ELOST Passes in County

The ELOST tax for educational bonds passed during the primary election Tuesday with 816 “yes” votes and 556 “no” votes. The monies generated from this Education Local Option Sales Tax will go towards bonds by the Jasper County Board of Education that will aid in paying off the new high school.

The ELOST approval will extend the existing ELOST already in effect for another five years. The new tax does not begin until next year, but voting was necessary this year for planning purposes.

While there were no local races contested in the primary, 18 percent of local registered voters took to the polls to vote on the 10th Congressional District seat which was won locally by Mike Collins with 542 votes. Mr. Collins closest competitor was Jody Hice with 323 votes followed by Donna Sheldon with 118. Overall, the district chose Mr. Hice with 33.5 percent of the vote, and Mike Collins with 32.98 percent, who will face each other in the runoff on July 22. Donna Sheldon was a distant third district-wide with 15.3 percent of the district vote.

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For the U.S. Senate, locally Jasperites chose David Perdue with 449 votes. Karen Handel was second with 219 votes and Paul Broun brought in 204 votes. Statewide, Mr. Perdue took the most votes with 30.56 percent, followed by Jack Kingston with 25.96 percent of the vote. They will face each other in the runoff on July 22.

Statewide, Ms. Handel was third with 21.78 percent of the votes. Phil Gingrey was a distant fourth with just 10.07 percent of the votes, and the rest garnered even less.

In the race for Governor, Nathan Deal won locally with just under 75 percent of the votes. Some 829 people voted for Gov. Deal with 157 votes going to David Pennington and 124 votes for John Barge. Statewide, the governor received 72.11 percent of the vote.

Local election results are posted on the front door of the Courthouse, and statewide results are readily available in area daily newspapers. All results are posted on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.