Misunderstanding kept some voters away

Joy Scharich, director of Oconee elections, says you would not believe how many people called yesterday who were under the impression that they could vote in the municipal elections. These, Scharich says, were Oconee residents who live beyond the municipal corporate limits. But they thought they could vote. By law, however, only those people who live inside a municipality—such as those who pay municipal property tax bills, in addition to county tax bills—were eligible. Some of the confusion arises because certain rural residents receive some forms of city services, such as utilities or garbage pickup.