ATLANTA — A Special Election Runoff is being held for some major elections in Clayton and Cobb counties on Tuesday.
These races will range from the headlining Clayton County sheriff's race to deciding on Mableton's mayor after voting to incorporate it as a city. In Mableton, there are also several district council seats up for grabs in the runoff.
Here are the details on those candidates and more as voters will soon head to the polls to decide on races that impact their communities:
Clayton County
Race for sheriff
In Clayton County, voters will elect a permanent replacement for Victor Hill -- the now-convicted former sheriff, who is headed to prison for abusing inmates.
Hill's hand-picked successor Levon Allen is running against Clarence Cox.
Levon Allen
Allen currently serves as interim sheriff. After several personal tragedies, he decided to go into law enforcement.
In 2010, Allen started in the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office as a detention officer. Two years later, Allen resigned from the DCSO after he was arrested and accused of seven family violence crimes. All but two of the charges were dropped and he was sentenced in January 2013 to serve 12 months on probation.
Allen was then hired by Hill to work for the Clayton County Sheriff's Office, where Hill became Allen's mentor and godfather.
As a candidate, he mentions on his website that as sheriff, his goal is "taking back the streets of Clayton County," but does not lay out specific plans on how he will do that.
Clarence Cox
Cox started with the sheriff's office in 1982, according to his campaign website, and currently serves as the chief investigator for the Fulton County Solicitor General's Office. Throughout his 38-year law enforcement career he's worked his way through the sheriff's office ranks - retiring as a major, founding and leading the Clayton County Schools Police Department and working on various task forces with an emphasis on community involvement outside of serving within law enforcement agencies.
He previously told 11Alive that there are three areas he's hoping to improve: the Clayton County Jail, the crime rate and youth and community programs.
Mableton
Race for mayor
Voters in Mableton will cast their ballots for Aaron Carman or Michael Owens for mayor.
Both Carman and Owens are fathers, working in the IT world, who have lived in the area for years. A striking difference is that Owens voted "for" cityhood, and Carman, "against" it.
“As someone who voted for the city, I believe in its viability," Owens said. "Not only the viability of the city but also the understanding and need for Mableton to have a city. Someone who voted against the city of Mableton innately does not have the belief in the city – than someone who votes for the city would have."
Meanwhile, Carman said he's been very transparent about why he didn't vote for cityhood.
"It wasn't that I didn't feel that the area needed help or needed focus and improvement in a lot of ways. I just felt that we could work with our partners at Cobb County to make sure that we apply that focus that's needed to raise the bar here in the Mapleton area," Carman said. "But once it passed, to me, it was... very simple for me. I felt like I could add value and serve the community."
Carman said that he has never been in politics and will be approaching the possibility of being a mayor from the lens of a resident and businessman. His focus includes bringing a downtown area to Mableton in the long term and bringing more transportation as well. Also, allowing residents to keep their garbage collectors while having the city partner with Mableton-based haulers to address littering.
While Owens said his focus is on affordable housing, getting rid of food deserts, bringing in new dining options and having affordable healthcare options. He said transparency is also important to him and adds he will be easy to access if he becomes mayor.
In Mableton, there are also city council runoff races for Districts 2-5. You can learn more about each candidate by clicking on the links below.
City Council District 2
City Council District 3
City Council District 4
City Council District 5
11Alive is committed to helping you vote confidently by understanding the 2023 election issues that impact you. Our goal is to educate and inform our audience about the election process. We plan to do that by verifying facts, providing context, and explaining the system.