ATLANTA -- Following a delay in the approval of a petition for a possible referendum on Atlanta’s planned public safety training center, opponents have filed a writ of mandamus in Fulton County Superior Court asking a judge to force the city’s municipal clerk to approve the petition.
The Cop City Vote coalition announced the action Tuesday after they said the city’s clerk failed to respect a seven-day timeline for approving the petition, filed June 7. According to the group, the clerk denied the original petition on June 14 because it was missing a line requiring Atlanta residents to validate each signature.
The group added the line and resubmitted the petition. According to court documents, the group is arguing it was the city clerk’s responsibility, based on Georgia law, to add the missing line, not the petitioners’.
“We’re not asking the Clerk to do anything more or less than the legal minimum. Approve the petition form, and let us go about the people’s work,” Mariah Parker, who filed the original petition, said in a statement.
Still, the group resubmitted the form. According to court documents, petitioners were given the clerk’s assurance on Friday that she would review the resubmitted petition before the end of that day. But interim municipal clerk Vanessa Waldon closed the office at noon Friday ahead of the holiday weekend, the group said.
According to an internal email shared with staff from Department of Human Resources Commissioner Tarlesha Williams Smith, the city had an early release at noon Friday in celebration of Juneteenth. The early release was only applicable to non-essential employees, provided business needs were met.
City Hall reopened Tuesday. Attempts to reach Waldon on Friday and Tuesday were unsuccessful; the office voicemail box was full.
Mayor Andre Dickens’ office referred questions about the petition to the clerk’s office, noting the municipal clerk is not part of the executive branch and the mayor’s office has no involvement in the approval process of the petition. A spokesperson for the mayor said in a June 7 statement that the administration respects the right to free speech and the process regarding the referendum.
“We firmly believe that our residents deserve well-trained first responders who have access to adequate training facilities,” the statement said. “We will continue to share our view that the PSTC and the more than 300 acres of green space are the right approach to ensuring Atlanta will be a national model for public safety.”
Opponents allege the clerk’s office is taking the position that the resubmitted is a new petition, which would restart the seven days available to review and approve.
They also argue that each day the approval is delayed should be credited to the time organizers have to collect more than 70,000 signatures for the referendum to be placed in the November ballot. Once the signatures are collected, the city council will have 50 days to determine the petition’s validity.
