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Butler County turns blue: Democrats fill out more ballots than Republicans
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Butler County has turned blue.
Primary election results show there are now considerably more Democrats registered in the county, according to the Butler County Board of Elections.
Extras
Of the ballots requested Tuesday, March 4, 48,991 were for Democrat, and 39,747 for Republican, according to the elections board.
Before the primary, there were 45,711 registered Republicans and 21,640 Democrats.
"Usually Republicans outnumber Democrats by 2 to 1," in the county, said Betty McGary, elections board director. "We won't know exactly how many switched over until we are able to certify results as official."
Democratic in Middletown were buzzing with the hope for change as they left the Rosa Parks Elementary School polling place.
Charles Fuller and Dorionne Dodson said a message of change led them to cast ballots for Barack Obama.
"I like his message that we need change. If we don't have someone to push this then we won't change Washington and the economy," Fuller said.
A cold rain and even a flood warning from the National Weather Service didn't dissuade voters in Warren County either, especially not Democrats who also turned out in high numbers, said Michael Moore, county elections director.
"We've seen a tremendous number of Democratic voters, more than usual," he said.
In anticipation of greater Democrat turnout, 100 extra ballots were ordered for each precinct, and additional ballots were delivered to polling places as needed, he said.
Although local polls closed at 7:30 p.m., the election results were delayed until after 9 p.m.
The Secretary of State's office ordered the delay at
7:42 p.m. because Sandusky County ran out of Democratic ballots, according to Patrick Galloway, a spokesman for that office, who said a judge ordered the county to keep the polls open there until 9 p.m.
