Oconee County Voters Reject Transportation Sales Tax; Watkinsville Voters Select Incumbents For Mayor, Council

***Bogart Rejects Incumbent On Council***

Oconee County voters Tuesday turned down a new Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax in a low-turnout election.

Watkinsville voters selected incumbent Mayor Brian Brodrick over Rebecca Billings and incumbent Post 2 Council Member Connie Massey over Carolyn Maultsby.

In North High Shoals, voters selected Meagan Cundiff over Jared Strickland to fill the open Post 5 seat.

In Bogart, incumbent Jenny Bridges was defeated by challenger Greg Maddox. David Kilpatrick was re-elected to Council.

Proposed Democratic House Map Splits Oconee County Into Three Districts; Proposed Democratic Senate Map Keeps Oconee Whole

***Vulgar Social Media Attacks In North High Shoals***

The Democratic Caucus of the Georgia House of Representatives on Friday released a draft redistricting map that would radically change how Oconee County is represented in the Georgia House.

The Georgia Senate Democratic Caucus on Wednesday released its map for redistricting of the state Senate, and that plan would keep Oconee County whole in Senate District 46, as is the case at present.

On Oct. 21, both Democratic Caucuses released a plan for U.S. House Districts, and it, like the map released by the Georgia Senate Republican Caucus in late September, would put Oconee and all of Clarke together at the center of a district stretching from Walton County to the Savannah River.

Oconee County Commissioners To Consider Contract With Charter Communications To Expand Broadband Services

***Turnout For T-SPLOST Light in Early Voting***

Oconee County is preparing to enter into a $1.4 to $1.7 million agreement with Charter Communications to use federal American Rescue Plan monies to provide broadband service to 1,377 addresses in the county currently without access.

In addition, Charter already has been awarded federal funds that will be used to provide broadband to an additional 754 addresses.

As a result, an estimated 98 percent of the addresses in the county are expected to be passed by broadband when the project is completed.

COVID-19 Cases Continue To Drop In Oconee, Clarke, Entire Northeast Health District; Deaths From Disease Also Decline

***Cases In Schools, Hospitals, Also Down***

The 10-county Northeast Health District added 459 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Friday, down from 631 added a week earlier, and 21 new confirmed deaths from the disease, down from 25 last week.

One of the confirmed deaths was in Oconee County, and five were in Clarke County.

The average number of added cases in the District was 65.6 per day, compared with 90.1 per day in the week ending Oct. 22.

Trump And Charges Of Election Fraud Dominate Oconee County Republican Candidate Forum For 10th Congressional District

***Candidates Hold Conversations With Tim Bryant***

Andrew Alvey stood out among the 12 candidates seeking the Republican Party’s nomination for the 10th Congressional District seat at the Oconee County Republican Forum on Monday night.

At 25 years of age, he was the youngest.

By the luck of the draw, he was the final candidate to speak.

He alone among the speakers said firmly that Donald Trump did not win the election with Joe Biden in 2020.

Early Balloting Suggests Small Number Of Voters Likely To Decide Oconee County Transportation Tax Referendum

***Few Voters In City Races As Well***

Turnout for the Nov. 2 referendum on the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax continues to be light with only five days of early voting remaining.

After the 11th day of early voting on Saturday, only 491 of the county’s 32,066 voters–or 1.5 percent--have participated in in-person voting at the Civic Center on Hog Mountain Road west of Butler’s Crossing.

COVID-19 Cases In Northeast Health District Decline For Seventh Week; Confirmed Deaths From Disease Increase

***Both Oconee And Clarke Added Confirmed Deaths***

The 10-county Northeast Health District added 631 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Friday, down from 739 a week earlier, and 25 new confirmed deaths from the disease, up from 22 last week.

One of the confirmed deaths was in Oconee County, and one was in Clarke County, as had been the case a week ago.

Both counties also added two “probable” deaths from the disease.