UPDATE: Voters reject East Cobb, Lost Mountain cities
May 25—Opponents of East Cobb cityhood declared victory late Tuesday night as Cobb County reported 72% of voters voted "no" on the referendum to create a new city.
Results came in slowly across the county in the first few hours after polls closed, but Cobb's incomplete results reported 5,218 votes in favor (28%) and 13,706 against (72%) as of 12:30 a.m.
The anti-cityhood East Cobb Alliance conducted its own tally of the printouts that election workers tape to the doors of precincts from election day results. Of 17 precincts, anti-cityhood advocate Mindy Seger said, 3,879 voters were in favor and 9,166 were opposed.
"The community didn't just say no," Seger declared to fellow opponents as they raised their glasses, "they said hell no!"
Representatives for the East Cobb Cityhood Committee did not immediately return a request for comment.
Cobb Elections Director Janine Eveler said shortly before 1 a.m. that the county had 7,000 to 8,000 mail-in ballots still to tally countywide.
In Lost Mountain, the cityhood movement likewise appeared headed for defeat as of 12:30 a.m. Some 9,273 voters were in favor (43%) and 12,481 were against (57%).
Cityhood opponent Dora Locklear told the MDJ shortly after midnight she wasn't ready to declare victory, but said she'd felt "optimistic all day" about the outcome.
"I have been focused on the necessary steps, but free from attachment to the outcome. That has allowed us to stay focused, and to just keep trying to tell the rest of the story," Locklear said. "All of the facts pointed in one direction, and that was 'no.'"
Cityhood advocate State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R-west Cobb, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
The story was similar in Vinings, where anti-cityhood votes are up with 55% of the 2,281 votes counted as of 12:30 a.m.
For the Board of Commissioners District 3, incumbent JoAnn Birrell led her opponent Judy Sarden with around 76% of roughly 19,000 ballots.
Check back for updates.
