Fulton County has accepted 4,411 absentee ballot applications for the Nov. 3 special election on a 0.75% transportation sales tax, including $98.2 million in projects for Roswell.

The county's unofficial absentee report, updated Saturday, Aug. 29, shows the accepted total through Friday, Aug. 28. The county rejected 63 applications, all on the first day of the reporting period.

The numbers are countywide and do not break down by city. But the ballot's centerpiece for Roswell residents is the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) renewal, which would continue the existing 0.75% levy on purchases made in Fulton County outside Atlanta for five years through March 2032.

Applications surged early, then slowed

Aug. 18 saw 1,527 accepted applications, the single largest day in the report. After that initial wave, daily volume dropped sharply. The next three days produced between 79 and 228 applications per day. Volume picked up the following week, ranging from 260 to 526 per day from Aug. 24 through Friday, Aug. 28.

An earlier county report showed 2,524 applications accepted through Aug. 19. The county added 1,887 more over the next nine days.

What's on the ballot

Fulton County voters outside Atlanta will decide whether to renew the TSPLOST, first approved in 2016 and renewed in 2021. The referendum is countywide; if a majority of eligible voters approve it, the tax continues even if Roswell voters alone reject it.

Roswell's projected $98.2 million share is the largest among the four North Fulton cities, according to Roswell Ledger reporting. The city's 18-project list, approved 5-1 by Mayor and Council on May 26, includes a $24 million East Roswell Loop Multi-Use Trail, $15 million for citywide resurfacing and a $10 million bridge repair program.

If voters reject the renewal, the current TSPLOST expires in March 2027 and none of those projects would receive TSPLOST funding.

Mayor Mary Robichaux said at the Aug. 3 ceremonial signing of the TSPLOST intergovernmental agreement that Roswell voters "will have the opportunity to decide in November whether to continue the transportation improvements that TSPLOST has made possible in our community."

Key dates

The voter registration deadline is Monday, Oct. 5. Early in-person voting begins Tuesday, Oct. 13. The last day to submit an absentee ballot application is Friday, Oct. 23, according to the official call for election signed by Fulton County Director of Elections Nadine Williams. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.