Local voters pick Clinton, Dems top GOP in votes

Wharton County residents may have raced to the primary polls, but Tuesday results took hours to tally.

The 8,695 votes cast in Wharton County, meant an almost 18 percent turnout - 5,078 Democratic votes and 3,617 Republican.

After early voting totals were released shortly after 8 p.m., those waiting on Tuesday results didn't get the final counts until 11:34 p.m.

Election official Judy Owens said confusion over precincts numbers and voting locations Tuesday caused a great deal of the delay.

Overall Wharton County voters said they preferred Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential candidate over Barrack Obama while Republican John McCain recorded a resounding victory here over local Congressman Ron Paul 1,914 to 357.

Although Paul didn't get presidential support, votes to return him to Congress far outpaced challenger Chris Peden 2,570 to 902 - a trend echoed throughout the 10-county District 14 area.

Wharton County voters also supported incumbent State Senator John Cornyn over challenger Larry Kilgore 2,574 to 642 on the Republican ballot and Gene Kelly over three Democratic challengers. Kelly collected 1,342 local votes to 1,319 for Rick Noreiga, 660 for Rhett Smith and 473 for Ray McMurrey.

For analysis of primaries, please see to the Saturday edition of the El Campo Leader-News.