Election Day: School measure in El Dorado Springs passed; Vernon Countians prefer Huckabee, Clinton in presidential primary

Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Justin Messner/Daily Mail-- A steady stream of voters went to the polls in Vernon County on Tuesday, to have their say in who will be the final candidates for president in November. Frontrunners in Vernon County were Huckabee and Clinton; but statewide, Obama and McCain won narrow victories. Above, local voters gather at the Vernon County Courthouse in Nevada.

More than 34 percent of all Vernon County voters cast their ballots yesterday for the Super Tuesday Presidential Primary election, an unusually high percentage for a primary. In the 2000 presidential primary 22 percent of Vernon County voters made it to the poles and in 2004 only 16 percent voted for the Democratic party candidacy.

This high turnout of voters was not limited to just Vernon County. This primary election has had the largest number of voters in United States history.

In 2004, only the Democratic Party had an active presidential primary contest.

All the major active presidential candidates -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., on the Democratic side and U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., on the Republican side -- were on the primary ballots.

On Tuesday, polls showed a tight contest between Obama and Clinton in Missouri; and the statewide vote reflected this, with Obama receiving just over 49 percent of the vote and Clinton's supporters providing her with 48 percent of the votes.

Among Republicans, McCain showed a narrow advantage over Huckabee and Romney in Missouri in the latest polls. This, too, held true in the election. Statewide, McCain gleaned 33 percent; Huckabee, 31.5 percent; and Romney, 29.3 percent, according to unofficial results from the Missouri Secretary of State's Office.

There are currently 11,656 voters within the county, 4,495 of those voters appeared at the polls yesterday.

Locally, the Democratic favorite was Hillary Clinton taking 61.55 percent or 1,434 votes, almost double the 31.42 percent, 732 votes for second place democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. In the Republican race, Mike Huckabee took the local win with 42.61 percent, 920 votes; John McCain ranked second with 32.61 percent, 704 votes; and Mitt Romney held third with 18.9 percent, 408 votes.

National numbers show McCain leading with nine states overall and 516 delegates, Romney holding seven states with 207 delegates and Huckabee following with five states and 142 delegates.

Nationally, the Democratic front-runner in votes is Obama, taking wins in 13 states compared to Clinton's wins in 8. However, the awarded delegate numbers are still in favor of Clinton who has 582 over Obama's 485 as of this morning. A large portion of the reason Clinton continues to lead in delegate numbers is attributed to her wins in delegate-rich states such as California.

With several states' ballot counts still under 100 percent, presidential candidates are still waiting to receive final numbers as to who took the win this Super Tuesday.

Over the next several months candidates are expected to make final tours through individual states in an attempt to claim the majority of state delegates. These delegates will accompany the candidates to their national conventions in August and September to decide who will run for the presidency in the Nov. 4 Presidential General Election.

Aside from the presidential primary, El Dorado Springs R-2 School District's Proposition C measure was also on yesterday's ballots and passed by 34 votes.

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