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Sandy Springs Voters Among Those Who Voted No to TSPLOST

With all 12 counties in the Northeast Georgia District reporting, the measured lost 64.7 percent-35.3 percent.

 

 

TSPLOST struggled in counties throughout the Atlanta region as results trickled in Tuesday night and in the end, "No" had 63 percent of the vote.

With all 12 counties in the Northeast Georgia District reporting, the measured lost 64.7 percent-35.3 percent.

In the Georgia Mountains District, the measure was losing by a spread of 75 percent-25 percent with 12 of 13 counties reporting.

In the 10-county Atlanta Regional District, the measure was failing by a 63 percent-37 percent margin with six of the counties fully reported. The biggest counties - Fulton and DeKalb - had turned in most of their tallies by late Tuesday night and the sales tax was losing by a narrow margin in both counties.

Here's what some Sandy Springs voters said at the polls:

A retiree from Maryland, who voted no to TSPLOST said, "I'm older. I'm a senior citizen. I don't want my taxes raised when they have no plan for it and it's not going to help congestion."

She added," My daughter works for a big corporation, Coca Cola. They're saying support it. I understand that, new jobs, new this, new that. and for her, she wants to vote for it. Me - no.  I just have a different perspective on it. There's no concrete plans. they're raising taxes and they don't have a plan."

Dave Pierce also voted against it. "I just don't trust the politicians to be good stewards of my money anymore...And I think it's pretty cheap of the Governor to manipulate the voters recently [on ending Ga. 400 tolls]," said Dave Pierce, a recent Sandy Springs resident and lifetime Georgian.

Stephen Njoroge voted for the referendum. "I'm tired of hearing about it. Too much conflicting news. I was so confused there but, you know what I just went with my heart and said yes; and trust the process, but you never know."

After seeing the results, Patch blogger Mike Lowry told Patch. "I sincerely hope the legislature can take the right lessons from this result, and begin moving toward a full reform of GDOT with an elected GDOT Board and development of a coherent transportation plan that will facilitate movement from origin to destination for all of us in the most cost-effective way possible."

In other races Hunter Hill won the Republican Primary in the District 6 State State Senate race with nearly 53 percent of the vote against Josh Belinfante of Sandy Springs and Drew Ellenberg of Buckhead.

An earlier version of this story said Hill ran against Belinfante and Doug Stoner of Smyrna. Hill runs against Doug Stoner in the general election, this November.

We've posted a file with live election updates from the Georgia Secretary of State.

Here's a glimpse of more races:

TSPLOST -  100 percent reporting

YES 47.50 percent
NO 52.50 percent

Fulton County Board of Education, District 1 - 100 percent reporting

ROBERT GOODMAN 45.13 percent
LINDA G. SCHULTZ (I) 54.76 percent

Tax Commissioner - 100 percent reporting

ARTHUR FERDINAND (I) 70.54 percent
JOHN JAMONT 14.90 percent
RJ MORRIS 14.56 percent

Sheriff - 100 percent reporting

FRANK L. BROWN 9.21 percent
CURTIS S. FARMER 3.39 percent
THEODORE JACKSON (I) 49.11 percent
RICHARD LANKFORD 33.60 percent
CHARLES SHELTON 4.70 percent
Related Topics: Government

franklin59

10:56 am on Wednesday, August 1, 2012

If we learn anything from the dismissal of T-SPLSOT, it is that this is a wake-up call to ALL of our politicians. We have no faith or trust in the methods by which you are choosing to spend our tax dollars! We are tired of your inattention to the majority's opinions within your constituency. Make certain you keep to your promises in the future, because we are not ignorant of your voting records. We take note of when you make statements analogous to, “Well, I really am against this vote, but I felt it was in the best interest to vote in favor.” Similar to the comments shared by those on the City of Sandy Springs City Council who voted in favor of the Church of Scientology when the neighborhoods were starkly against its implantation! Wake up politicians…a sleeping lion has been stirred.

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Jan R

4:38 pm on Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Please note that Hunter Hill is running against Doug Stoner in the GENERAL election. Hunter Hill is a Republican, while Doug Stoner is a Democrat. Please get your facts straight before reporting!

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Adrianne Murchison

6:45 pm on Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Jan, you're right. it was a late night and that was a misprint. If you could be a little gentler next time, I would so appreciate it.

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Mary Catherine St. Louis

9:03 pm on Saturday, August 4, 2012

It wasn't a 'misprint’. It was a factual error.

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Adrianne Murchison

2:15 am on Sunday, August 5, 2012

Mary Catherine, it was an error, and I call it a misprint in that I mistakenly typed the name.

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