By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 30, 2018 | Years ago, while at the Gwinnett County printing plant of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, when occasionally guiding groups on plant tours in the news print storage area, often people would ask ”How much newsprint do you use?”
We had the answer. In those days, we used a lot of newsprint, as they do today. But after a while, since people could not comprehend and interpret the fine points of usage, I would just say “Big number.”
(For your information, today the printing plant consumes about 277 tons of paper just to print all of its editions last week. Put another way, that’s 595,400 pounds, or 1,374 miles of newsprint . Can you comprehend? You see why I said, “Big number?”)
That thought came to me when checking with Lynn Ledford at the Gwinnett County Elections office.
How many people are now registered to vote in Gwinnett? I asked the elections people. And I got back a “big number?”
The answer is 493,227 people are registered in Gwinnett now.
Yep, and by the April 24 deadline for people to register to vote in the Georgia primary on May 22, Gwinnett may have nearly a half million people eligible to vote in the county.
We got to thinking about that number. With Gwinnett now totaling about 960,000 people, remember there are 178,000 students in the Gwinnett system, plus about another 54,000 youngsters not in school in ages 1-4, plus 6,872 in private schools. Take away the 500,000 voters not registered, and that means that there are still another 221,000 people in Gwinnett not registered to vote. That’s a “big number” too!
Yes, some immigrants are not registered, and that would reduce the eligibility totals. It shows that Gwinnett still has a way to go to having all its people registered.
For the candidates this year, the 493,000 now registered is a mighty vote. Several statewide races could hinge on how well a candidate does in Gwinnett.
Gwinnett’s population is larger
than 59 south Georgia counties.
We also checked the state records to show the counties with the most people registered. Here are the standings of people eligible to vote as of March 28, 2018, from the Secretary of State’s web site.
- Fulton, 640,302;
- Gwinnett, 493,220;
- Cobb, 466,913;
- DeKalb, 463,016;
- Chatham, 177,106;
- Clayton, 156,362;
- Henry, 144,250;
- Forsyth, 134,285;
- Richmond, 115,097; and
- 10.Muscogee, 107,701.
As for the smallest counties:
- Taliaferro, 1,174;
- Webster, 1,448;
- Quitman, 1442;
- Echols, 1,675; and
- Clay, 1,784.
Do you remember that a few months ago, a story in GwinnettForum pointed out that Gwinnett was larger than 59 counties in South Georgia combined? (Note map.) What does this mean if you are a statewide candidate, you might consider doing a lot of electioneering in Gwinnett. It also should tell you that how well you do in Gwinnett could put you in a pretty position to win the statewide race.
So watch out for the candidates! With Gwinnett’s “Big Number,” there should be a lot of political concentration in the county this spring preparing for the 2018 primary.
As of today, the primary is only 52 days away!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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