4,797 people voted in Greene County in yesterday’s General Election, this was a turnout of 65.2% based on 7,350 people listed as registered voters in the county. The referendum was approved in every precinct in the county with the exception of Jena on the northern end of the county.
The voters passed Local Referendum No. 1 by an overwhelming vote of 3,004 (75.5%) to 975 (24.5%) in favor of a four (4) mil increase in the property tax for the Greene County Hospital and Health System. Dr. Marcia Pugh, GCHS CEO said, “We are grateful to the voters of Greene County for deciding to increase taxes to support the continued operation and improvement of our hospital.”
Ms. Lucy Spann, a member of the GCHS Board said, “We want to keep our hospital, nursing home, physician’s clinic and 24/7 emergency room operating. We don’t want to be like Pickens County and other rural counties that have had to close their hospitals. This tax increase will help us to upgrade our facilities, equipment and staff to keep operating.”
This property tax will go into effect with the October 1, 2021 billing from the Greene County Revenue Commissioner’s Office. Four mils are equal to $4.00 additional ad valorem tax, per $1,000 of appraised value, of your property. At current property tax valuations for Greene County, a mil is worth $160,000, which means the Greene County Hospital will receive more than $600,000 a year toward its operating budget.
Greene County supported Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for President and Vice-President over Trump and Pence by a vote of 3,880 (81.3%) to
875 (18.3%), with 8 votes for Jo Jorgensen. Trump was successful statewide in Alabama by a vote of 1,430,589 (62.47%) to 834,533 (36.44%) for Biden, and 24,902 (1.09%) for independent candidate Jo Jorgensen. Trump and Pence will receive Alabama’s 9 electoral votes.
At press time, several critical states, including Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada were still counting their votes and the winner of the electoral college vote had not been determined.
In the vote for U. S. Senator, Greene County voted 3,958 (82.89%) for incumbent Doug Jones and 816 (17.09%) for former Auburn football coach, Tommy Tuberville. However, statewide, Tuberville won with 1,381,938 (60.44%) to 904,683 (39.56%) votes for Jones. Tuberville will take over the Alabama U. S. Senate seat the first week of January 2021.
Congresswoman Terri Sewell was re-elected to the U. S. House of Representatives for a fifth two-year term.
Statewide other Republican candidates were elected to President of the Alabama Public Service Commission, Supreme Court and Appellate judgeships and other positions.
Local candidates in Greene County who were successful in the March 3, 2020 Democratic primary, held before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, had their elections confirmed in yesterday’s vote. This included: Lillie Osborne for District Judge, Arnelia “Shay” Johnson for Revenue Commissioner, Veronica Richardson for District 3, Leo Branch for District 4 and Carrie Dancy for District 5 School Board. Lester Brown was elected Constable in District 1, John Steele Jr. in District 2, Spiver W. Gordon in District 3, James Carter in District 4 And Jesse Lawson in District 5.
All six statewide amendments were passed statewide with votes between 50.1 and 77% of the vote. In Greene County, State Amendments No. 1,2,3,5 and 6 were disapproved by the voters; only Amendment no. 4 was approved by a large margin.