County votes for Obama, parish for Romney

Published 1:45 am Wednesday, November 7, 2012

NATCHEZ — Fifty-eight percent of voters in Adams County cast a ballot Tuesday that helped send President Obama back to the White House for four more years.

Ben Hillyer | The Natchez Democrat — Four-year-old Jordan Biglane peeks below the voting booth curtain Tuesday morning as his grandmother Sheila Barlow votes and his half-sister Journi Levite watches.

The percentage was the same, but the candidate reversed across the river in Concordia Parish, where Republican Mitt Romney won the majority of the vote at 58 percent.

In Adams County, voter turnout was at approximately 65 percent, with 13,709 of the 21,000 registered voters casting ballots.

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Approximately 40 percent of voters voted for Republican Mitt Romney.

Phones in the Adams County election commission’s office were ringing off the hook Tuesday, Election Commissioner Larry Gardner said, with questions from voters about polling locations and registration status.

A glitch in the statewide election management system caused part of the system to be inaccessible Tuesday, but Gardner said he created back-up databases Friday as a precaution because the same problem arose last week.

A total of 1,707 absentee ballots were cast in Adams County, and Gardner said the commission will work through those today and have results certified by early next week.

Overall, Gardner said, voter turnout was lower than it was four years ago but what he expected for this election.

Voter turnout in Concordia Parish was approximately 68 percent, with 40.8 percent of the voters casting a ballot for President Obama.

LAUREN WOOD | THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT — Election Commissioner Mitch Ballard, center, points to where Pat Stroud should drop off the box containing District 2 Beau Pré Precinct results Tuesday night at the Adams County Courthouse.

For some voters like Natchez resident Tejuana Johnson, this year’s presidential election was more important than in the past.

“I think this is the single most important presidential election in our history,” Johnson said. “There will be things decided in this election that if they go a certain way, we won’t be able to recover.

“I think it will set the direction for the future of our country.”

But Byron Aldridge said he didn’t think Tuesday’s vote was important as past presidential elections.

“I think it’s more up to Senate and Congress when it comes to change,” Aldridge said. “I hope whomever the next president is, he can unite the Senate.”

Adams County voter Leigh Pyron said, as she has gotten older, the presidential election has become more important to her. She said pays more attention to where candidates stand on issues like health care, debt and the economy.

“I’m more involved now. I’m older and have a family,” the mother of three said. “I think the older you get, it becomes more important.”