July 31 Election: All Coweta voters can cast ballots on Sunday alcohol
By SARAH FAY CAMPBELL
sarah@newnan.com
Coweta voters countywide will decide July 31 whether alcohol — both in restaurants and in stores — can be sold on Sundays.
There will be separate ballot questions for the Sunday by-the-drink sales in restaurants, and package sales in stores.
All registered Coweta County voters, including those who live in the cities, are eligible to vote on the Sunday sales question.
In addition to the countywide questions, Grantville residents will vote on three alcohol-related ballot questions.
Grantville does not currently allow the sale of liquor drinks in restaurants. There will be a question on allowing liquor by the drink; a question on allowing by-the-drink sales of liquor, beer, and wine on Sundays; and a question on allowing Sunday sales of package alcohol.
Grantville is the only jurisdiction in Coweta that has package sales of liquor/ distilled spirits. If approved, the Sunday package sales in Grantville will apply to liquor as well as beer and wine.
Sunday package alcohol sales were illegal in Georgia until last year, when the Georgia General Assembly passed a law allowing local jurisdictions to ask voters whether or not they wanted to allow the package sales.
Sunday drink sales in restaurants have been legal for years but must be approved by voters.
Newnan, Senoia and Palmetto put the Sunday package question on the ballot the first chance they got — in November 2011. Newnan and Senoia voters approved the issue, but Palmetto voters did not.
Sharpsburg and Haralson followed suit on March 6, with voters in both towns approving the package sales.
In Coweta, only Moreland and Turin have not taken up the issue.
Coweta County voters approved liquor by the drink in 2003, by a vote of 7,050-6,421 (52.3 percent to 47.7 percent). The question had been on the ballot in 1997 as well, when it failed by a vote of 7,171 -3,908.
