Voter turnout is weak for state primary

by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor

Presque Isle County?s primary numbers were neck-and-neck with state totals, and while voter turnout was paltry across all of the county?s 18 precincts, the winners ended up being the same. Mitt Romney scored his first major primary victory and breathed life in his weakened presidential bid, while Hillary Clinton won on the watered down Democratic ticket. With most precincts in the state reporting Tuesday night, Romney had 39 percent of the vote, John McCain had 30 percent and Mike Huckabee 16 percent. No other Republican fared better than single digits, according to the Associated Press.

In Presque Isle County, Romney received 38 percent (501 votes) of the vote, McCain 35 percent (459), while Huckabee had 12 percent (154). On the Democratic side, and a probably a good reason why the voter turnout was only 18 percent, Clinton received 68 percent, on a ticket missing some heavyweights from the ?08 Presidential campaign, especially Barack Obama. There were no other candidates on the ballot that were even close to the former First Lady. Dennis Kucinich captured only 21 votes. There were far more uncommitted votes at 166. On the GOP side, there were only 15 uncommitted votes recorded.

ACCORDING TO county clerk Sue

Rhode it is the lowest voter turnout she can remember. The weakest showing ended up being in Posen Township Precinct 1, which traditionally has been a community that votes heavily Democratic, where just under 13 percent of the registered voters showed up at the polls. Only 80 of 616 registered voters cast ballots. The smallest precinct in the county took the primary a little more seriously, as Bearinger Township had 85 of its 320 registered voters cast ballots, or about 26 percent. The biggest loser of the day was Republican Sam Brownback who failed to even get one vote of the 1,301 that were cast on the GOP side.

Vote totals are unofficial until certified by the county board canvassers, which met Wednesday afternoon at the courthouse.