Romney Bested McCain Record In Percentage and Number of Votes, Despite Low Turnout In Oconee County

Darwin Did Well Too

NOTE: The Georgia Secretary of State's Election Division released updated results for Oconee County at 12:56 p.m. today (Nov. 12, 2012) and updated results for the state as a whole at 4:46 p.m. I have revised the chart and all of the text below to reflect these new results. These new data changed the interpretation of the lower turnout rate, and that change is reflected below as well. Lee

Mitt Romney got 13,098 votes in Tuesday’s election in Oconee County, which is 978 more votes than John McCain received in the county four years ago.

Barack Obama finished with 4,421 votes, which is 404 fewer than he obtained in the county four years earlier.

Georgia DNR Waiting On Caterpillar Application For Discharge Permit For Oconee County/Clarke County Site

Presbyterian Homes Link

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources is waiting for Caterpillar to submit its application for a pretreatment permit for discharge from the plant it has under construction at its site straddling the Oconee and Clarke county borders.

Bill Noell, unit manager for the industrial permitting unit of DNR, told me on Friday that Caterpillar has said it has filed the permit request, but he said DNR has not yet received it.

Close To Half Of Oconee County’s Voters Already Have Cast Their Ballots

Standard For Romney: 69 Percent

Nearly 45 percent of the active voters in Oconee County already have cast their ballots on the eve of tomorrow’s election.

By the end of early voting on Friday, 9,399 persons had voted at the Civic Center on Hog Mountain Road or the Board of Elections and Registration Office in Watkinsville, according to Carole Amos, deputy registrar.

Presbyterian Homes Inviting Oconee County Residents Interested in Proposed Retirement Facility To Meet

Prior to Rezone Vote

Presbyterian Homes of Georgia is inviting Oconee County residents who had expressed an interest in moving into the proposed Presbyterian Village near Butler’s Crossing to come to a meeting on Nov. 7 to learn about the new plans for a similar facility on Rocky Branch Road.

The meeting comes just head of the Nov. 19 Oconee County Planning Commission meeting and the Dec. 4 Board of Commissioners meeting and gives Presbyterian Homes of Georgia a chance to rally support for the rezone, special use and variance request it is seeking for the Rocky Branch Road site.

Regina Quick Waiting on Oconee County Board of Commissioners to Offer Advice On Redistricting

New Maps Examined

Regina Quick, unopposed on the Nov. 6 ballot in the newly created 117th House District, says she is waiting on advice from the Oconee County Board of Commissioners before moving forward on her campaign promise to try to re-unite Oconee County in a single House district.

“If they make the request, I’ll do everything in my power to make that change,” Quick told me in a telephone conversation yesterday. She was referring to the members of the Commission.

Presbyterian Homes of Georgia Offering Village in Austell As Representative of Oconee County Facility

Colorful Brochures Show Lots of Gray Hair

Citizens who express an interest in the Presbyterian Homes of Georgia Continuing Care Retirement Community proposed for Rocky Branch Road in Oconee County are being sent materials about an existing facility, Presbyterian Village in Austell, west of Atlanta.

Michelle Morris, director of marketing for the Cobb County complex, told me materials are not available yet for the Oconee County facility and that the Austell materials are illustrative of what will be provided when the local facility is being marketed.

Oconee County Chamber of Commerce Joins Board of Education in Opposing State Charter School Amendment

Local Proponents Not Organized

The Oconee County Chamber of Commerce has added its support to the resolution passed by the Board of Education earlier this month asking voters in Oconee County to vote against the charter school amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The Chamber included the BOE resolution in its Oct. 15 newsletter with the heading stating that “The Oconee County Chamber of Commerce Supports the Board of Education’s Resolution for the Purpose of Supporting Quality Georgia Public Education.”