MARIETTA — As an east Cobber, county chairman Tim Lee will get the opportunity to vote on Sunday alcohol sales and the Republican nominee for president on Tuesday’s ballot.

Citizens in Marietta, Austell, Powder Springs and unincorporated Cobb have that chance also.

Voters who live in Marietta have a third decision to make, which is whether to approve a $7 million bond to help pay for a $9 million, 750-seat theater at Marietta High School.

Lee says he will vote for Sunday sales.

“I believe it’s a reasonable ‘ask’ for the community to be able to have that flexibility,” Lee said.

The chairman said he’s also leaning toward voting for former Speaker Newt Gingrich, “but I really haven’t firmly made up my mind.”

Mary Ansley Southerland, a mortgage broker whose daughter attends Marietta Middle School, isn’t enthusiastic about the theater bond, but said she’s not campaigning against it.

“I respect the process, and let’s leave it at that,” Southerland said. However, “I’m saving my money to build a swimming pool in my back yard,” she said.

Marietta attorney Tom Browning, who chairs the Downtown Marietta Development Authority, said he will vote against the theater bond.

“We’re in a dad-gum recession, and they’re talking about ‘let’s create some more expenses,’” Browning said. “Nor would I call my mortgage company and say, ‘Hey, would y’all mind raising my mortgage a little bit? I’d like to build a little Florida room on the back here.’ We’ve got a declining tax base, and this is no time that I see to go about creating more debt and expenses.”

Browning, like Southerland and Lee, said he would vote for Sunday sales.

“Here’s my theory on the Sunday sales: If people can go out and buy marijuana, methamphetamine and barbiturates on Sunday, why can’t they buy beer?” Browning said.

Gingrich will get Browning’s vote.

“I’m voting for one that’s got bold solutions and will stand up to all the guff in Washington,” Browning said. “It’s like taking on a phalanx of the Greek army of Alexander the Great. You’ve got to have a strong backbone and a strong will to take them on.”

Southerland said she’s inclined to vote for Gingrich as well, “because ultimately I feel like if I picked up the phone and called him, he would return my phone calls, honestly, and that’s where it is, but I’m not totally comfortable with any of them.”

Southerland, who said she’s “not a big social issues person,” said she’s disenchanted with the Republican Party.

“As far as I’m concerned, the lead topic has to be job growth and job creation, and of course in turn the only thing that’s going to bring us out of this is improving the housing market, which is what I do, and I don’t see anybody coming to the forefront with any solutions,” she said.

Janine Eveler, director of Cobb County Elections & Registration, said polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“The average turnout for presidential primaries since 1976 has been in the low 30s, but it has been as low as 19 percent in 2004 and as high as 48 percent in 2008,” Eveler said. “Whatever it is for the county at large, it will probably be similar for the City of Marietta.”

There are nine candidates for president listed on the ballot for president, even though several, such as Michele Bachmann, John Huntsman and Rick Perry, have dropped out of the race, while others were never serious contenders.

For the presidential primary, there are 387,934 registered voters in all of Cobb County, with 296,633 in unincorporated Cobb who will be voting on Sunday sales, 26,649 in the city of Marietta, 8,039 in the city of Powder Springs and 3,197 in the city of Austell.

There were 9,721 early votes cast in person and 2,372 votes by mail in all of Cobb as of 6:30 p.m. Thursday.