Plans for a special election in March for voters to decide a special purpose local option sales tax for education may not happen after all.
Members of the Hall County Board of Elections rejected a request Tuesday night to place the so-called E-SPLOST questions on the March 24 ballot. That’s the same day as the presidential preference primary in Georgia.
Tom Smiley, chairman of the elections board, said in a letter that the board was concerned about voter participation numbers on the March 24 primary date. He also said the board wanted more time to discuss the issue with local school officials. No one from the city or county school boards was present at Tuesday’s meeting.
But in an email statement, Will Schofield, the Hall County school superintendent, said no legal precedent exists for the board to block a constitutionally elected body like the school board from place an item on a local ballot.
“We will work through the issue, and we have every intention of allowing the voters of Hall County to decide both issues in March 2020,” Schofield said.
Jeremy Williams, the Gainesville superintendent, said the two school districts are working with their attorneys to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
“Our voting date was determined based on the need to utilize bond funds and projected completion date of projects,” Williams said. “While this decision was surprising to us, I do anticipate it being resolved soon.”
The two school boards, as well as the Buford City Schools, voted to put the ESPLOST question on the March 24 ballot. The systems wanted to use proceeds from the penny sales tax to pay for construction and related projects.
The letter to both school boards indicated the Board of Elections would be willing to discuss the matter further at its January meeting or even schedule a special meeting if necessary.
In an email statement to media, Smiley said he cast a 'no' vote to break a tie among board members as they grappled with whether to allow the vote to move forward as requested. He emphasized his vote had nothing to do with a policy decision to have voters cast ballots on ESPLOST for either school system.
"My responsibility is to strive to ensure as much voter participation as possible in our election matters, ensure Hall County voters have a positive voting experience and to ensure all election matters are handled with integrity and according to code," Smiley said.
Smiley said he believed either May 19, the date of the state’s general primary, or November 3, the date of the general election, would be better options from a voter participation standpoint.
