Interactive map: A sweeping loss for Nashville transit referendum everywhere but city's core

Nashville's transit referendum was rejected in all corners of Davidson County Tuesday, leading to an emphatic loss, with the only speck of widespread support coming in the city's gentrifying neighborhoods close to downtown.

A precinct-by-precinct analysis of the transit referendum which was defeated 64 percent to 36 percent, shows a story of two Nashvilles.

Interactive map of transit voting results

Areas closest to downtown that are attracting many young professionals and Millennials— trendy, progressive-leaning neighborhoods like East Nashville, Germantown, 12South and Belmont-Hillsboro — voted for the transit plan, in some cases overwhelmingly. But it accounted for only five of 35 Metro Council districts.

Virtually the entire rest of the county voted against the plan, according to unofficial results from the Davidson County Election Commission.

In most of these areas, it was downright ugly for the Nashville For Transit coalition.

As expected, the referendum was rejected most decisively in suburban neighborhoods closest to the county's edge, where light rail proposed in the transit plan wouldn't serve.

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These are some of the most conservative places in Davidson County and tend to be older. Making matters even more crippling for transit supporters: turnout in these communities were generally higher than places that backed the referendum.

The referendum got crushed in Bellevue, losing the Gower Elementary School voting precinct, for example, 75 percent to 25 percent. The same was true for Antioch, losing the Antioch High School voting precinct, for example, 74 percent to 26 percent.

It was a whopping disaster in Joelton, where residents turned out in large numbers and voted down the referendum 89 percent to just 11 percent.

One voting precinct in Goodlettsville voted against the referendum 88 percent to 12 percent. A voting precinct in Whites Creek voted to defeat the referendum 77 percent to 23 percent.

The pattern continued in places like Bordeaux, Hermitage and the wealthy satellite city of Belle Meade, where 77 percent of voters who cast ballots at the Belle Meade City Hall precinct voted against the plan.

Margins of defeat were also high in the affluent satellites cities of Oak Hill and Forest Hills.

Nearly 124,000 Nashvillians voted in the transit referendum, with 79,336 people voting against and 44,650 voting for. Turnout exceeded both the 2015 mayoral election and runoff election and nearly reached the 125,913 people that voted in the "NFL Yes" referendum of 1996.

The transit outcome was closer in Green Hills, seen as a bellwether for the campaign, but the referendum still lost badly. For instance, 57 percent of voters at the Boy Scouts of America precinct voted against the plan, compared to 43 percent who voted for it.

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African-American voters were seen as a key voting block that could swing the election.

In the end, areas with large black populations soundly rejected the transit plan.

The Cathedral of Praise precinct, one of the largest African-American voting districts, voted against the referendum 75 percent to 25 percent.

The North Nashville precinct that includes the neighborhoods around Tennessee State University voted against the referendum 69 percent to 31 percent.

Areas with large black populations in Southeast Nashville similarly rejected the referendum.

Not surprisingly, the transit referendum fared best in liberal neighborhoods closest to the city's core, which also includes areas that would have received light rail line under the plan.

One of the top performing boxes for the pro-side was the Eakin Elementary School precinct in Hillsboro Village, where 74 percent of voters cast ballots for the referendum.

In East Nashville, 73 percent of voters at the East Park Community Center precinct voted for the referendum, 71 percent of voters at the Shelby Community Center precinct voted for the plan, and a smaller 55 percent voted for the plan at the Martha O'Bryan Center.

The margin was closer in Inglewood, where the transit referendum lost some precincts, including the Stratford High School precinct and won the Dalewood United Methodist Church location by a spread of 61 percent to 29 percent.

The plan called for Gallatin Pike in East Nashville to receive the first of five light rail lines extending from downtown. It would have traveled to Briley Parkway.

In downtown, voters at the main downtown library precinct approved the plan by a margin of 63 percent to 37 percent.

At the 15th Avenue Baptist Church, where voters from parts of Germantown and Salemtown vote, 72 percent of voters cast ballots for the referendum.

In Sylvan Park, which would have had access to a light rail line on Charlotte Avenue, the referendum received approval from 60 percent of voters at the Sylvan Park School precinct. It found similar success in Sylvan Heights and The Nations.

Near 12South, the referendum was approved at the Seiver Park Community Center voting precinct by 58 percent of voters.

But for transit backers, there weren't nearly enough other parts of towns with the same enthusiasm and outlook.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236, jgarrison@tennessean.com and on Twitter @joeygarrison.

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