6th District Race: Brookhaven Gets Early Voting Site

BROOKHAVEN, GA -- With a little more than a month left before the election in the 6th Congressional District race, Brookhaven has been chosen as one of five locations where voters can cast an early ballot.

The Briarwood Recreation Center at 2235 Briarwood Way, NE in Brookhaven was approved recently by the DeKalb County Board of Voter Registration and Elections for early voting starting May 30 through June 16. The dates include Saturday, June 1o, city officials said.

The 6th District race, which is being watched closely by Washington, features establishment Republican Karen Handel vs. Democrat and first-time candidate Jon Ossoff. The race is seen as the first local test of President Donald Trump's popularity, something evidenced by both parties spending an unprecedented $29 million in TV ads, with much more to come. SIGN UP: To get notified of the local election news like this, click here to sign up for the Brookhaven Patch. Or find your Atlanta-area town here. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.

Ossoff came just short of winning the 6th District House seat in the April 19 special election against 17 other candidates. His 48 percent total was 2 percent shy of the 50 percent he needed to turn the longtime GOP-leaning district into a Democratic one and win the race outright.

“Everybody has shoved their chips into the middle of the table, and neither side can afford to lose,” former GOP Rep. Tom Davis, who helmed the National Republican Congressional Committee in the late 1990s, told Politico. “Republicans can’t afford to lose this because it changes the narrative and it makes it easier for Democrats to recruit candidates and fundraise,” Davis was quoted as saying. “If Democrats lose, then it punctures their narrative of a coming anti-Trump wave.”

The new polling site comes after controversy: Election watchers have complained that voting precincts in heavily-Democratic DeKalb have been scarce, while those in Republican-leaning north Fulton and Cobb, are plentiful.

The hours of operations for the Briarwood Recreation Center are as follows:

May 30-June 16, Monday through Friday

Voting hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Voting hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The runoff election for the 6th District -- which includes affluent Atlanta suburbs encompassing parts of Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton counties -- is set for June 20.

Image via Patch file photo