Here is a recap of last week’s local elections, which concluded after press time for the most recent print edition of the Times.
Only 9 percent of the county’s 171,905 registered voters came out to decide the outcome of the T-SPLOST referendum, and a majority of those who did vote were in favor of adding the one-cent sales tax. It was the only issue on the ballot for residents of the unincorporated county.
Final results from the county government’s website indicated 8,520 yes votes and 7,021 no votes. A list of specific transportation projects for the county and its four cities was approved earlier this year with an intergovernmental agreement. Approval of the referendum will bring the total sales tax in Henry County to eight cents for every dollar spent.
There was considerably more to decide in three of the county’s four cities.
Sandra Vincent, a member of the McDonough City Council for more than a decade, will be that city’s new mayor. She defeated former council member Craig Elord as well as Tony Brown in the three-person race.
As for the council races, incumbent Rufus Stewart defeated Toneen Brown in District 1; Jamal Burt was unopposed in District 2 to take Vincent’s former seat; Vanessa Thomas defeated incumbent Roger Pruitt and Darryl Payton in an at-large race; and Scott Reeves won a special election against three challengers for Elrod’s seat.
Hampton will also have a new mayor after another battle of former council members. Ann Tarpley, two years removed from the end of her only term on the council, defeated current council member Stephanie Bodie in a close race.
The council seats held by Bodie, Errol Mitchell and Willie Turner were also on the ballot. All three are at-large posts. Only Turner will be returning to office, having finished third behind Devlin Cleveland and Sheila Barlow. Mitchell came in fourth in the eight-person field.
There are no changes forthcoming in Stockbridge government. Anthony Ford won his second term as mayor with nearly 77 percent of the vote against challenger Bruce Smith Sr. Ford was elected to the council in 2013 and served one term before becoming mayor.
LaKeisha Gantt and Alphonso Thomas, the two incumbents on the ballot, both won re-election to their at-large seats as the top two finishers in a field of five. That means a third consecutive term for Gantt and the third overall term for Thomas, who was defeated in 2015 but won in 2017.
