Gwinnett County MARTA Enlargement Vote

All polling stations reported just before 11 pm and the unofficial results were decisive. Those who voted against the county's membership in MARTA and the payment of a new sales tax to fund the expansion of public transit have largely won.

More than 91,000 votes were registered.

"I was surprised," said Charlotte Nash, president of the Gwinnett commission. "I thought it would be closer. I thought if it failed, it would be closer to 50-50.

Gwinnett has now rejected MARTA three times, including in 1971 and 1990. Since the last vote, the county's population has almost tripled and has moved from a conservative suburb to a deeply diverse community that is urbanizing. quickly and shows a growing acceptance of political issues such as public transit.

But the decision to call Tuesday's referendum for a March special election – and not to add it to the ballots in last November's mid-term election – was a tough battle for proponents of transportation. in common.

This battle continued until election day. And he's turned out a loser.

Voting began slowly and rose slightly during lunch time. It was difficult to determine the true pulse of the electorate from interviews at the polls, which made it difficult to determine who would be favored by the low voter turnout.

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However, the demographics of advance polls and recent polls suggest that the measure would fail.

"I pray God this fails," said Jim Wehner, 76, who voted no to Lilburn. "Everything we do is becoming a silver cow for MARTA."

A few hours later, Justin Pass, 32, took his 2 and 5 year old children to vote at Norcross Best Friend Park. He voted yes.

"I think it's good to have options," he said. "And there are unfounded negative connotations with [MARTA]. It's just that many people take it to work. "

By the end of the day, about 25,000 voters had voted. When added to the anticipated in-person votes, transit-friendly forces suggested that their target number of participation was still within reach.

"For now, I think it's our best choice," said Fred Hicks, campaign manager for the New Georgia Project Action Fund around 5 pm.

The opposition was also confident.

"I really do not think people who work for a living want to pay for it, given the history of MARTA," said Joe Newton, who opposed the referendum. "They just do not want to do it.

Nash – who helped develop the county's transit plan, lobbied for passage of the bill to make his referendum possible and later rallied to the controversial call to organize the bill. vote in a special election – spoke at dozens of local meetings and open discussion sessions.

Go Gwinnett, the pro-transport committee supported by the business community, has obtained a number of high-profile endorsements, including those from the former government. Nathan Deal and the Conservative Sheriff of Gwinnett.

But the efforts of Go Gwinnett and the New Georgia Project Action Fund focused mainly on voting, specifically targeting those who could support the referendum. The main objective was not to change the mentalities of the opposition.

This push continued on Tuesday. Go Gwinnett and the New Georgia Project Action Fund both said their teams were knocking on doors and holding placards and texting potential voters throughout the day.

It was not enough.

And the opposition was also active.

Newton, the author of several pages and anti-transit websites on Facebook, admitted Tuesday that he was also behind several automated calls recently addressed to Gwinnett voters.

An appeal on Tuesday hinted that MARTA "planned to put thousands of apartments" in Gwinnett if the referendum were to take place.

The state's representative, Brett Harrell, was one of the few Republicans elected from Gwinnett to take a public stand on the vote.

"The people of Gwinnett have recognized tonight that we can do a lot better," he said Tuesday night.

The county commission's decision to hold the referendum on Tuesday rather than adding it to the ballot at the highest turnout in November sparked instant criticism from Democrats and transit supporters. They suggested that a less popular stand-alone election would increase the chances of failure in a county where polls and polls showed increased acceptance of transit, but older and more conservative voters tend to run for office. at the polls in autonomous polls.

"For the thousands of Gwinnett families in need of public transit, today 's vote is tough and lost," said Georgia Democratic Party President Nikema Williams, in a statement. a statement. "Despite the deliberate decision to place this election in a halt month and undermine voter turnout, we saw a bipartisan coalition unite for transit, volunteers scrambling to get the vote and thousands of voters came forward to say yes to MARTA. "

Indeed, it is unlikely that Tuesday's referendum will be the last time Gwinnett residents hear about the expansion of public transit.

Nash, who spent Tuesday night chatting with partygoers and intermittently checking the election results on his mobile phone at the Go Gwinnett Watch Night. The chairman of the commission was prevented from pleading for the referendum because of county ethics rules, but said after the polls that the transit was "too important" not to be extended to Gwinnett.

After the final results came, she said: "The key now is to choose the right date for the next referendum."

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