Voters to pick new commissioner, Clayton school board member

Clayton County residents will go to the polls Tuesday to choose new members of the boards of commission- ers and education.

Ten people are competing to represent District 1 on the Clayton County Commission, while two are vying to serve the school system from District 8.

The special election comes four months after the death of Sonna Singleton Gregory, the District 1 commissioner. Greg- ory died in late May after a long fight with ovarian cancer.

As a result of Gregory’s death, District 8 school board member Alieka Anderson announced in July her intention to run for the commission, creating an opening on the Board of Education.

Voters will make their deci- sion during a time of challenge for Clayton.

MARTA has told county lead- ers the transportation agency has been unable to secure the right of way from freight giant Norfolk Southern to build a commuter rail line. A passen- ger line is one of the main reasons Clayton voters agreed to tax themselves an extra penny in 2014 for transit.

The school system also has temporarily closed at least 20 school buildingsand switched to remote learning because of COVID-19 outbreaks.

In addition to Anderson, those competing for the District 1 Commission seat include Jae S. Brown, Shegale Crute Thurmond, Regina Deloach, Hackwin L. Devoe and Debra Dozier-king.

Others seeking the commission seat include Junior “JJ” Jackson, Thomas Pough, Alaina Reaves and Ernest W. Strozier.

Joy Tellis Cooper and Arvis Walker are competing for the District 8 school board position.

All are Democrats in the heavily Democratic-leaning south metro Atlanta commu- nity. There are no Republi- can candidates.

If no candidate gets more than 50% of the ballots, a runoff between the top two vote-getters has been set for Oct. 19.