Marietta Election Results: Mayor, Council, School Board, SPLOST

Editor's note: This story was updated at 2:21 p.m. Wednesday to reflect that Lisa Lindsay dropped out of the race for Ward 1 on the Marietta City Schools board, so there will be no runoff.

MARIETTA, GA — Unofficial county results have been tallied for Marietta City Council, Marietta City Schools Board of Education and Marietta mayoral races, as well as the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax toward Cobb and Marietta school districts.

A total of 35,427 Cobb voters said "yes" to the Ed-SPLOST question, while 13,713 voters said "no," according to unofficial county election results with all 145 precincts reporting.

Unofficial results also showed with 13 of 13 precincts reporting, incumbent Steve "Thunder" Tumlin won the race for Marietta mayor with 4,981 votes, compared to his opponent Michelle Cooper Kelly with 3,733 votes.

With two of two precincts reporting, incumbent Grif Chalfant led with 1,271 votes for the Ward 2 seat on Marietta City Council, while opposing candidate John Silvey had 674 votes. In Ward 4, incumbent Andy Morris took the lead with 1,656 votes, while Ted Ferreira had 1,013 votes with three of three precincts reporting.

In Ward 5 — the only other city council race with multiple candidates running for a seat — M. Carlyle Kent led the race with 310 votes, while incumbent Reggie Copeland had 277 votes and the third candidate, Cristina Stallworth, had 223 votes.

Since none of the three candidates won the required 50 percent plus one of the votes, Kent and Copeland will head to a runoff Nov. 30.

Incumbents Cheryl Richardson, Johnny Walker and Joseph R. Goldstein, as well as candidate Andre Sims, all ran unopposed for their seats on Marietta City Council.

The Marietta City Schools Board of Education races are also reporting unofficial results, and Jeff DeJarnett took the lead for the Ward 1 seat with 195 votes at all precincts reporting. Candidates Alex Castro and Lisa Lindsay had 132 and 115 votes, respectively.

Lindsay dropped out of the race, so none of her votes will be counted, and therefore no runoff will be held, Cobb Elections Director Janine Eveler told the Marietta Daily Journal.

Incumbent Jason Waters led the Ward 2 seat on the school board with 1,287 votes, while his opposition P.J. Hardy had 651 votes with all precincts reporting, according to unofficial county results.

A.B. Almy led the race for Ward 3 with 1,048 votes, while Erica D. Bush had 412 votes with all precincts reporting.

Ward 4 is the only other school board seat with multiple candidates running for the position, and Jaillene Hunter led the race with 1,532 votes with three of three precincts reporting, unofficial county results show. George Darden trailed behind Hunter with 839 votes, while Angie Smith, the third and final candidate for the seat, had 302 votes.

Incumbents Angela Orange, Kerry Minervini and Irene Holly Berens are running unopposed for their seats on the Marietta school board.

Eight Cobb County polling locations stayed open past 7 p.m., so some votes couldn't start being tallied until after 7:30 p.m. Read more about the delayed closings.

Related: Election Day 2021 In Marietta: When, Where To Vote

What's on the Ballot

In addition to the Marietta school board, city council and mayoral races, Cobb County voters decided if another countywide Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax should be approved or denied.

A total of 35,427 Cobb voters said "yes" to the Ed-SPLOST question, while 13,713 voters said "no," according to unofficial county election results with all 145 precincts reporting.

The question was posed as follows:

"Shall the special 1 percent sales and use tax for educational purposes currently imposed in Cobb County be reimposed on January 1, 2024, upon the expiration of the current sales and use tax, for not longer than 20 consecutive calendar quarters, to raise the maximum amount of net proceeds of $966,405,942.00 to be used for the following educational purposes:

For the Cobb County School District: For renovations, modifications and additions to new and existing schools and other facilities, construction and equipping of new schools, construction and equipping of new classrooms, upgrading buildings and facilities, infrastructure improvements, acquisition and preparation of land, and acquisition of equipment, safety and security and technology systems at a total maximum cost of approximately $894,891,903.00 for the Cobb County School District as described in the Notice of Election.

For the City of Marietta Schools: For renovations, modifications, and additions to existing schools and other facilities, upgrading buildings and facilities, infrastructure improvements, acquisition and preparation of land, and acquisition of equipment, security and technology systems and systemwide support vehicles, at a total maximum cost of approximately $71,514,039.00 for the City of Marietta Schools, as described in the Notice of Election.

Voters were to vote "yes" or "no" on this 1 percent sales tax. View it on a Cobb County sample ballot.

For more information, visit mvp.sos.ga.