Politics & Government

Database Error Causes Voting Snafu for District 58 Voters

Fulton County elections officials say only 300 affected; studying what went wrong.

The remapping of distrists caused a voting snafu Tuesday for some residents in the Reynoldstown neighborhood who either didn't vote or couldn't because they did not have the right ballots.

Fulton County elections officials said the issue has since been resolved and it affected 300 voters on 10 streets in House District 58 and House District 59.

House Representatives Ralph Long (D-Atlanta) and Simone Bell (D-Atlanta) are battling for the 59th district seat in the Georgia House of Representatives that would represent portions of the city from Morningside to SW Atlanta.

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The newly redrawn district includes most of the Midtown Neighborhood south of 10th Street and east of Piedmont Avenue. The winner will face Republican Earl Cooper in November.

, has represented District 58 for three terms.

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, currently represents District 61, which includes portions of southwest Atlanta. He has served in the Georgia General Assembly for four years.

Bell and Long are also forced to run for the same seat because of redistricting. Margaret Kaiser represents District 59.

Reynoldstown became split when the districts were realigned, but some voters who tried to cast their ballots at two precints Tuesday morning — 05A1 and 05A2 in Southeast Atlanta — couldn't because they couldn't get the proper ballot.

"This issue affected only the State House races for a small portion of House Districts 58 and 59. No other races were affected by this issue," the Department of Registration & Elections said in a statement it issued just before 5 p.m.

"After reviewing the situation, those voters impacted who have not yet voted are now able to cast their ballot on the touch screen voting machine. A senior elections official has been onsite to address voter concerns."

For those who already voted but on the wrong district ballot, it's unclear what will happen. Elections officials said the department will tackle that on Wednesday.

"On Wednesday morning, the Department of Registration and Elections will begin investigating what remedial actions may need to be taken for voters impacted by this situation who already cast their ballots."


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