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Forsyth County elections board gets update on new building
Voting
Once the new building for Forsyth County's elections department is built and open, advanced voting can be held there instead of the county administration building. - photo by FCN file photo

FORSYTH COUNTY — Construction of a new home for the Forsyth County Department of Voter Registrations and Elections appears closer to starting.

Barbara Luth, department supervisor, updated the local elections board on the project during a meeting Monday morning.

“We have been approved [by county commissioners] to go out to bid, and they have earmarked the funds out of capital outlay for the new voter building,” Luth said.

“They have gotten the permits from the city [of Cumming] for building, so they will be going out to bid for contractors to start work.”

The construction is estimated to cost about $3.4 million. No completion date has been announced.

The facility will be built on undeveloped property near the Forsyth County Tax Commissioner’s office, which sits at the corner of Tribble Gap Road and Sawnee Drive on Cumming’s northern edge

The elections department currently operates out of the county administration building. Other uses for the new site will include storage and advance voting.

Officials are pushing for room to expand as the county’s population — and voter ranks — grow.

Also during the meeting Monday, the board honored former member Ralph Davis, who passed away last week. Davis was added to the board in August as a Republican appointee.

“I really appreciated him as a board member and his insight into things and all his skills,” said Donald Glover, the panel’s chairman.

Along with Democrat Randy Ingram, Davis was added as a new party representative when the board expanded from three members to five.

The expansion, which was approved by the state legislature, gives each local party two members to go along with the chairman. 

Davis’s replacement, Carla Radzikinas, was officially sworn in during the meeting by Probate Court Judge Lynwood D. Jordan Jr.