Editing Cherokee County, Georgia (section)

==Government, politics, and policing==
An exurban county of [[Metro Atlanta]], Cherokee County strongly supports the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]. Having consistently followed a [[Solid South]] voting pattern for the bulk of the late 19th century and again from the [[Great Depression]] through the [[civil rights movement]], the most recent Democratic presidential candidate to win Cherokee County is Georgian [[Jimmy Carter]], who carried it in both of his bids. In addition, it has not voted Democratic at the state level since the [[1994 United States elections|1994 elections]], when it supported Democratic candidates for Secretary of State and Agriculture Commissioner.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections |url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ |access-date=2024-10-27 |website=uselectionatlas.org}}</ref> The GOP margin of victory has decreased in the past three presidential cycles as population growth has led Metro Atlanta and, in turn, the state as a whole to shift politically leftward.

{{PresHead|place=Cherokee County, Georgia|source=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David |website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=March 19, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|112,142|48,838|1,611|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|99,585|42,779|2,495|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|80,649|25,231|6,904|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|76,514|19,841|2,084|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|70,279|22,350|1,344|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|58,238|14,824|665|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|38,033|12,295|2,020|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|24,527|10,802|3,348|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|16,054|8,113|5,047|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|14,593|4,378|117|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|11,146|3,499|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|5,250|6,020|408|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|2,609|6,539|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|5,509|1,159|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1968|American Independent|2,675|1,436|3,351|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1964|Republican|3,398|3,189|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|2,341|3,077|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|1,829|2,110|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|1,618|2,452|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|631|1,267|255|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|1,059|1,348|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|1,017|1,552|13|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|842|1,211|7|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|314|1,727|18|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|1,679|581|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|601|848|54|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|1,138|544|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|292|855|461|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1912|Progressive|21|603|710|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|665|326|121|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1904|Democratic|246|622|357|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|550|535|58|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|702|712|72|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1892|Democratic|382|927|795|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1888|Democratic|459|1,575|19|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1884|Democratic|140|865|0|Georgia}}
{{PresFoot|1880|Democratic|125|1,813|0|Georgia}}

===Government===
The five-member board of commissioners is elected from four districts, with an [[at-large]] county commission chair. Thus, members are elected as residents of geographic districts, but the commission chair must receive the majority vote of the county in total. Each is elected to a four-year term.

===Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and city police agencies===
The county is under the jurisdiction of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, which is currently headed by Sheriff Frank Reynolds. Unlike some other metro Atlanta counties in Georgia, the Cherokee Sheriff's Office is a full-service Sheriff's Office meaning they manage the Adult Detention Center (jail), and handle law enforcement for unincorporated areas of Cherokee County.  The incorporated cities within Cherokee County, [[Woodstock, Georgia|Woodstock]], [[Canton, Georgia|Canton]], [[Holly Springs, Georgia|Holly Springs]], and [[Ball Ground]], have independent municipal police departments.

===Cherokee County Marshal's Office===
Originally formed by the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners as the Cherokee County Police, the Marshal's office is composed of Sworn Deputies and civilian Animal Control Officers. The Deputies primarily handle code enforcement (in unincorporated areas), commercial vehicle traffic enforcement, park ordinance enforcement, business and liquor licenses, Cherokee Probation arrests and transports, as well as enforcing State Laws (including traffic laws) and assisting the Sheriff's Office and City Police. The civilian Animal Control Officers enforce all animal related ordinances within the county, including cities.

===Politics===
As of 2021, all state, county, and municipal elected officials representing Cherokee County are members of the Republican Party, with the exception of officials who hold officially non-partisan offices.<ref name="08/18/2021">{{cite web |title=Elected Official Directory |url=https://cherokeechamber.com/wp-content/uploads/electedofficials.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122191147/https://cherokeechamber.com/wp-content/uploads/electedofficials.pdf |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |url-status=live |website=Cherokee Chamber |access-date=August 18, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Elected Officials Listing |url=https://voter.cherokeega.com/uploads/elected%20officials%202019EXPANDED5.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818060706/https://voter.cherokeega.com/uploads/elected%20officials%202019EXPANDED5.pdf |archive-date=August 18, 2021 |url-status=live |website=Cherokee Elections and Voter Registration |access-date=August 18, 2021}}</ref>

Cherokee County had voting patterns similar to most [[Solid South]] and Georgia counties prior to [[1964 United States presidential election in Georgia|1964]] in presidential elections, though Democratic Party candidates did not win by as wide margins as they did in the rest of the state and the [[Deep South]]. In fact, the county backed Republican candidates four times between [[1900 United States presidential election in Georgia|1900]] and [[1960 United States presidential election in Georgia|1960]]. From 1964 onward, the county has swung strongly toward the Republicans, only failing to vote for the Republican in presidential elections since then in [[1968 United States presidential election in Georgia|1968]] when [[segregationist]] [[George Wallace]] appealed to anti-Civil Rights Act sentiment and in the two times Georgian [[Jimmy Carter]] was on the ballot in [[1976 United States presidential election in Georgia|1976]] and 1980. In addition, unlike the inner suburban counties of the Atlanta metropolitan area, Cherokee County has continued to vote for Republicans by landslide margins, although the margins have decreased slightly in the most recent elections with the growth of the metropolitan area. In [[2020 United States presidential election in Georgia|2020]], the majority of votes from all of the 42 county election precincts were cast for incumbent President [[Donald Trump]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=November 9, 2020|title=Election Results by Precinct|url=https://voter.cherokeega.com/uploads/Election-Results/11-3-20%20SOVC%20FINAL.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=Cherokee County Elections and Voter Registration|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102190804/https://voter.cherokeega.com/uploads/Election-Results/11-3-20%20SOVC%20FINAL.pdf |archive-date=January 2, 2021 }}</ref>
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