East Cobb Votes: Close school board races; transit tax fails

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East Cobb Votes: 2024 general election results, reaction and more

UPDATED, 12 A.M.:

The ballot-counting in Cobb County is continuing into Wednesday, without much significant change in local election results.

Here’s our special link with real-time results for races in the East Cobb area from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

We’ll have more complete results later Wednesday, but for now it looks as though Cobb Democrats will sweep to countywide wins while Republicans will hold onto the majority of the Cobb Board of Education.

The Cobb transit tax referendum is going down to a decisive defeat, with 62 percent voting against thus far in the counting.

Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid appears to have won a second term, as have Cobb Sheriff Craig Owens and Superior Court Clerk Connie Taylor.

Republican incumbent school board members Randy Scamihorn and Brad Wheeler are holding on to leads, as is fellow GOP candidate John Cristadoro in the open Post 5 seat in East Cobb.

All Georgia legislators with East Cobb constituencies also were leading in their races late Tuesday.

In the presidential race, Donald Trump is holding onto a slim lead in Geoergia, while Kamala Harris has a solid lead in Cobb County.

UPDATED, 10:30 P.M.

Democrats have comfortable leads in all contested county races—Commission Chairwoman Sheriff, Superior Court Clerk. Democrats were unopposed for District Attorney and Tax Commissioner. The only GOP countywide elected official, State Court Clerk Robin Bishop, appears headed for defeat.

Follow this link for the latest updates on key races in the East Cobb area.

UPDATED, 9:30 P.M.:

Most of the precincts in Cobb County are reporting, and it appears the three Cobb Board of Education seats held by Republicans will remain in GOP hands and a 4-3 majority. That includes John Cristadoro, who leads Democrat Laura Judge 54-46 percent for Post 5 in East Cobb, in seat being vacated by David Banks.

Real-time updates (link here) also have incumbent GOP board members Randy Scamihorn and Brad Wheeler holding tight leads in Post 1 (North Cobb) and Post 7 (West Cobb), respectively.

UPDATED, 9 P.M.:

While local races are still being counted, the presidential race in Georgia is tightening, with Donald Trump leading Kamala Harris roughly 53-47 percent with 66 percent of the votes counted (real-time update link).

He’s got big leads in early voting and election day voting; she’s dominating in absentee voting. In Cobb Harris leads 57-41 through the early election day count.

UPDATED, 8:15 P.M.:

Early results from our key local races:

  • Cobb School Board, Post 5: John Cristadoro (R) leads Laura Judge (D), 55-45
  • Cobb Commission Chairwoman: Incumbent Lisa Cupid (D) leads Kay Morgan (R) 55-45
  • Cobb Transit Tax Referendum: 62 percent no, 37 percent yes

Regarding the latter, the transit tax referendum is losing in nearly every precinct in the county early on, and theses are early voting results. Even in areas of South Cobb and Smyrna/Cumberland, where transit is most frequent, voters thus far are rejecting the sales tax (link here).

UPDATED, 7:40 P.M.:

No Cobb returns have been posted yet, but Cobb Elections is reporting that 85,400 ballots were cast today, and approximately 403,000 in total for an overall turnout of 78,5 percent.

ORIGINAL POST, 7 P.M.

The polls have closed in Georgia, and the counting has begun for the 2024 general elections.

(The Marietta 6B precinct and Kell 01 precinct are open until 7:20 due to equipment issues).

East Cobb News will continuously update this post all evening with results, reaction and more coverage.

In addition to the U.S. presidential race, voters in East Cobb are selecting a new member of the Cobb Board of Education (Post 5), as well as Cobb Commission Chairwoman, 11th District U.S. House of Representatives, and five contested Georgia legislative seats.

Here are real-time links for election results for contested local races we’re tracking, including precinct breakdowns:

Cobb voters also will be voting on the 30-year transit sales tax referendum and contested races for Cobb Sheriff, Cobb Superior Court Clerk and Cobb State Court Clerk.

Here’s a link to Cobb results in all of those races.

Typically early voting and absentee figures are tallied first, followed by same-day voting results and more recent absentee votes.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger projected on Monday that nearly 70 percent of all votes cast statewide could report by 8 p.m., due to record early voting turnout.

While we await full results, we’ll post early voting and absentee figures as they are revealed.

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1 thought on “East Cobb Votes: Close school board races; transit tax fails”

  1. The fact that Connie Taylor was easily re-elected only because she had a “D” by her name demonstrates the number of low information voters we have in Cobb county. It’s sad, the information is readily available. I’m confident 90% of the “D” voters would not have selected Taylor if they spent 2 minutes learning about her.

    Next time around, please educate yourselves on the down ticket candidates, regardless of who you’re voting for at the top.

    Reply

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