At a time when Republican elected legislative leaders are proposing to cut property taxes and shift to sales taxes, voters in Oconee County on Tuesday night chose the opposite.
A proposal to renew the county’s Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) failed, with 53.3 percent of the voters rejecting extension of the tax, which is set to expire on March 31 of 2028.
A key feature of TSPLOST is the 1 mil reduction in property taxes, with revenue from the sales tax funding that reduction plus paving roads and improving intersections. The projected $72 million also was to be shared with the county’s four cities.
Oconee County voters picked Republican candidates up and down the ballot, but by margins that show a weakening of the party’s hold in the county over previous years.
Jon Ossoff received 38.9 percent of the vote in Oconee County on Tuesday, 6.1 percent higher than the 32.8 percent Sen. Raphael Warnock received in the runoff in December of 2022.
Oconee County voters picked Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest IV over incumbent Democrat Eric Gisler in House District 121, Republican Gary “Ward” Black Jr. over Democrat Suzanna Karatassos in House District 120, and Republican Marc McMain over Democrat Ray Smith in Senate District 46.
Gisler, Karatassos, and Smith won handily in Clarke County, but each of the districts is gerrymandered to make it difficult for a Democrat to win, and the Republicans will represent the county in the General Assembly in January.
Gisler improved his percentage in Oconee and Clarke counties over his percentages when he ran against incumbent Republican Marcus Wiedower two years ago but fell just short of his percentages in each county in the special election in December. He also was hampered by 11 percent lower turnout in Clarke than Oconee County.
Turnout, TSPLOST Vote
A total of 22,901 voters cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 election, or 69.6 percent of the 32,885 active voters in the county.
In 2022, turnout in the county had been 74.7 percent.
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This year, 68.4 percent of the voters cast were Advance In Person. In 2022 that figure was 66.0 percent. The number of votes cast on election day and the number cast Absentee By Mail were not available on Tuesday. Together they totaled 7,228.
TSPLOST was rejected by 52.1 percent of the voters who cast a ballot Absentee By Mail, 51.1 percent of those who cast a ballot Advance in Person, and 59.3 percent of those who voted on election day.
The total No vote was 53.3 percent. TSPLOST was approved in November of 2022 with 51.3 percent of the voters selecting Yes.
In Oconee Central, the county’s largest precinct, 51.6 percent of the voters cast a ballot against TSPLOST renewal.
That figure was 58.4 percent in Oconee South Precinct, 55.9 percent in Dark Corner Precinct, and 53.3 percent in Oconee Northeast Precinct.
Oconee County Commissioners can put the referendum back on the ballot in November of 2027 with renewal, if approved, to take effect when the current tax expires on March 31 of 2028.
Oconee County voters approved each of the three statewide Constitutional Amendments.
Votes For Statewide Candidates
The Oconee County vote in the governor’s race split with 68.2 percent for Republican Rick Jackson and 31.8 percent for Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms.
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| Guest 9/24/2026 |
Four years ago, incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp received 73.4 percent of the vote in Oconee County, with Democrat Stacy Abrams getting 25.7 percent.
The 31.8 percent for Lance Bottoms is a near match for the 31.6 percent of the vote Kamala Harris received in the county in the presidential race two years ago and just below the 32.4 percent Joe Biden received in the 2020 presidential race.
Republican Greg Dolezal received 66.0 percent of the vote in the Lieutenant Governor race to the 34.0 percent for Democrat Josh McLaurin.
The splits were largely the same down the ballot.
In the Public Service Commission District 3 race, Republican Fitz Johnson received 65.1 percent of the vote in Oconee County, while incumbent Democrat Peter Hubbard received 34.9 percent.
In the District 5 Public Service Commission race, Republican Josh Tolbert received 67.3 percent of the vote, with Democrat Shelia Edwards receiving 32.7 percent.
In the House District 10 race, Republican Houston Gaines received 66.8 percent of the vote in Oconee County, to 33.3 percent for Pamela “Pam” DeLancy. In the final district-wide total, Gaines received 53.6 percent of the vote.
Four years ago, Republican Mike Collins received 72.7 percent of the vote in Oconee County, to 27.3 percent for Democrat Tabitha Johnson-Green.
Collins received only 61.1 percent of the vote in Oconee County on Tuesday in his race with Jon Ossoff.
Oconee State House Races
Guest received 52.5 percent of the votes across House District 121, with 65.9 percent in Oconee County and 24.6 percent in Clarke County.
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| Black 9/24/2026 |
Of the 14,125 votes that Guest received, 84.8 percent came from Oconee County, with only 15.2 percent coming from Clarke County.
Of the 12,793 votes that Gisler received, 48.4 percent came from Oconee County, with the remaining 51.6 coming from Clarke County.
The district is designed to make Republican Oconee County dominant over Democratic Clarke County, and 67.5 percent of the 26,918 votes cast in the election on Tuesday came from Oconee County.
The 121st House District consists of Oconee Central, Oconee South, and Dark Corner precincts and all or part of 10 precincts in Clarke County.
Black received 51.9 percent of the votes in the 120th House District on Tuesday, with 59.4 percent in Barrow County, 35.7 percent in Clarke County, 73.0 percent in Jackson County, and 64.6 percent in Oconee County.
Oconee Northeast Precinct is in House District 120.
Of the 12,094 votes that Karatassos received on Tuesday, 66.2 percent were from Clarke County and 13.2 percent were from Oconee County.
For Black, of the 13,064 votes he received, 34.0 percent were from Clarke County and 22.3 percent were from Oconee County.
Of the 31,912 votes Clarke County voters cast on Tuesday in the four legislative districts that carve up the county, 75.3 percent were cast for the Democratic candidates.
Only one of the four representatives chosen by Clarke County voters on Tuesday is a Democrat, incumbent Spencer Frye whose 122 House District is wholly in Clarke County.
Oconee State Senate Race
Oconee County is fully in Senate District 46, and Republican Marc McMain won the district with 54.7 percent of the vote on Tuesday.
Ray Smith received 45.3 percent.
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| McMain 9/24/2026 |
In Oconee County, McMain received 66.4 percent, to Smith’s 33.6.
Senate District 46 includes parts of Clarke, Barrow, Gwinnett, and Walton counties.
In Clarke County, McMain got 31.3 percent of the vote to Smith’s 68.8 percent.
Clarke County is split between two Senate District, the 46th and 47th.
Incumbent 47th District Republican Frank Ginn was unopposed on the ballot on Tuesday, so Clarke County, which voted 78.5 percent for Ossoff, 73.8 percent for Lance Bottoms, and 75.3 percent for Democrats in its four State House races, will be represented by two Republicans in the Senate in January.
Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to bring the current House and Senate back into session to redistrict in the next few weeks.
How that will affect Oconee County as well as Clarke County isn’t known at this point.
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