The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration decided on Monday to explore adding a second venue for early voting in the May 19 Party Primary Elections to increase turnout in the Oconee Northeast Precinct, which includes Bogart.
Board Chair Jay Hanley said he had been approached by candidates who are running for House District 120 and are concerned about turnout in the Northeast Precinct, which falls in that District.
The Oconee County Democratic Committee announced on Sunday afternoon that it is joining two protests on Monday in Athens of Saturday’s aerial invasion of Venezuela and capture of its president, Nicolas Maduro.
The “Hands Off Venezuela” protests are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the corner of Alps Road and Baxter Streets and at 4 p.m. in downtown Athens outside the UGA Arch on Broad Street.
Oconee County commissioners face an agenda with a long list of rezone requests in their first meeting of the New Year on Tuesday night, including three with the potential to have significant impact on development in the county in the coming years.
Members of the Bishop family, who own 17.8 acres stretching from Experiment Station Road along the east side of Bishop Farms Parkway to the Oconee Campus of the University of North Georgia, are seeking to rezone 4.8 acres at the corner of Bishop Farms Parkway and Experiment Station Road for a small grocery store, restaurant, and gas station.
Oconee County Democrats used their meeting last month to introduce the declared candidates for U.S. Congressional District 10, for Georgia Senate District 46, and for Georgia House District 120 in the May primaries next year.
The candidates were buoyed by the party’s success in the statewide Public Service Commission races on Nov. 4 as well as by Democratic successes that same day in gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey.
Archer Western Construction and the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) have determined that a full closure of the Jimmy Daniell Road intersection at SR 316 for approximately six months is needed during construction of the new interchange.
The proposed detour would route traffic along Atlanta Highway and Mars Hill Road to access SR 316 and US 78.
Luke Bishop told the Oconee County Planning Commission last week that his large family has a lot of “opinions” about how to develop the corner lot at Experiment Station Road and Bishop Farms Parkway, but, when approached by a local group with a concept for a small grocery store, restaurant, and gas station, the family was happy.
Celia Watson, who lives in Old Waverly, had preceded Bishop to the podium at the zoning hearing, saying she wanted “to share with you a little bit about our new concept, Market Station.”
Three members of the five-member Georgia State Election Board voted last week to send to the state Attorney General Office two Oconee County cases because of possible violations of Georgia law.
One of the cases involved a “residency issue,” while the other involved what was labeled as “ballot harvesting,” though the case dealt not with ballots but with petitions submitted to get two candidates for the Oconee County Board of Education on the ballot as independents in 2022.
