Published: May 07, 2008 01:10 am            

Democrats dominate voting

DANVILLE — DANVILLE — In what was a strong turnout, this Hendricks County Primary Election belonged to the Democrats.

More than 22,000 voted for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nominee versus 12,520 for the Republican side. It was the same trend with the governor’s race. Almost 20,000 cast votes between Jim Schellinger and Jill Long Thompson, while incumbent Mitch Daniels received 11,446.

“It’s hard to say how many were crossover, or whether the Democrats were simply more energized this time,” said Pete Miller, chair of the Hendricks County Republican Party.

Tammy Beck, who served as a judge for Washington Precinct 21, noted some voters there said they were crossing over to vote Democrat.

“I heard some say, ‘I’m going to regret this later,’” she said. “I think they were doing it because they knew whom they didn’t want running against (John) McCain.”

Obama conceded to Clinton, though late numbers coming in from Lake County made it tight. Clinton nabbed about 51 percent of vote in Hendricks to Obama’s 48 percent.

“Tonight, we’ve come from behind,” she said at a rally in the Murat Centre in downtown Indianapolis. “We’ve broken the tie, and thanks to you, it’s full speed on to the White House.”

McCain received more than 80 percent of the vote for the Republican presidential nomination in the county. Mike Huckabee got 9 percent and Ron Paul and Mitt Romney 5 percent each, even though all three have bowed out of the race. They were still in the running when Hendricks County’s ballots were finalized.

Schellinger won over Thompson in Hendricks 53 to 46 percent. But with more than 90 percent of precincts tallied statewide, that race was still deadlocked at 50-50.

There was also little surprise in the U.S. Congress District 4 race where Republican incumbent Steve Buyer won comfortably. Democratic challenger Nels Ackerson had already nailed down his party’s nomination after running unopposed.

With all 99 precincts reported, the county’s Voter Registration Office did have to manually enter 191 votes from the Lincoln 9 precinct.

wade.coggeshall@flyergroup.com

        

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