City elections coming Tuesday

Tuesday is Election Day in three of Barrow County’s municipalities. Voters in Winder and Statham will choose members of their city councils. Voters in the Town of Carl will decide whether they want, for the first time, to allow restaurants to serve alcohol by the drink.

While municipal elections typically don’t generate a lot of excitement among voters, Tuesday’s elections will be historic in a couple of ways. Winder voters for the first time will cast their ballots on electronic voting machines.

And with eight candidates vying for three council seats, Statham voters will have an unprecedented number of candidates from which to choose.

Although the county elections office is running Winder’s elections this year, voting on Nov. 3 will be at the same place it always is, the Winder Community Center at 113 E. Athens St. Inside the council’s chambers from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday will be electronic voting machines and county elections personnel.

With only two council races on the ballot — Ward 1 incumbent Sonny Morris versus challenger Don Graden and at-large incumbent Mike Mingus versus challenger Bob Dixon — voting should be a snap.

Polls at Statham City Hall on Jefferson Street will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Although incumbents Betty Lyle and Gayle Steed, who have both been on the council since the early 1980s, are running for re-election, the outcome Tuesday is anybody’s guess.

With eight candidates splitting the votes, turnout will be the key for the three winners.

The challengers are Jeremiah Bennett, Johnnie Ellington, David Huth, Betty Kinney, Susan Martin and Terry Tripp.