Charles County’s registered democrats turned out in droves to vote in the Chesapeake Primary last Tuesday. 

  Tracey Dickerson, a Charles County Election Director, said she was “pleasantly surprised” by the unusually high turnout.  She presumed that Democrats turned out in droves because Super Tuesday the week before didn’t determine the winners of the party’s presidential nomination. 

  Senator Barack Obama (D, Illinois) was the overwhelming favorite in Waldorf, St. Charles and Bryan’s Road/Indian Head.  The county’s unofficial results give him about 76 percent of the votes in those regions.  Senator Hillary Clinton (D, New York) came closest to matching Obama’s popularity in La Plata, where she fell behind by only 99 votes, half a percent. 

  Republican voters showed overwhelming support for Senator John McCain (R, Ark).  Former challenger, Mitt Romney’s withdrawal from the race after Super Tuesday, sent most of his supporters to McCain.  McCain received almost twice as many votes as Mike Huckabee in every region of the county. 

  In the District 5 congressional primary, Democrats all over the county cast nearly all their support for incumbent Congressman Steny Hoyer.  Challenger James Cusick received 17 percent of the votes.

  The Republican congressional primary ran slightly closer, but not by much.  Board of Education member, Collins Bailey received 60 percent of the ballots cast; Mike Hethmon received 22 percent, and Jessie James Dann received 18 percent. 

  Operations at polling places ran smoothly all over the county, according to Dickerson.  Even the bad weather Tuesday afternoon and evening didn’t mess things up. 

  “Charles County should really be proud of its elections staff, judges and tech support.  We were notified of the court order [to keep the polls open an extra 90 minutes] only 20 minutes before 8 p.m., and no Charles County polling site closed,” Dickerson told The Bay Net. 

  County polling sites took in 400 ballots during the additional hour and a half that the sites remained open, to compensate for the weather.  Dickerson was particularly impressed with the hard work and flexibility of the citizen judges who operated each site.  They worked a 16-hour day with compensation low enough to make it virtually a volunteer position. 

  Although the primary is over, the elections board isn’t finished.  The results of the primary aren’t official until  the final “canvasses”, counting of absentee, provisional and oversees ballots, are finished.  Provisional ballots, those cast by county residents who are not yet registered locally, have been researched by the elections board staff and will be tallied next Tuesday.  The oversees canvass occurs next Friday.  Then the primary results are certified by the state. 

  State records list 76,944 active registered voters in Charles County, more than half its citizens.  46 percent of them voted in the Chesapeake Primary.  Complete candidate tallies can be found at the Board of Elections site, here.  Voter registration for November’s general election reopens Feb. 25. 

  Compare the presidential and congressional primary results through the graphics slideshow below.  Click on each slide to enlarge.

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