ATLANTA — On Tuesday, the polls open in Atlanta and voters will have to choose between 14 candidates for mayor.
If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote there will be a runoff on the last day of November.
That means it won't take a lot of votes to vault a candidate from the middle of the pack into a surprise spot in a runoff.
However, for some candidates, there's concern over low engagement.
"I’m a little alarmed by the low turnout," candidate Antonio Brown said Saturday at an early voting site. Brown made his pitch especially to Atlanta’s youth vote – yet faces waves of youthful indifference.
"When you look at the data, the young people are not voting," he added, disappointed.
Thus far, the race for mayor has been dominated somewhat by former Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed – and challenged by City Council President Felicia Moore. Yet two 11Alive polls, and others, have shown huge numbers of undecided voters.
However, City Councilman Andre Dickens is among the candidates counting on previously undecided voters to put him in a runoff with either Reed or Moore.
"I’m going to be the number one or number two on your ballot," Dickens said Monday. "It may be close in some regards, but ultimately I think I’m going to make it. We’ve surged at the right time."
A runoff between the top two finishers would take place if no candidate gets more than fifty percent of the vote Tuesday.
Former mayoral aide Sharon Gay described the race Tuesday as "a three-way race for second place," in which she expects to knock off either Moore or Reed.
Yet, Gay said a wild card in this election is voting fatigue. "You know in Georgia, we feel like we’ve been voting for a year," she remarked.
Gay's referring to primary elections that started in June 2020, followed by a primary runoff, the November 2020 election, and the U.S. Senate runoff in January. This mayoral election will be the fifth in 18 months.
"I still encounter people who say isn't (the election) next year? Don’t we get a break? Do we have to vote again?" she said.
And if that wasn't enough, next year will feature an election for members of Congress, the legislature, and state officials including the governor.
"People are like, 'what? It’s voting time again in November?" Dickens said, selling voters on the election itself in addition to his candidacy. "You've got to come back and vote and let your voice be heard for the municipal elections which really matter a whole lot. The roads, the schools, the various things that impact your life daily."
Unfortunately, if there's a runoff the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, the voter fatigue may be even greater.