East Cobb Elections Update: Primary results certified; precinct breakdowns

East Cobb Election Update, JoAnn Birrell, Caroline Holko
Democrat Caroline Holko (right) got more votes than Republican incumbent JoAnn Birrell (left) in the Cobb Commission District 3 primary. But more GOP voters cast ballots in that race on May 22.

Here’s an East Cobb elections update, with official tallies from the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, which this week certified the results of the May 22 primaries. We’ve provided the official numbers below of East Cobb-area races, but here are a few other figures of note:

  • A total of 84,284 Cobb voters cast ballots, a turnout of 17.8 percent of the 473,356 registered voters in the county;
  • More Cobb voters voted for Republican candidates at the top of the statewide ticket (governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, etc.) than for Democrats, but only by a slight margin, around 42,000 to around 41,000 on average.

Cobb Commission District 3

  • Caroline Holko (D): 5,767
  • JoAnn Birrell (R, incumbent): 5,634
  • Tom Cheek (R): 3,973
  • James Smith (D): 1,393

Cobb School Board Post 4

  • David Chastain (R, incumbent): 4,600
  • Cynthia Parr (D): 3,469

Cobb School Board Post 6

  • Scott Sweeney (R, incumbent): 4,844
  • Charisse Davis (D): 4,562

State Senate District 32

  • Kay Kirkpatrick (R, incumbent): 11,994
  • Christine Triebsch (D): 8,502

State House District 37

  • Sam Teasley (R, incumbent): 3,012
  • Mary Frances Williams (D): 1,964
  • Ragin Edwards (D): 514
  • Bill Bolton (D): 327

State House District 43

  • Sharon Cooper (R, incumbent): 3,034
  • Luisa Wakeman (D): 2,641

State House District 44

  • Don Parsons (R, incumbent): 2,953
  • Chinita Allen (D): 2,373
  • Homer Crothers (R): 760

State House District 45

  • Matt Dollar (R, incumbent): 3,834
  • Essence Johnson (D): 2,597

State House District 46

  • John Carson (R, incumbent): 2,788
  • Karín Sandiford (D): 1,881

U.S. House District 6

  • Karen Handel (R, incumbent): 13,996
  • Lucy McBath (D): 4,226
  • Kevin Abel (D): 3,019
  • Bobby Kaple (D): 2,762
  • Steven K. Griffin (D): 740

These are Cobb voting totals only; there will be a Democratic runoff on July 24 between McBath and Abel. There will be Republican runoff the same day in the governor’s race between current Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and current Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

The Cobb precinct-by-precinct voting totals can be found here. Several East Cobb precincts had higher than 20 percent turnout:

  • Addison, 23.4 percent;
  • Blackwell, 20 percent;
  • Chattahoochee, 20 percent;
  • Chestnut Ridge, 23 percent;
  • Dickerson, 23 percent;
  • Dodgen, 24 percent;
  • Davis, 21 percent;
  • Eastside 1, 25 percent
  • Eastside 2, 26.8 percent;
  • Elizabeth 2, 21 percent;
  • Elizabeth 3, 23.5 percent;
  • Elizabeth 5, 21 percent;
  • Fullers Park, 21.87 percent;
  • Garrison Mill, 23.64 percent;
  • Gritters, 20.23 percent;
  • Hightower, 22 percent;
  • Lassiter, 20 percent;
  • Mabry, 21.61 percent;
  • Murdock, 23 percent;
  • McCleskey, 24 percent;
  • Marietta 6B, 23 percent;
  • Mt. Bethel 1, 22.61 percent;
  • Mt. Bethel 3, 21.95 percent;
  • Mt. Bethel 4, 23.56 percent;
  • Pope, 20 percent;
  • Roswell 1, 22 percent;
  • Sandy Plains, 20 percent;
  • Shallowford Falls, 22.65 percent;
  • Sope Creek 1, 28.29 percent;
  • Sope Creek 3, 22.79 percent;
  • Timber Ridge, 23.84 percent;
  • Willeo, 23.21 percent.

 

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Cobb commission District 3 candidates discusses taxes, budget deficits and more at civic forum

Three of the four Cobb commission District 3 candidates on the May 22 primary ballot turned out Tuesday night for a wide-ranging forum in Marietta, and explained their views on the county budget, spending and taxes, traffic and transit, zoning and development and other issues.

Tom Cheek, Cobb commission District 3 candidates
Tom Cheek

The only candidate not present was the person who currently holds that Northeast Cobb seat. Republican JoAnn Birrell, who is running for her third term, was a no-show at the forum, which was sponsored by the Cobb County Civic Coalition.

The other sitting commissioner seeking re-election, Republican Bob Weatherford of District 1 in West Cobb, also was absent.

The event was moderated by Dick Yarbrough, a columnist for The Marietta Daily Journal.

The two Democratic District 3 candidates, James Smith and Caroline Holko, said they favored raising the millage rate to solve the county’s estimated $30 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2019.

Birrell’s primary opponent, civic activist and software account manager Tom Cheek, who described himself as a “ferocious taxpayer advocate,” said he wants to see more detailed figures about how big the budget gap really is.

“No one has convinced me of the accuracy” of the projected budget deficit, he said in response to an audience question posed to all the candidates. “Until we get a grip on proper budgeting . . . I’m not ready to give up the millage rate we have now.”

Cheek advocates taking unused SPLOST dollars for lower-tier projects and placing them in the general fund budget (via a referendum process), looking to privatize some government functions and getting out of “the parking deck business . . . the golf course business . . . and the [Braves] stadium security business.”

Caroline Holko
Caroline Holko

The Cobb general fund millage rate is currently 6.76, a figure that was lowered in 2016. Birrell, who has said she does not favor increasing property taxes, voted for that reduction.

Smith, a retired Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority manager who’s involved with the Canton Road Neighbors civic group, frequently cited the lack of pay raises and benefits for county workers in his remarks about taxes.

He noted that salaries for Cobb firefighters and police officers are 12 and 17 percent, respectively, below the national average. “We’re trying to do more with less,” he said. “We’re not giving people a living wage and benefits to keep them here.”

While Cobb rightfully touts itself as having one of the lowest tax rates in the metro Atlanta area, Smith said, “but at what cost?”

Cheek also noted that a starting full-time police officer’s salary in Cobb is less than the pay for a part-time county commissioner, and he would work to change that.

Holko, a former non-profit administrator and home-schooling mother with liberal views, admitted she doesn’t come from a “traditional political background” in a conservative district. She advocates more transit options for Cobb citizens, and opposes proposed cuts in the Cobb library system and increases in fees for senior services.

James Smith, Cobb commission District 3 candidates
James Smith

Holko said raising the property tax rate one mill would cost an average Cobb homeowner around $100 more a year. “I can blow that in Target in about five minutes,” she said.

She and her family moved to Cobb from New Orleans several years ago, attracted by the tax rate but also the services they provide.

However, she said, “to watch that continued to be chipped away at is heartbreaking.”

When asked to specify how she would cut the budget, she said “I don’t really support any significant budget cuts.”

Smith said he would like to see the line items in county government departments, and it’s “darn near impossible” to get that information now.

Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce, a Republican from East Cobb, has suggested a 1.1-mills increase but hasn’t released a full budget proposal. He’s scheduled budget town hall meetings for next month, with budget adoption in July.

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On the subject of transit, Holko urged the marketing budget for CobbLinc be increased “so people know it exists.”

Smith said that “whatever we do needs to go to a referendum.” Cheek is more doubtful increasing transit, citing heavy costs and a small ridership for commuting. He’s also skeptical of a new state law to create a new Atlanta-area regional transit authority.

The candidates agreed on the need for greater transparency and on zoning and development and sticking to the land use plan, and concurred that stipulation letters agreed to by developers should not be used to circumvent the county code.

District 1 challengers Kelli Gambrill and Forrest Shealy also participated in the forum.

Advance voting began in Cobb on Monday, and continues through May 18.

 

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