By Paul Bolster
Democrat Mo Ivory bested incumbent Natalie Hall in the run-off election on June 18. She will be sworn in for a four-year term in November as a new member of the seven-person Fulton County Commission. No Republican offered for their party nomination. Ivory won the support of the third candidate in the primary, Sonya Ofchus, and felt the issue of ethics and transparency in county government brought them together in the run-off and was the most important reason for her victory.
Hall led with 41% of the vote in the general party primary, but Ivory captured 77% of the small number of voters who came out for the runoff. How small? Only 433 voters came to the Ormewood precinct when the prior vote brought out nearly 1,000 voters. There are nearly 4,000 voters registered to vote at the Ormewood location. Ivory received overwhelming support from the Fulton precincts in the Porch Press area. See results below.
While she won’t take office until after the November election, Ivory plans to get to work right away. “It’s a great time to develop a plan for what I’ll work on for the next four years. I did a lot of listening during the campaign, but I would still like to hear more about what the neighborhoods in my district want from their county government.”
Ivory ran on a general platform that included: quality healthcare; criminal justice reform; tax transparency; affordable housing; voting rights and improvements in libraries and animal services. However she pointed out, “You have to dig into the reports, documents, contracts and talk to the managers of county programs in order to figure out the next steps. Like most legislative bodies, you have to see what other members are willing to support.”
There are some big issues facing the county in the near term. Does the county build a new jail, estimated to cost $2 billion, to address overcrowding and more humanly treat the inmates, or does it heavily invest in system reforms that reduce the need for incarceration? How can the county fill the healthcare desert left by Wellstar’s decision to close the Atlanta Medical Center? What should be done about the disparity in commercial and residential property values?
Precinct Results
Hall Ivory
1A Parkside 22 247
1B Ormewood 66 367
1C 5 29
1D/E Grant Park Rec Cen 44 304
1F Fan Plex 6 19
01T Benteen Elementary 8 48
