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Election shows more voted for GOP |
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Thursday, 22 May 2008 |
An even split during early voting became a Republican advantage on election day in Saline County.
Election officials were seeing what they called a “50-50 split” between Democrat and Republican voters in early voting for the local preferential primary election.
County Clerk Freddy Burton and Linda Montalvo, election coordinator, said there was a change on election day.
“We actually started seeing a trend toward increased Republican voting as we got to the end of early voting, but it became even more so on Tuesday,” Burton said.
On election day itself, the split was about 55 percent Republican and 45 percent Democrat, Montalvo said.
Two races are believed to have contributed to the shift toward Republican voting.
“The county judge’s race was determined in the primary,” Burton said, “so there was a great deal of interest in that since there was no Democratic candidate in the race.
“And there was a contested race for the Republican candidate for sheriff.”
James Ward was a comfortable winner over Tim Dudderar in the sheriff’s primary.
Since there was only one Democrat candidate for sheriff, that race was not included in the primary election ballot. “The Republican nominee will face the Democratic candidate in November,” Burton said.
Early voting was high in the Benton area, but not significantly high throughout the county, Burton said.
“I think that Benton always turns out better early because of the location of the county voting center (adjacent to the courthouse annex where Burton’s office is located),” he said.
“And the race the House District 28 race drew a lot of interest in Benton. Many people chose to vote in the Democratic primary over the Republican primary because of that House race.”
Political newcomer Barbara Nix ousted first-term Rep. Lamont Cornwell in the House District 28 race. She will face Republican David McCoy in November.
“In the other county boxes, more people were choosing to vote Republican who might not have voted Republican otherwise because of the judge’s and sheriff’s races,” Burton said.
Thirty percent of the ballots in the primary were cast early. “In Benton, the number is higher,” Burton said.
Tuesday’s election process in Saline County couldn’t have been a smoother operation, Montalvo said.
“The polls closed at 7:30 p.m. and everything is usually in a little after 8 p.m.,” she said. “It takes that long because people are coming from Paron and East End.”
On Tuesday night, within 45 minutes of receiving the last box, everything was counted, Montalvo said. “And at 9:10 it was all posted on the Web site.
“Less than an hour, it was all done. There’s no way that could all happen, but it did,” she said.
Saline County has 60,000 registered voters and the primary drew about 10,500 to the polls, representing about 17.5 percent of the voters.
“In November, we’re expecting 15,000 or more ballots to be cast early,” Burton said.
Montalvo, who is serving her first year as full-time election coordinator, said she couldn’t have been more thrilled with the tallying process Tuesday night. She commended the workers for their dedication and cooperation.
Elections themselves are much more complex that in earlier years, Burton pointed out.
“In the last four-five years since the election system has been changed by the federal government, elections are much more technical,” he said. “You could compare today’s election with those of the past to the difference in driving a Model T Ford to a modern automobile.”
Federal mandates that regulate the process have made “everything more complex,” he said.
A breakdown of county voting by polling locations is on page 6A in today’s paper. |
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