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Local voters follow state trend; turnout 40 percent |
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Wednesday, 06 February 2008 |
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By Lynda Hollenbeck Courier Staff It was predicted that a majority of Arkansas voters would support Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Mike Huckabee in the Super Tuesday presidential primary election — and Saline County helped uphold that prediction.
County residents overwhelmingly favored the candidates with Arkansas ties. A total of 78 percent Democrats supported Clinton and 56 percent of the Republicans backed Huckabee.
More than 23,600 county voters cast ballots, representing a voter turnout of 40 percent.
Totals from the county clerk’s office showed Clinton with 9,230 votes, followed by Barack Obama with 2,022, John Edwards with 232 and other listed candidates with a total of 74 votes.
Other Democrats on the ballot were Mike Gravel, Joe Biden, Christopher J. Dodd, Dennis J. Kucinich and Bill Richardson.
Huckabee received 6,746 votes, followed by John McCain with 2,710 and Mitt Romney with 1,789.
Other listed candidates garnered a total of 597 votes and 58 votes.
Other Republican candidates on the ballot were Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Ron Paul.
The ballot also included Green Party candidates Jared A. Ball, Kent Mesplay, Cynthia McKinney and Kat Swift, who received a total of 2 votes. Seven votes were cast for “uncommitted.” An additional ballot was apparently unmarked.
According to Burton’s records, 23,643 ballots were cast: 11,719 Democratic, 11,914 Republican and 10 Green Party. The county has 58,574 registered voters.
“The election process here was as smooth as silk,” County Clerk Freddy Burton said today. “We had no problems.”
All of the results had been tabulated and workers left the voting center by about 10:30 p.m., he said.
The turbulent weather in Saline County and throughout the state caused some minor problems at scattered polling sites, Burton said, but nothing that interfered with the voting process.
“The electricity went out at Fairplay Baptist Church and they had to work without power for the last couple of hours or so. They had to use candles to allow people to vote.
“These people are dedicated,” Burton said of the poll workers. “They would never pack up and close early. The law says you stay open till 7:30 p.m. and they were open till 7:30, even though it was dark.
“The same thing happened at Congo Road Baptist Church,” Burton said. “They lost power, but they kept it open until 7:30.”
Burton added that there was a small delay in the poll workers getting some boxes back to the voting center because of a downed tree on the Old Hot Springs Highway near Kentucky Baptist Church.
A similar incident happened near First Southern Baptist Church in Bryant. A fallen tree on Boone Road resulted in a brief delay in bringing the boxes back to the voting center, but the problem wasn’t serious, Burton said.
To illustrate the dedication that poll workers have about their responsibilities, Burton shared an incident that occurred at Sardis United Methodist Church in the Sardis community.
“Waylon Moren, one of the poll workers, called and said they had been hearing the weather reports and were concerned about what to do if a tornado touched down in the area,” Burton explained. “They were voting in the foyer of the church and he said they planned to go down into the basement if it got bad, but he wanted to know what they needed to take with them if they had to do that.
“He wanted to know if they needed to take the ballot boxes and the ballots,” Burton said. “I told him to take them with them, but thankfully they didn’t have to do that. Still, they were ready to do it.
“These people are wonderful,” Burton added. “They couldn’t be more committed to what they’re doing.”
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