Jon Jones Enters District 5 Atlanta City Council Race

Online, May 22, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Jon Jones, the Atlanta City Council candidate recently heralded in a Creative Loafing article as the "Champion of Direct Democracy", is taking his show on the road, so to speak. Jones is on a mission to drastically improve the level of communication and transparency between elected representatives and their constituents, and to create a vote-counting system that holds council members accountable to the will of the people.

Jones started promoting his tech-savvy brand of direct democracy back in 2012. And his concept has gained traction with voters in Atlanta's Midtown section, subsets of Buckhead, and on various ATL college campuses. But a major hiccup in Jones' outreach plan is that, for voter turnout purposes, he may have been preaching to the wrong masses. Jones was initially slated to run for city council competing for the 2nd District seat. But a technicality discovered by the Atlanta Office of Planning revealed that Jones' residence on Ralph McGill Blvd will be split in half by the new district map to take effect in 2014, thus making him a resident of district 5. Election residency requirements mean that if Jones wants to successfully qualify for the ballot, he can only run for the seat in his (future) district; despite being a current resident of District 2, and having been for the 12 months prior to Election Day.

"The movement continues," Jones recites to curious supporters. "Together, we have already begun the work to bring REAL democracy to Atlanta. Shifting lines on a city map can't stop us now!" In response to the discovery, Jones' campaign quickly amended all of the required legal paperwork, rolled out an updated website, and launched a new line of merchandise - complete with the colorful new "JON JONE5" logo. With just 6 months until Election Day, Jones has a lot of ground to cover. The race for the District 5 seat already has 2 contenders. The current incumbent, Natalyn Archibong, has represented Atlanta's 5th District since 2003, is extremely popular among her liberal/progressive base, and has long-standing ties to the community. The other challenger, Matt Rinker, made a bold entrance into the race in February, and has since out-raised the incumbent by almost 30 percent.

But Jones remains optimistic. "I see promise in the discussions that I have with Atlantans. Regardless of what district they live in, they all seem to agree that City Council is making massive, long-term decisions without the input of the taxpayers - and that's not right," Jones says. Jones plans to, once elected, implement an interface that would allow residents to hold discussions, write and propose legislation, vote on bills currently considered by City Hall, and make changes to existing ordinances. If the project is successful, Atlanta would be the first American city to operate a direct democracy at the local level of government.