Oconee County Voters Opt To Renew Education Sales Tax, Give Boost To Democrats In Statewide Public Service Commission Races

***Incumbents Win In Bishop, Bogart, Watkinsville***

Nearly two-third of Oconee County voters approved of renewal of the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) in Tuesday’s election, extending the 1 percent tax until 2031, or until it brings in $86.8 million in revenue.

While the margin of approval for renewal of the tax was substantial, it was the lowest in any of the seven ESPLOST referendums in the county, going back to the first referendum in 1997.

In that year, 85.1 percent of the voters approved of the tax. In March of 2002, 89.3 percent approved of renewal of that tax, the highest level of approval for the referendums. In March of 2021, 83.6 percent of the voters approved of renewal of the current ESPLOST.

Turnout in the Tuesday election was the second highest among the seven ESPLOST referendums at 25.6 percent. In March of 2021, only 6.1 percent of the county’s active voters cast a ballot.

Democrats Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard got 41.2 and 41.8 percent of the vote in Oconee County respectively Tuesday in the two state-wide Public Service Commission races, toping the recent record Democratic vote in the county recorded by Sen. Raphael Warnock in the December 2022 runoff of 32.7 percent.

In the contentious Bishop elections, incumbent Mayor Drew Kurtz received 64.2 percent of the vote, incumbent Post 1 Council Member Chuck Hadden received 66.4 percent, and incumbent Post 2 Council Member Deborah Lucas received 62.9 percent of the vote.

Only incumbent Post 4 Council Member Mindy Porterfield was defeated, with 45.1 percent of the vote. Challenger Jeff Davis received 54.9 percent of the vote.

Porterfield had aligned herself with a slate of challengers, all of whom were unsuccessful except for Greg Montgomery, who ran unopposed for Post 3 but only got 54 out of the 134 votes cast, or 40.3 percent. Hudson Holder’s name was on the ballot, but he was disqualified, and his votes were not counted.

In Watkinsville, incumbent Mayor Brian Brodrick received 84.1 percent of the vote, with former Mayor Bob Smith receiving 15.9 percent.

In Bogart, incumbent council members David Kilpatrick and Greg Maddox were re-elected, receiving 57.1 and 54.8 percent of the vote respectively. Challengers Stephanie Stalnaker and Nathan Seagraves received 41.7 percent and 32.1 percent respectively. The top two vote getters are elected.

Turnout And Vote

Turnout was surprisingly heavy on election day, with 53.0 percent of the votes cast on that day. Advance in-person voting, which had been heaviest in the final two days of voting, was 46.4 percent, and absentee by mail made up only 0.6 percent of the vote.

ESPLOST Votes Over Time

The ESPLOST referendum did best in absentee by mail voting, with 69.6 percent of the 46 ballots giving the tax renewal approval, followed by Advanced In-Person voting, with 67.3 percent approval, and then election day voting, with 63.1 percent approval.

Incumbent Republican District 2 Public Service Commission Member Tim Echols did best with Election Day Voting (61.9 percent), followed by Advanced In-Person voting (55.5 percent), and Absentee by Mail (37.3 percent).

The pattern was the same for incumbent Republican District 3 Public Service Commission Fitz Johnson, who got 61.3 percent of the vote on Election Day, 54.9 percent with Advanced In-Person, and only 39.2 percent of the vote cast Absentee by Mail.

Vote By Precinct

Across the state, Democrat Alicia Johnson got 62.0 percent of the vote to 38.0 percent for Republican Echols.

Democrat Hubbard received 62.2 percent of the vote statewide to 37.8 percent for Republican Fitz Johnson.

The differences in ESPLOST by type of ballot are small, but the referendum did better in voting modes that were more Democratic, and worst in voting modes that were more Republican.

The pattern is the same for the county’s four precincts.

Oconee Precincts

The two Republican candidates did best in Dark Corner and Oconee South, but ESPLOST got its lowest support in those two precincts, getting only 57.5 percent support in Oconee South.

The two Republican candidates ran weakest in Oconee Central and Oconee Northeast, but ESPLOST did best in those precincts.

The precincts are of differing sizes, with Oconee Central having more votes than the other three precincts combined.

In Watkinsville, incumbent council members Chuck Garrett and Connie Massey were reelected without opposition.

The results reported in this post are preliminary, with official certification scheduled for Friday.

Bishop Vote Tallies