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McKee wins, sales tax rejected in close referendum

Posted on November 4, 2010November 4, 2010 by Staff

By Kirk Ross and Will Bryant, Staff Writers

Going into this election season, Rougemont’s Earl McKee knew next year would be a tough budget year for anyone on the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

McKee, a Democrat, won his race, but another outcome of Tuesday’s election made his new job a little more difficult.

McKee beat Republican Greg Andrews with 31,804 votes to Andrew’s 12,413 in the District 2 commissioners race. He joins incumbent Democrats Alice Gordon and Barry Jacobs, who both ran unopposed.

Meanwhile, Orange County voters decided not to grant the commissioners the option to raise an estimated $2.3 million annually through a quarter-cent Sales and Use Tax.

Aaron Nelson, president of the Chapel Hill-Chamber of Commerce and a proponent of the tax, said the tax would have boosted the county’s economic-development effort.

“We are pleased to have earned the vote of more than 20,000 Orange County residents for increasing the sales tax to support creating jobs and improving schools. We are disappointed that it was not enough to pass the initiative,” Nelson said.

Election officials said turnout was heavy all day. Several voters interviewed during the day said concerns about the national races brought them out.

Outside the polling spot at Carrboro Town Hall, Cov Deramus said he saw several social and economic issues at stake in the election.

“Also, I have a serious concern about a Republican takeover in congress,” Deramus said, “I’m an Obama supporter and I’m out here supporting his agenda.”

Rodney Turner, who staked out near campus encouraging students to vote Republican, said worries about the country’s debt got him involved.

“I am out here today because of my children,” he said. “I look at my children and I am scared for what is waiting for them. There is a debt that even my grandkids will not be able to pay off.”

Carrboro Board of Aldermen member Jackie Gist, who greeted voters at Carrboro Town Hall, said the turnout seemed much higher than the last midterm election.

“This is amazing,” she said. “It wasn’t nearly this big four years ago. I think people are worried about the elections.”

Turnout was especially heavy in some of the county’s northern and rural precincts, including White Cross and Caldwell.

One hitch in the balloting could delay a final tally for several days. Students started turning up in large numbers at the Chapel Hill County Club precinct requesting provisional ballots rather than at the precinct where they were registered, overwhelming the staff. Elections director Tracy Reams said the result was about 150 more provisional ballots. They and provisional ballots from other precincts will be voted on by the board of elections later this month.

In other local races, Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass was re-elected, winning 34,048 votes to Republican challenger Buddy Parker’s 10,546.

1 thought on “McKee wins, sales tax rejected in close referendum”

  1. Michael Adamson says:
    November 5, 2010 at 6:52 am

    I would be interested in the regional breakdown of the sales tax vote in various areas of Orange County. Commissioners have given residents of Chapel Hill/Carrboro reason to feel that county services are being concentrated in Hillsborough. I wonder if we are seeing some push-back from the majority of the county population that lives in the southeastern part of the county.

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