File Photo provided by Dena Mellick

If you’re interested in voting early for the Nov. 3 elections, better hurry.

Early voting ends today, Oct. 30.

There are several important matters on the ballot this year, including municipal races in Decatur and Avondale Estates, a $75 million bond referendum in Decatur and cityhood referendums for Tucker and LaVista Hills. There is also a referendum on reforming DeKalb County’s ethics laws. According to Commissioner Kathie Gannnon:

[adsanity id=27331 align=aligncenter /]

DeKalb voters have the opportunity to approve sweeping improvements to the ethics laws affecting County officials and employees as first advocated by Blueprint to Redefine DeKalb and supported by the County Operations Task Force. To implement the law, voters in DeKalb must approve the changes by voter referendum. You helped get this law passed by the General Assembly. Now all of DeKalb County needs to go to the polls to continue the march toward reforming DeKalb.

Ballot Question: “( ) YES ( ) NO

Shall the Act be approved which revises the Board of Ethics for DeKalb County?”

You can help implement it by voting YES on November 3rd.

The new legislation will:

– Create an independent Board of Ethics. No longer will the Board of Ethics be appointed by the CEO and Board of Commissioners.

– In addition to elected officials, all County employees, appointed officials and contractors must comply with the ethics standards.

– The Ethics Board will hire an Ethics Officer to make certain all County officials and employees are aware of the standards. This ethics officer will monitor a hotline and report alleged ethical violations to the Board of Ethics.

– The Board of Ethics has the power to fine, refer for prosecution and reprimand.

Early voting will be held at the DeKalb County Voter Registration and Elections Office, 4380 Memorial Drive, Suite 300. The office closes at 4:30 p.m.

People who wish to vote will need to bring one of the following forms of identification, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office:

– Any valid state or federal government issued photo ID, including a free ID Card issued by your county registrar’s office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS)

– A Georgia Driver’s License, even if expired

– Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. Government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of this state

– Valid U.S. passport ID

– Valid U.S. military photo ID

– Valid tribal photo ID

If you’re a traditionalist and want to vote on Nov. 3, there’s a resource to help you do that, too. By visiting the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page, you can get your polling location and a sample ballot. To visit the page, click here.

Decaturish has provided extensive coverage of the upcoming elections.

For information on the Decatur elections, click here.

For information about the Avondale Estates elections, click here.

For information about the cityhood referendums, click here.

Please vote in the Nov. 3 elections.

[adsanity id=17766 align=aligncenter /]