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thatcrazycajunDefying traditional patterns for December runoff elections, this past Tuesday saw more Atlantans show up for the second time to vote for mayor, city council president and at-large council seats than were present last month in the general election. Despite this welcome increase in turnout (which still didn't top more than a quarter of the registered electorate here), the crucial choice—who will succeed outgoing two-term Democrat incumbent Shirley Franklin, who by law must vacate the office by noon of Monday, 4 January—is still not resolved.
Democrat state senator Kasim Reed eked out a whisper-thin margin of victory over Republican city council president Mary Norwood, by less than 800 votes. (This number was reduced still further yesterday by the discovery of some previously uncounted votes in the DeKalb County sector of the city, which straddles two counties in Georgia, the other being Fulton, where I live.) City law dictates that any candidate for mayor who loses by 1 percent or less of votes cast has the right to demand—and get—a recount once the initial count is officially certified. This is expected to happen by noon this Saturday, and the recount the following Tuesday.
And if you think race didn't play a role in this outcome (Reed is black, Norwood white), you obviously don't know a whole lot about Atlanta politics...as this article from the local paper shows. For all Atlanta's decades of promoting itself as "The City Too Busy to Hate," racism (on both the black and white sides) has always lurked just under the surface of nearly every election and political issue here. This city hasn't elected a white mayor since Sam Massell in the early Seventies...and not all the city's string of black mayors have been paragons of civic virtue and competence (one, Bill Campbell, did time in the federal pen for malfeasance committed in office).
Reportedly, the recount will only take about six hours, given that there are only about 80,000 votes to be counted. However, observers with knowledge of the race are quoted as deeming it highly unlikely, in this majority-black city, that Norwood can gain the necessary several hundred votes swinging her way to swipe the mayoralty from Reed. Now let's all pray she doesn't pull a Norm Coleman and challenge the recount in court, dragging the uncertainty through the holidays.
Democrat state senator Kasim Reed eked out a whisper-thin margin of victory over Republican city council president Mary Norwood, by less than 800 votes. (This number was reduced still further yesterday by the discovery of some previously uncounted votes in the DeKalb County sector of the city, which straddles two counties in Georgia, the other being Fulton, where I live.) City law dictates that any candidate for mayor who loses by 1 percent or less of votes cast has the right to demand—and get—a recount once the initial count is officially certified. This is expected to happen by noon this Saturday, and the recount the following Tuesday.
And if you think race didn't play a role in this outcome (Reed is black, Norwood white), you obviously don't know a whole lot about Atlanta politics...as this article from the local paper shows. For all Atlanta's decades of promoting itself as "The City Too Busy to Hate," racism (on both the black and white sides) has always lurked just under the surface of nearly every election and political issue here. This city hasn't elected a white mayor since Sam Massell in the early Seventies...and not all the city's string of black mayors have been paragons of civic virtue and competence (one, Bill Campbell, did time in the federal pen for malfeasance committed in office).
Reportedly, the recount will only take about six hours, given that there are only about 80,000 votes to be counted. However, observers with knowledge of the race are quoted as deeming it highly unlikely, in this majority-black city, that Norwood can gain the necessary several hundred votes swinging her way to swipe the mayoralty from Reed. Now let's all pray she doesn't pull a Norm Coleman and challenge the recount in court, dragging the uncertainty through the holidays.
