Greene County voters set record at polls

In Missouri, Barack Obama took a last-minute lead over Hillary Clinton for a close Democratic win in the presidential primary. Greene County voters, however, favored Clinton with 18,300 votes, compared to 14,300 votes for Obama.

On the Republican side, Missouri declared John McCain the winner, but Greene County voters had their eyes on Mike Huckabee, giving him 15,600 votes over McCain’s 10,000. Mitt Romney came in a close third with 9,300 votes in the county.

Regardless of their preference, voters weren’t shy. Greene County’s record 39 percent voter turnout – just more than 70,000 out of 180,000 registered voters marked ballots – is the highest the county has seen in a Missouri presidential primary. In 1988, 37.8 percent of voters turned out, according to County Clerk Richard Struckhoff.

“I think it was the fact that there’s no incumbent running, and the race up until now was pretty wide open for the major parties,” Struckhoff said on voters’ motivation for turning out at the polls. “It bodes well for November.”