MARTA votes pick up speed

The number of MARTA referendum votes cast since seven satellite locations opened in Gwinnett County has already far surpassed that of the first week’s early vote totals, according to county numbers.

Between Feb. 25 and March 3, the Gwinnett County elections office saw 4,682 votes cast. After satellite voting locations opened in cities across Gwinnett on March 4, the total number of early votes cast in person was 19,118 as of Sunday evening, according to the county.

Gwinnett’s unprecedented three-week early voting period — including keeping polling places open 12 hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays — continues through Friday. Election Day is Tuesday, March 19. In addition to the county elections office in Lawrenceville, voters can cast ballots at county parks in Buford, Suwanee, Duluth, Norcross, Stone Mountain, Snellville and Dacula.

Proponents of the referendum have said a strong turnout is the key for success. Pro-transit groups including the Sierra Club, Go Gwinnett and the state and county arms of the Democratic Party are coordinating getout-the-vote efforts and warning that low turnout could lead to a failure of the referendum.

“The reality is that special elections, standalone issue elections, like this one in the middle of March, have historically had tremendously low turnout,” state Rep. Brenda Lopez, D-Norcross said at a recent town hall meeting. “If the referendum were not to pass, I would attribute it solely to that reason.”

It is difficult to directly compare turnout in this race to other recent elections because the referendum is a county-level special election and not being held on the same day as any statelevel races.