Voters across unincorporated Cobb County rejected efforts to form three new city governments, in a rebuke to Republican state lawmakers who rushed the proposed cities to the ballot.
Aside from one exception in the 1960s — a city of just 200 people that later dissolved — it has been over a century since Cobb County residents have formed a new municipality. And on Tuesday, when asked by cityhood supporters to create new governments to preserve their suburban way of life, voters opted instead to preserve something else: Their unincorporated slice of Cobb County.
Had the three cities been approved, they would have eliminated much of the remaining unincorporated land in Cobb. Instead, voters overwhelmingly voted for the status quo, following an abbreviated campaign in which residents and county officials alike complained that they were given too little time to understand the full implications of a decision that would have wide-ranging consequences for Cobb’s future.
In unofficial results Wednesday morning, 73% of East Cobb voters were opposed, the Lost Mountain cityhood effort trailed 58% to 42% and Vinings was rejected 55% to 45% with 100% of precincts reporting.
A fourth proposed city, Mableton in South Cobb, will appear on the November ballot.
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