Oconee County voters approved renewal of the county’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) on Tuesday, by a lower margin than they approved the tax six years ago.
Oconee County Republican voters gave a tiny edge to Marc McMain as their choice to represent them in the state Senate District 46 race and picked Gary “Ward” Black Jr. as the preferred candidate for House District 120.
Oconee County Republican voters strongly preferred Houston Gaines as the party’s nominee for U.S. House District 10, gave a slight edge to Mike Collins for the U.S. Senate race, preferred Burt Jones in the gubernatorial race, and just slightly preferred Blake Tillery as the party nominee for Lieutenant Governor.
Oconee County Democratic voters selected Ray Smith as their preferred candidate for state Senate District 46. Suzanna Karatassos had no opposition in the House District 120 race.
Oconee County Democrats preferred Alexandra “Lexy” Doherty as the party nominee for U.S. House District 10, Keisha Lance Bottoms for governor, and Josh McLaurin as Lieutenant Governor. Incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff was unopposed in the Democratic U.S. Senate race.
Election day voting was heavy, but by the end of the day only 38.7 percent of the county’s 32,161 active voters had cast a ballot in advance or on election day, compared with 41.9 percent of the 29,155 active voters four years ago.
In the end, only 224 more voters cast a ballot in May of 2026 than in May of 2022, but the number of voters using the Democratic ballot increased by 1,809 and the number of voters using the Republican ballot decreased by 1,673. The number of nonpartisan ballots increased by 88.
At the time of this post, McMain and Smith were far ahead in the whole of the 46th Senate District, as was Black in the 120th House District. Gaines and Pamela “Pam” Delancy were ahead in the U.S. 10th Congressional races for the Republican and Democratic nominations respectively.
County Votes
Tuesday’s night’s elections results are unofficial and incomplete, and Jennifer Stone, Assistant Director of Elections and Registration, said at the end of the day on Tuesday that four provisional ballots remain to be processed and four absentee ballots from abroad remain out and eligible for counting.
The Board of Elections and Registration is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. on Friday to certify results.
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| McMain 4/27/2026 |
Voters across each of the county’s four precincts approved renewal of the 1 percent SPLOST, with a total Yes vote of 56.7 percent, but that figure was 59.2 percent in the large Oconee Central Precinct, only 50.7 percent in Oconee South Precinct, 52.4 percent in Dark Corner Precinct, and 55.8 percent in Oconee Northeast Precinct.
The current SPLOST was approved by voters in 2020 with 67.3 percent Yes vote.
Voters initiated a 1 percent Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax in 2022 with a 51.3 percent Yes vote.
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| Smith 4/21/2026 |
Last November, voters approved renewal of the 1 percent Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax with 65.1 percent voting for the tax.
The 5,557 voters who turned out on Election Day to cast their ballots made up 44.7 percent of the total vote of 12,439. Advance In Person voting made up 53.4 percent of the vote, and Absentee By Mail was 1.9 percent of the vote.
Four years ago, Election Day voting was 55.5 percent of the final vote of 12,215, compared with 41.0 percent by Advance In Person, and 3.5 percent Absentee By Mail.
Vote Details
Oconee County Republicans picked McMain over McKillip, 38.6 percent to 38.2 percent. Michael Broun received 23.2 percent of the vote.
That race almost certainly will go to a runoff on June 16.
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| Black 10/27/2025 |
Oconee County Democrats picked Smith (61.3 percent) over William Gaulden (38.7 percent).
Oconee County Republicans gave Black 56.6 percent of the vote to 43.4 percent for Chad Paton. Only the Northeast Precinct in the County falls in the 120th House District.
The remainder of the county is in the 121st House District, and Incumbent Democrat Eric Gisler and Republican Mack "Dutch" Guest IV had no opposition in their primaries.
Oconee County Republicans gave Collins only a slight nod over Derek Dooley (42.7 percent to 41.5 percent) in the U.S Senate race. That race seems likely to head to a runoff on June 16 as well.
Gaines was the overwhelming favorite in the race for the party’s nomination for the U.S. 10th Congressional District, with 81.3 percent of the vote.
In the Democratic Primary for the 10th Congressional District, 49.8 percent of the Oconee County Democrats selected Doherty to 43.6 percent for Delancy.
The county’s Republicans picked Jones (34.0 percent) over Rick Jackson (27.7 percent) in the gubernatorial race and Tillery (27.1 percent) over John F. Kennedy (26.7 percent).
Oconee County Democrats gave Lance Bottoms 38.7 percent of the vote, with Michael “Mike” Thurmond receiving 20.9 percent in the gubernatorial race and McLaurin (61.1 percent) over Nabilah Parkes (26.7 percent) in the Lieutenant Governor race.
Nonpartisan Races (Added 9:10 a.m. May 20, 2026.)
While the Nonpartisan judicial races did not include any party labels, both parties made clear in three of the four races in which a challenger had stepped forward which candidates they preferred. The incumbents had all been appointed by Republican Governor Nathan Deal.
Locally, Oconee County Democrats canvassed for those three, and Republican Party leadership endorsed the incumbents openly.
In the race between incumbent Supreme Court Judge Charles “Charlie” Bethel and Miracle Rankin, 70.6 percent of the county voters picked Bethel, and 29.4 percent picked Rankin.
In the race between incumbent Supreme Court Judge Sarah Hawkins Warren and Jen Auer Jordan, 70.3 percent of the voters in the county picked Warren, and 29.7 percent picked Jordan.
In the race between incumbent Court of Appeals Judge Trenton “Trent” Brown and Will Wooten, 73.6 percent picked Brown and 26.4 percent picked Wooten.
In the race between incumbent Court of Appeals Judge Elizabeth D. Gobeil and Fatima Harris Felton, 77.2 percent of the voters picked Gobeil and 22.8 percent picked Felton. Felton was not part of the local canvassing effort.
Full results for the county are available at the Secretary of State web site.
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