News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The DeKalb County Election Commission now verifying an estimated 2,500 petition signatures, asking that a $65 million bond for construction of the Justice Center and Jail be sent to referendum.
Election Administrator Dustin Estes said verifying a signature on average takes less than a minute as they look to see if an individual is a registered voter, has a matching address, and a signature verification. Estes said sometimes they run into a hurdle that requires more time and research to verify a signature.
“If the address doesn’t change then you have to do some additional research,” Estes said. “You have to find what precinct is for the address that they put on the petition and make for sure that is the same precinct they are registered at, so sometimes that can create a bit of groundwork.”
The commission has 15 days to verify at least 1,361 signatures. Estes said the commission has already verified a significant amount of signatures and hopes to finish well before the deadline.
“We’ve put a big dent in it today,” Estes said. “So I feel confident that there won’t be any issue meeting the deadline.”
Estes said despite early voting beginning and a couple of hurdles, the commission has not had a hard time with the verifying process.
“We are handling it fine, like I said the attention of the early voting which began Friday of last week, is pretty low,” Estes said. “There is some daily work that we have to complete however, we do have some time we are devoting to the petition itself.”
The petition was turned in to DeKalb County Clerk Jimmy Poss before he turned it over to the elections commission. Poss said after many conversations with current and former employees he does not recall a petition like this ever coming through the county.
