Polls in all 16 of Bulloch County’s traditional voting precincts will be open 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 18, in the special election on whether a 1% Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or SPLOST, will continue to be collected in the county for another six years. Less than 3% of the county’s registered voters cast early or absentee ballots in the previous three weeks.
If approved by a majority of voters, the tax is projected to collect at least $138 million for joint projects and population-based shares for other projects of the governments of Bulloch County and the municipalities of Statesboro, Brooklet, Portal and Register. The largest single planned project is an expansion of the Bulloch County Jail. Buying landfill space is another major item, but the tax also funds capital spending on things ranging from public parks and water and sewer systems to election equipment.
The Board of Elections and Registration office in the County Annex hosted 15 weekdays and two Saturdays for in-person advanced voting, which concluded last Friday. During that time 1,292 people cast in-person electronic ballots. Additionally, the elections staff mailed out 59 voter-requested absentee ballots, of which 34 had been returned by Monday afternoon, reported county Election Supervisor Shontay Jones. The remaining absentee ballots can be counted if completed and returned to the elections office by 7 p.m. Tuesday.
As of this election, Bulloch County has 54,549 total registered voters. Of those, 49,598 are counted by the state as “active” from having voted in recent elections. Either way, the turnout prior to this final Election Day would still be less than 3% of total registered or active voters, even if the remaining few absentee ballots were returned.
So, what does Jones expect in the way of voter participation on Tuesday?
“Of course, you know, we want everybody to come out and vote,” she said Monday. “It’s kind of hard to tell from what we’ve voted thus far, so tomorrow will be an interesting day.”
Her Election Day reminders include that voters should remember to bring their photo ID. A driver’s license it the most commonly used, but there are other forms of government-issued and accepted identification.
Another reminder is that, under current Georgia law, voters who show up in the correct county – this is only a Bulloch County election – but at the wrong precinct before 5 p.m. on Election Day must be redirected to their correct precinct. If any Bulloch County registered voters arrive at incorrect precincts after about 5:01 p.m. but before the close of polls at 7 p.m., then and only in that time frame may they vote a provisional ballot. (There’s only one question on the ballot, and it’s the same throughout the county, but the law still requires voting at the correct precinct when possible.)
Finally – and surprisingly for an election with no actual candidates – Jones also had reasons to remind people that Georgia law prohibits campaigning within 150 feet of an active Georgia voting place. This is why poll workers ask people wearing campaign shirts and hats to cover or remove them. Those items seem unlikely to appear for a quiet SPLOST referendum, but signs with messages such as “Vote Yes for SPLOST” have shown up outside a couple of polling places.
“That’s considered campaigning,” Jones said. “So then, our office isn’t being malicious, but they (whoever placed the signs) can pick the signs up or they’ll be laid down in the area.”
Just one question
The one question voters are answering on their ballots is a long one. It begins: “Shall a special 1 percent sales and use tax be imposed in … Bulloch County for a period of time not to exceed six years for the raising of an estimated … $138,000,000 for the purposes of (a)(i) an addition to the Bulloch County Jail, and (ii) joint solid waste projects of Bulloch County and Statesboro including, but not necessarily limited to, the purchase of space in a regional landfill … ?”
That passage sets out the first two projects, which the intergovernmental agreement calls “joint and priority projects,” meant to serve the whole county. The ballot question does not include specific cost numbers for any of the project categories, but the agreement assigns the jail project $51 million and the joint solid waste project $9.6 million.
After those first two, the ballot question lists mostly spending categories for the county and each of the four towns.
Examples include “public safety facilities and/or equipment,” recreational facilities, voting equipment, improvements to the courthouse and judicial buildings, for the county; computer equipment and software, water and sewer and natural gas projects, cultural facilities, administrative buildings, “parks, trails and greenspaces,” “public works and cemetery,” storm drains and public parking lots for Statesboro.
Similar spending types, including water and sewer projects and city vehicle and equipment purchases are listed for Brooklet; water main and community center improvements for Portal; but specifically a new roof on a water pump building and improvements to the town hall in Register.
The ballot question mentions no numbers other than the projected $138 million total, which is a conservative estimate and not a limit. But the intergovernmental agreement provides a breakout of the amounts for each local government.
Shares by population
After the $60.6 million assigned to the shared-priority jail and solid waste disposal projects, the revenue would be assigned to the county based on the population of its rural area and to the cities based on their shares of the county population.
The county government’s portion of the revenue would be about 55.7% of the projected additional $77.4 million, or $43.1 million. Statesboro’s city share would be 41.2% of the total, or $31.9 million.
The city of Brooklet’s share would be 2.1%, or $1.625 million. The city of Portal’s share would be 0.79%, or $611,460; the town of Register’s share, 0.19%, or $147,060.
If after economic growth or inflation the tax nets more than $138 million, a priority would be repaying “jail debt,” with the agreement allowing the county to borrow up to $60 million for the jail project, or $9 million more than the $51 million priority revenue assigned to that purpose.