WCC divided on county wide elections

CLEVELAND - White County Commissioners are divided on a proposal to change the way they are elected.

At issue is whether to ask the legislature to pass a bill that would allow countywide voting for all five members of the White County Commission instead of by-district voting.

Some people expressed concern they could not vote for all the commissioners during the last election.

Commission Chairman Travis Turner says after consulting three of the five members of the local state legislative delegation, the county may hold a public hearing on this issue because, as Turner put it, "the legislative delegation wanted a 4-1 or 5-0 vote by the commission board, something they probably could not get now."

Turner said there is no need to rush the issue because the earliest that a referendum could be held on the matter would be next year.

(AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)