Atlanta voters return to polls for City Council runoff election

ATLANTA – Voters across Georgia will be back at their polling places on Tuesday to decide a number of runoff races.

Many candidates for county and city offices around the state failed to get enough votes required to win the Nov. 5 general election outright.

In total, nearly 20 races are on Tuesday’s ballot across the Peach State. 

One of the races is to fill the vacancy left open by former Atlanta City Councilwoman Keisha Waites, who stepped down earlier this year.

After November’s election, the field was narrowed to two candidates; Nicole Jones, a former administrator for Atlanta Public Schools who now owns a small business, and Eshe Collins, a civil rights attorney serving on the Atlanta Board of Education.

SEE MORE: Candidates for Atlanta city council meet face-to-face ahead of runoff

“I’m running to put neighborhoods first,” Jones said at a forum in Buckhead last month.

“For me, [it’s] continuing to fight for a city that’s for us, for all of us,” Collins said.

In the last election, Jones received about 40% of the vote. Collins received around 25%.

Both candidates said they would take a different approach to the role than Waites did.

“I will be way more present, I think, [than someone who] never stepped down,” Jones said. “And then I want to ensure that the council is an independent body.”

“One thing that I’ve heard from the community a lot is [the need for] someone that is actually present and engaged,” Collins said.

Registered voters, including those who did not vote for this seat in the general election, are eligible to vote in the race.

Polling hours for the runoff are from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday in the City of Atlanta and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the rest of the state. You can find your precinct on the Secretary of State’s My Voter Page.

To vote in-person, you will need to bring a valid ID such as a driver’s license or passport.