With just hours until voters go to the polls, those campaigning for and against the St. George incorporation effort are engaged in a last-ditch effort to mobilize their supporters.
Though record voters cast early ballots, it’s too soon to say which side benefits most from the high turnout—and whether that high turnout will continue on an election day that is competing with the LSU-Florida matchup.
St. George organizers took to social media Thursday night to answer questions on Facebook live about how the new city would work and what the nuts and bolts of organizing would look like.
In an interview with publisher Woody Jenkins, who is already testing a new community newspaper to serve the area, The St. George Leader, St. George spokesman Drew Murrell said if voters approve creation of a new city, it could begin collecting taxes as soon as next spring and that officials in the new city would begin trying to divide up assets, liabilities, revenues and facilities with Baton Rouge leaders, a process he estimates could take two years or so.
As for creating a new school district, that would take far longer and would require a vote of the entire parish as well as a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.
“It is going to be long and arduous,” he acknowledged.
Meanwhile, St. George opponents, who have been operating a decentralized campaign, with several groups working separately to defeat the issue, have organized a phone bank targeting what they believe to be are undecided voters.
“We’re making final touches with voters, making sure the ones who have indicated they’re going to vote against it know their polling place,” says consultant Michael Beychok, who is heading the No City of St. George PAC. “As for the undecideds, we’re making more outreach to them, calling, texting, door knocking, Facebook ads, anything we can to reach them.”
Thursday, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome walked neighborhood streets in St. George, meeting with voters and handing out information.
Beychok, who says he has not done any polling, says he thinks the race will be tight and isn’t prepared to call it one way or the other.
“The higher the turnout, the better we feel about our chances,” he says. “I think we’ve done anything I would have wanted to do to get information, facts, to voters so they can make up their own mind.”
