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OBITUARIES
Wednesday, February 22,2023
PTC Council Discusses Voter
Hardships, Redistricting
Resident Presents Plan to Simplify
Ballot Casting for City Voters
A2 Fayette County News
Elaine Warren
Thursday, Feb. 16,
2023, Elaine Warren, age
60, of Fayetteville, passed
away.
She was born in Wake
field, Mass., to Eleanor
Loughman and the late
James Loughman. In ad
dition to her father, she was
preceded in death by her
younger brother, Bobby
Loughman.
Elaine Warren is sur
vived by her spouse, Dixie
Warren, Jr., and her four
children, Jessica (Alex)
Dickinson, Kevin (Hayley)
Lewallen, Bryce Warren,
and Kennedy Warren.
In addition, she is sur
vived by her mother, Elea
nor Loughman; her sisters,
Diane Pealor, Karen Smith,
and Cindy Adamson; and
her grandchildren, Brady
Dickinson, Logan Dickin
son, Brooke Dickinson,
Beau Lewallen, Whit Le
wallen, and Iva Lewallen.
Elaine worked at Geor
gia Pacific for 23 years,
Dixie Sod for two years, and
the Ginn Group for 13
years. She loved the out
doors, finding hobbies in
biking, walking her dogs,
and jumping on the tram
poline.
Her favorite place in the
world was the beach, and
she could be found there
every summer with her en
tire family.
She loved her family,
and was always one to cele
brate with them. She threw
birthday parties, holiday
celebrations, Fourth of July
bashes, etc. Not only did
she throw these parties, but
she was the life of the party.
She was known for her
loving manner, her compas
sion, and her kind spirit.
Her celebration of life
will be held from 2-4 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 26, at ONE
Church in Fayetteville. Vis
itation will be from 2-3 p.m.
and will be followed by the
ceremony at 3 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, please
make donations to the Kid
ney Cancer Association
(kidneycancer. or g).
Leah Banks
Investigative Reporter
leah@fayette-news.net
PEACHTREE CITY- In
recent elections, members of
many Fayette County com
munities searched high and
low to find their local voting
precincts on election day, as
many residents must travel
to two voting locations to
vote in local municipal elec
tions and countywide, state,
and federal elections.
In Peachtree City, a high
percentage of voters made it
to the municipal precinct,
but not to their designated
county precinct.
In the Feb. 16 PTC Coun
cil meeting, resident Su
zanne Brown addressed
council with the possibility
of redistricting to allow PTC
voters to be registered to one
location for all elections, as
Fayette County Board of
Elections members are al
ready considering a redis
tricting process countywide.
Prior to Brown’s dissec
tion of the issue, PTC City
Manager Robert “Bob” Cur-
now highlighted that it has
been an issue between the
municipal elections and
statewide elections, and the
staff has been working on a
possible solution.
“We have reached out to
Brian Hill, the election su
perintendent of the county.
We have also been speaking
to Patrick Stowe, the attor
ney at the county, and per
sonally had a conversation
with Steve Rapson, the
county administrator, stress
ing our interest to make sure
that our voting precincts can
be somewhat combined to
allow our constituents, our
residents, to do a vote and to
go to the same location, as
opposed to going to two dif
ferent locations,” Curnow
said.
Curnow reassured coun
cil that the county has been
working on a possible solu
tion and that there have
been steps taken to address
the possibility of utilizing the
precincts that would best
serve their residents.
Councilman Mike King
told council he spoke with
Darryl Hicks, chair of the
county selection committee.
He said that, according to
the conversation, Fayette
County had been divided
into three separate districts.
Keeping that in mind, King
placed emphasis on the re
duction of voting precincts
and focus on ensuring that
the reduction does not hin
der voting.
“We really don’t know
right now if our neighbor
hoods have been cut in half
for voting lines... All that
needs to be hard hashed
out... From what [Hicks is]
telling me, their number one
priority over the next year is
to get this done so that we
don’t have the inconvenience
and the lack of voting of sev
eral voters in this county vot
ing at city elections that vote
in one precinct for one elec
tion,” King said.
King said the real prob
lem is when the issue would
be fixed. While Hicks guar
anteed that he was working
on the problem this year, the
true resolution would be
seen most prominently dur
ing the national or state elec
tion in 2024.
Brown took to the po
dium to discuss what she
had prepared, but not with
out expressing a piece of
knowledge that she felt res
idents of Peachtree City
needed to know.
“Every elector, who lives
inside of a municipality,
when you register to vote,
they assign you a county pre
cinct number and they as
sign you a municipality
precinct number. Having
those two be different is
what created the problem,”
Brown said.
Brown began her presen
tation by stating that she was
most concerned about the
“2,380 Peachtree City cit
izens who live in the Rising
Star County Precinct, the 14
Peachtree City residents who
live in Dogwood, and the 17
Peachtree City residents who
live in Whitewater County
precinct.”
“Each of those 2,411 city
residents are assigned to a
[county precinct location]
outside the city boundary
and a municipal precinct
with a [voting location] in
side Peachtree City,” Brown
said. “If they voted on elec
tion day in November and
December, they had to go to
two separate poll locations to
cast both ballots. That was
not the case if they voted
early.”
Brown provided a
spreadsheet that would as
sist in alleviating the prob
lem and would allow for
residents to have the same
voting locations and increase
voter participation. Brown
also highlighted that the
county’s board of elections
has already considered re
drawing the precinct lines to
reduce voting locations from
36 to 19.
“For the record, Fayette
County has had the same
precincts for 19 years and it’s
highly likely the people in
power have never done re
districting before. So, do we
want to rely on them to make
drastic changes within the
entire county without mak
ing any mistakes?” Brown
asked.
Brown reminded that
she sent each member of the
council a solution that would
allow for Peachtree City to be
made aware of the redistrict
ing and that Peachtree City
residents would be able to
vote at the same precincts
for all elections.
At the end of Brown’s
presentation, Mayor Kim
Learnard opened the floor
for council to comment and
discuss the presentation and
information provided.
Members of council
agreed that a letter should be
drafted to the elections
board as well as possibly
sending a member of the
council to the upcoming
board of elections meeting.
The council agreed that
there were questions for the
elections board from the
council and citizens, so send
ing a member would be pru
dent.
MOWELL
FUNE RA L HOME
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180 N. Jeff Davis Drive
FAYETTEVILLE, GA 302 14
770-461-764 1 • FAX:770-460- 1 003
FYTOFFlCE@MOWELLS.COM
200 Robinson Road
PEACHTREE CITY* GA 30269
770-487-3959 * Fax:770-487-59S9
PTCOFFICE@MOWEI_LS.COM
Fayette County Schools Kindergarten Enrollment
Fayette County is now accepting school
year 2024 enrollment applications (for cur
rent Fayette County residents) for kinder
garten students.
Additionally, students who currently live
in Fayette County and attend private school,
home school, or a non-Fayette County
school and plan to attend Fayette County
Public Schools in the fall, can also register
now for the 2023-2024 school year.
Visit the Enrollment and Records Center
page on the school system’s website
(https://www.fcboe.org/Page/237) for ad
ditional information regarding the required
online registration and enrollment doc
uments.
Carmichael - Hemperley
Funeral Home and Crematory
135 SENOIA ROAD, PEACHTREE CITY, GA 30269
770-631-9171 OFFICE * 770-631-9144 FAX
We have had our crematory onsite since 1996.
T)ct*Ast Dignity
" C5mI MOHIAI /
SOUTHERN
CRESCENT
FINISH FAST
TECHNICAL COLLEGE
ENROLL IN CLASSES FOR THE
Earn FULL CREDIT in HALFTIME
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Classes Begin
March 9,2023
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Leah Banks
Investigative reporter • leah@fayette-news.net
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The Meeting Place
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cation meets the third Monday of
the month at 7 p.m.
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meets the second and fourth
Thursday of the month at 6:30
p.m.
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mission meets the first Thursday
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