Road to polling place has been a sore spot for voters during elections
The timing couldn’t have been better for recent paving of a cut-through road adopted last year by the City of Ellijay.
Shrine Club Drive was paved last week, just a few days before the Tuesday, May 24, general primary election in which the nearby Coosawattee Shrine Club was used as a polling place.
The city officially took in the short stretch of road, which connects Old Highway 5 and Boardtown Road, last December. For many years, it was a private drive not owned by the city or county, although it leads to the Shrine Club, which is the polling place for the Ellijay North precinct.
Trying to secure the needed agreement and signatures from owners of property along the road has been going on for nearly a decade.
Judge Scott Chastain, Gilmer County’s elections superintendent, became aware of how badly the heavily potholed road was damaged during the first election he supervised in 2018.
With its crumbling surface and numerous potholes, which became mudholes after rain, the road had become a sore spot for the precinct’s voters come election time.
About four years back, Chastain sent out letters to the multiple owners of property along the road addressing the possibility of it being adopted as a city street. All needed signatures were finally obtained just before the end of 2021.
“I took the project on after I started getting calls about the road. It’s been a task,” Chastain said. “One of the main things I’ve dealt with on Election Days has been calls regarding (that) road. That’s the reason I got involved in this to start with, to take care of that problem. I’m thrilled that it’s been done.”
Colditz Paving, of Blairsville, did the work, which is the first complete paving job ever done on Shrine Club Drive, noted Mayor Al Hoyle. The road has also been striped for the first time.
“They brought in loads of gravel, then put binder down and put 2 inches of topping on it. It (also) had to have some grading and leveling done. It was a full pave job,” Hoyle said.
The State of Georgia has agreed to contribute funding for the paving costs, but that will have to be done via reimbursement, noted Hoyle.
Chastain said he’s glad the work was done so soon after the road officially became a city street.
“I couldn’t be happier about the quickness. I felt it would eventually happen given some time, but the fact that it happened this quick and days prior to the election makes it even better. I think the voters will be surprised and very well pleased that the road has been paved and fixed to where it’s a whole lot more accessible to get in and out of the polling place,” he added.