Voter Turnout

The voting polls will open at 6 a.m. Tuesday, and the only races voters will have to decide on are the presidential primaries and the Republican primary for the 6th Congressional District. Those on the ballot for the Republican presidential primary election are Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts and the Republican frontrunner; Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator of Pennsylvania; Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House who has ended his campaign and gone on to campaign for Romney; and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who recently ended his campaign.

Voters turned out in droves in Jessamine County on Election Day as a whopping 51.67 percent of the registered voters cast a ballot. In all, 16,338 of the 31,617 voters cast a ballot. Jessamine County Clerk Eva McDaniel attributed the high number to the candidates doing their jobs. “Everybody got out, campaigned and knocked on doors and everybody put up signs, and as you know, everybody did a lot of advertising in The Jessamine Journal,” she said. “They had a lot of TV ads, so it just got the people out.” McDaniel said there were no major problems during the voting process, and she praised her staff and the election officers.

If Jessamine County Clerk Eva McDaniel's forecast proves true, some 20,800 of the county's 33,623 registered voters will cast a ballot on Election Day. “I'm expecting between 58 and 62 percent Tuesday,” McDaniel said. “People get out and vote during a presidential election, but they won't get out during regular elections.” McDaniel said through Tuesday afternoon, her office had received more than 1,000 absentee ballots, and she expects election day to be a busy one for her staff.

The warm spring weather and bright skies may have encouraged turnout this morning as voters showed up to the polls at a slow but steady pace. Temperatures were so nice, in fact, that voter Liz Scalia walked her dog to her voting precinct at George Rogers Clark High School. Her main reason for voting: "I like to set a good example for my children," she said. Scalia was among several voting at one of the four precincts at George Rogers Clark around 8 a.m. this morning. Some came armed with strong opinions while others made the trek simply out of civic obligation.

Voter turn out in Jessamine County was a bit larger than predicted, County Clerk Eva McDaniel said. Before the primary election, McDaniel projected about a 15 percent turnout. The actual turn out was 22 percent, or 6,244 voters. "I had only expected about a 15 percent turnout, so we were tickled to death about that, but it's still not good when you consider that Jessamine County has more than 27,000 registered voters," she said. An estimated 21 percent of registered voters across the state turned out for Tuesday's primary election.

Martha and Tom Jackson, left, studied the voter ballot while workers at the Sunset precinct prepare one of the new electronic voting booths at Hannah McClure Elementary School this morning. The Jacksons arrived at the poll before 6 a.m. to vote before heading to work. Voter turnout for Clark County is expected to be light due to there being no local races on the ballot.

Heather Davis and her son, Holden, 5, visited the Sunset precinct at Hannah McClure School to cast her vote Tuesday morning in the November general election. Working the precinct were Colista Ledford, left, and Kim Daniels. Voter turnout was light, but higher than expected in Clark County, with no local races on the ballot. James Mann/jmann@winchestersun.com

With presidential nominations all but decided, Boyle County followed the statewide primary election trend of low voter turnout and less-than-resounding support for the presumptive nominees. Overall, turnout in Boyle was an anemic 7.3 percent. On the Democratic side, President Barack Obama received only 56.9 percent (456 votes) of the vote, with 43 percent (345) uncommitted. In the Republican primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has been the front runner since the remaining candidates on the Kentucky ballot began dropping out weeks ago, got 66.8 percent (431)

STANFORD - Lincoln County voted to keep Teresa Reed as its circuit court clerk Tuesday, while residents of the second magisterial district selected Lonnie Pruitt as their new magistrate and Hustonville wrote in David Peyton for its new mayor. Voters showed up at the polls in large numbers. County Clerk George Spoonamore said turnout was more than 53 percent. In Stanford, citizens voted to oust two city council incumbents - Scott Maples and Greg Findling - in favor of two challengers, Amy Rice Hazlett and Tom Moser.

If Jessamine County Clerk Eva McDaniel's forecast proves true, some 20,800 of the county's 33,623 registered voters will cast a ballot on Election Day. “I'm expecting between 58 and 62 percent Tuesday,” McDaniel said. “People get out and vote during a presidential election, but they won't get out during regular elections.” McDaniel said through Tuesday afternoon, her office had received more than 1,000 absentee ballots, and she expects election day to be a busy one for her staff.

An 11th-hour effort to increase voter registration got a high-powered assist Monday from the state official who oversees elections. Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes joined students from Centre College volunteering to sign up voters outside Walmart in Danville. Today is the deadline to register to vote in the November general election. “From the voter registration efforts to the various rallies geared toward the youth of Kentucky to the forums that are going to be occurring on Centre's campus targeting our youth, this is an exciting time,” Grimes said of the activity surrounding Thursday's vice-presidential debate.

With presidential nominations all but decided, Boyle County followed the statewide primary election trend of low voter turnout and less-than-resounding support for the presumptive nominees. Overall, turnout in Boyle was an anemic 7.3 percent. On the Democratic side, President Barack Obama received only 56.9 percent (456 votes) of the vote, with 43 percent (345) uncommitted. In the Republican primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has been the front runner since the remaining candidates on the Kentucky ballot began dropping out weeks ago, got 66.8 percent (431)

The voting polls will open at 6 a.m. Tuesday, and the only races voters will have to decide on are the presidential primaries and the Republican primary for the 6th Congressional District. Those on the ballot for the Republican presidential primary election are Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts and the Republican frontrunner; Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator of Pennsylvania; Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House who has ended his campaign and gone on to campaign for Romney; and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who recently ended his campaign.

Clark County voters followed the majority of voters statewide Tuesday in re-electing Democrat Gov. Steve Beshear to a second term as he handily defeated Republican challenger David Williams.   Clark County's voter turnout surpassed expectations, with about 30 percent of registered voters heading to the polls, Clark County Clerk Anita Jones said. Prior to the election, Jones predicted about 22 percent of voters would cast ballots, but Jones said unseasonably warm weather and increased interest in the state elections in the past few days both led to the higher than expected participation.

Heather Davis and her son, Holden, 5, visited the Sunset precinct at Hannah McClure School to cast her vote Tuesday morning in the November general election. Working the precinct were Colista Ledford, left, and Kim Daniels. Voter turnout was light, but higher than expected in Clark County, with no local races on the ballot. James Mann/jmann@winchestersun.com

Voting got off to a rocky start today in one Boyle County precinct, where the only local race - for District 1 magistrate - was left off the ballot. Boyle County Clerk Trille Bottom said ballots for the Bluegrass precinct at the Boyle County Fire Department headquarters were delivered without the contest between Democrat Dickie Mayes and Republican Ruth Ann Elliott included. Two people cast their votes this morning before poll workers caught the problem. Voters were turned away from the precinct until about 7 a.m. when the correct ballots were delivered.

I suffered two big disappointments during Tuesday’s primary elections in Kentucky. First was the voter turnout, which in this country as a whole, is extremely disappointing. According to the news channels I’ve watched overnight, Kentucky’s turnout rate was slightly over 9 percent of all registered voters in the state. That is a sad, sad figure. It is a mystery to me why people would even register to vote in the first place and then not exercise that right. Whether in the primary elections or the general elections, those non-voters are letting someone else decide for them who the best candidates are. Then they have the gall to be the first ones heard complaining when things don’t go their way. If the non-voters feel that politics is too dirty, and politicians will just do what they want anyway regardless of the voting public’s opinion, there is a tool to change that each election, and it’s called VOTING.

State election officials predicted 10 percent voter turnout or less today, and several Boyle County precincts saw fewer than 10 voters total during the first hour-and-a-half the polls were open. Low absentee voting indicated voters may be few and far between to choose candidates for several state races, including the Republican primary for governor. The race will decide who faces incumbent Democrat Steve Beshear in November’s general election. Other races, including secretary of state and commissioner of agriculture, and a lack of local elections have failed to stir interest.