The City of Atlanta approved legislation to scan more than 115,000 petition signatures calling for a referendum on the Atlanta Public Safety Safety Training Center on Monday. After scanning the petitions, Atlanta will make them available to the public but will not determine the validity of the signatures at this time.
Activists claimed to deliver 116,000 petition signatures on September 11, nearly doubling the 58,232 required to force a public vote on the future of the training center for law enforcement and first responders. However, a legal ruling briefly extended the petition deadline from August 21 to late October before a higher court stayed it. Atlanta ultimately accepted the petitions but said it would not begin processing them until it received guidance from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Now the “submitted forms related to the referendum petition” are set to be scanned and made available to the public via the Internet, according to the Atlanta City Council.
After the resolution was passed, Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari (pictured above) called it “a small step” toward “moving the count forward, or at least making it public,” as reported Atlanta First News. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens similarly said he supported the move, adding that he wants “to know exactly what is in those boxes” delivered by activists.
A representative for the Cop City Vote Coalition told the outlet activists were “encouraged” and called for further moves to expedite the review process.
Meanwhile, Governor Brian Kemp (R) remains a strong supporter of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center and an opponent of the referendum effort. Following the vote, Kemp wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that “law enforcement and first responders deserve the best training” and that the matter “should not be controversial – or political.”
“Instead of hiding behind ballot processes or legal questions for a referendum,” wrote Kemp, “I hope elected leaders of both parties” will “voice their unequivocal support for the training center” in the interest of public safety.
I fully support the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center because our law enforcement and first responders deserve the best training we can provide so they can keep themselves and the communities they serve safe.
Training our police officers, firefighters, and first responders…
— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) September 18, 2023
Earlier this month, more than 60 individuals accused of being associated with violent protests at the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center site were charged in a sweeping racketeering indictment by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R).
Carr’s 109-page indictment, which uses the Georgia Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, details an alleged national criminal conspiracy that planned fundraising and legal defense for criminals who engaged with police and offered facts regarding what officers discovered at the site following the protest that saw a Georgia State Trooper shot and a protester killed.
According to the indictment, police discovered “dangerous, sharp traps,” incomplete “ingredients for making Molotov cocktails” and “a rudimentary pipe bomb that had not yet been completed.”
Late last week, Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) became the latest high-profile Democrat to express support for the referendum effort in a letter to the City of Atlanta.
In his letter, Warnock warned the city he is “closely monitoring” the petition and expressed concerns the city may engage in”discrimination” or “disenfranchisement” when determining the validity of petition signatures.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Liliana Bakhtiari” by Atlanta City Council.
