In odd-numbered years, such as this one, the votes could be held on the same day as the November general election. In even-numbered years when there are statewide elections, the tax votes could also be scheduled to coincide with primary elections.

In the meantime, voters in Fulton and DeKalb counties as well as Atlanta and Decatur will have to go to the polls in a special election March 20 to decide whether to renew a 1 percent sales tax for school construction. If approved, the tax proposals could generate nearly $2 billion over five years, but fewer than 10 percent of eligible voters are likely to turn out to make that decision.

The last time the schools sales tax was up for a vote —- in a similar special election in March of 2002 —- only 5.2 percent of Fulton County's more than 400,000 eligible voters participated.

That tax passed easily, which isn't surprising. Public officials and other supporters of tax proposals are generally pretty good at getting out their voters even in an obscure election, while any opposition is rarely organized. During primaries and general elections, voters are drawn to the polls for other reasons and may not even know about the sales tax vote. Local officials worry that many of them instinctively vote against it.

They also argue that tax elections sometimes have to be scheduled earlier in the year so that government officials have time to prepare their year-end budgets. But the timing of these stealth votes often calls the sincerity of that claim into question.

Last September, 20 Georgia jurisdictions held special elections for tax and bond initiatives just seven weeks before the whole state went to the polls to vote for governor, the state Legislature and county commissioners. Nineteen of the initiatives passed. In the city of Decatur, a $30 million school bond referendum was approved in an election where only 1,898 votes were cast. (There are more than 11,200 voters in the city.)

If only a fraction of eligible voters decide important tax issues that affect all citizens, you can't really call that participatory democracy.

—- Mike King, for the editorial board ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )