Gwinnett County held a special election Tuesday to determine whether to expand MARTA into the county. After all 91,000 votes were cast, the measure failed.
It was the third time Gwinnett had rejected a MARTA expansion, including votes in 1971 and 1990.
The suburb has nearly tripled in population since the last vote into a diverse community that's urbanizing. Attitudes in the region are changing.
Advance voting demographics and recent polling had predicted the referendum would be unsuccessful.
“I pray to God it fails,” said 76-year-old Jim Wehner, who voted no in Lilburn. “All we’re doing is becoming a money cow for MARTA.”
Reactions on Twitter (which skews younger and does not represent the 91,000 who voted), were overwhelmingly negative.
Gwinnett so trash for voting down that MARTA expansion. I hate 𝙔’𝙖𝙡𝙡
— ディケイ (@POP_DK36) March 20, 2019
So #Gwinnett folks like sitting in traffic. #MARTA is unwanted there.
— Andre Dickens (@Andre4Atlanta) March 20, 2019
Atlanta will never be a great “big” city. They won’t even extend the Marta.... or even upgrade it.
— Nymeria (@thenineYANAs) March 20, 2019
Dear residents of #Gwinnett, ATL residents don’t want to come visit you, trust me. #MARTA expansion is to reduce your rush hour volume. #growup
— Allie Ramsay (@AllisonWnderlnd) March 19, 2019
Pretty disappointed in Gwinnett’s decision, but it’s their choice and loss. @MARTASERVICE just focus your efforts on making Fulton and Dekalb counties the most accessible and liveable counties in the #Atlanta metro area. We support you. https://t.co/Q5l7ZnPWQZ
— Kristen (@Kris10_Alyse) March 20, 2019
I know. They are building waaaay too much and too fast to not have another line of transportation out here. This for sure my last yr in Gwinnett
— 🧘🏽♀️🧘🏽♀️ (@DrEstrogen) March 20, 2019
@MikeBellATL It’s not just transit , It’s about attracting millennials and businesses in the future. NCR HQ moved from Gwinnett to Midtown for a reason . Look at the major companies building towers around MARTA in Dunwoody. Lost opportunity for Gwinnett.
— Matthew Kleiner (@MatthewKleiner) March 20, 2019
There were some who supported the election’s outcome.
You are right that some people would complain about anything. That said, Gwinnett is ready to approve a good transit plan, but nothing about this plan made sense. It was crazy expensive, would take maybe 30 years to implement and rail wouldn’t reach the major population centers.
— Jay Staples (@jtstaples) March 20, 2019
Good vote. Shot down an already obsolete transit model that will be hopelessly outmoded long before the first train ever rolls into Gwinnett.
— Tim Bryant (@TimBryantRadio) March 20, 2019
MARTA is a complete corrupt joke. One word: Streetcar! Who wants that crap in Gwinnett?
— John Stickler (@jts30024) March 20, 2019
Some talked about the structural issues around the vote.
It's one of the miss culturally diverse counties in the state of Georgia but voter turnout is usually terrible (even when Brian Kemp isn't cheating). If every eligible voter in Gwinnett showed up, it would be a very blue county.
— 👑🍑🏆ATLANTA IS A SOCCER TOWN! 👑🍑🏆 (@Lex_Naija) March 20, 2019
Yeah honestly it’s easy to generalize this situation and hate on the people outside of the city. However, I try to keep in mind that there are a lot of people who want to see @marta expand and the people who get the short end of the stick are the most marginalized.
— Aileen Farshi (@AileenFarshi) March 20, 2019
See how the county's votes were split up by neighborhood via this map.