White ran unopposed.
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. Carter survived the challenge from Johnson with 66 percent of the vote. HIRAM
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 per state law, the city chose not to hold an election. 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.
A special election regarding a Homestead Exemption to property taxes was included on the Nov. 7 ballot in Hiram. Voters were presented with a three-tiered ballet question asking if the city should provide a Homestead Exemption to residents from ad valorem taxes in the amount of $40,000 of the assessed value, another to provide one for residents 65 or older in the amount of $55,000, and another to provide one to residents 70 or older for the full value of the assessed value of the homestead.
Voters approved all three tiers of that question by over 90 percent of votes cast. Hiram voter turnout was 4.5 percent of the 2,415 registered voters.

PRECINCT CHANGES
Earlier this year the county elections board voted to reduce the number of single-day voting precincts from 14 down to 12, which affected up to 30,000 registered voters who will be placed in new voting precincts, Ms. Holden told Paulding commissioners earlier this year.
The board ended use of P.B. Ritch Middle School as a voting precinct and split its assigned voters between the Hiram High School and West Ridge Church on Hiram-Acworth Highway. The Events Place on Hiram-Douglasville Highway replaced Poplar Springs Church as the early voting site serving Hiram and southeast Paulding.
The elections office will also discontinue use of Mt. Tabor, Poplar Springs, and Burnt Hickory as early voting locations, but Burnt Hickory will remain for Election Day voting, Holden said. Also, Russom Elementary and McClure Middle schools as precincts will combine and move to Shelton Elementary for Election Day voting. Despite a light turn-out, rather than waiting till Election Day, early voters still comprised about 50 percent of votes cast, according to Election office ballot data.
Changes to precincts have begun and expected to take until mid- December, after which voters will receive notification, Holden said and added that the goal for completion of the whole process is no later than February 1, 2018.