Published: May 21, 2008 12:28 am            

Democrats in the area vote Hillary Clinton

ASHLAND — “You want to know who I voted for?” asked Jim Lyons, sitting in his van outside his precinct at Hager Elementary School.

Lyons tugged on his World War II veteran ball cap and stretched his hand to the back seat, where he had a stack of cardboard signs. He held one up — “Hillary” in brilliant red, white and blue.

It was kind of like that all over Kentucky on Tuesday, and the FIVCO region was no exception.

Northeast Kentucky saw decent turnouts and voters who overwhelmingly preferred Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama.

Clinton carried FIVCO counties by storm. In Boyd County, she received 6,741 votes to Obama’s 1,490, or 77 percent to 17 percent.

Greenup County gave Clinton 5,434 votes to 984 for Obama, or 80.68 percent to 14.61 percent.

Carter County’s 3,868 Clinton votes gave her 87 percent, while Obama received 412 votes.

“I’m excited about a woman running for president,” said Regena Sargent, voting at the Wurtland fire station. She cast her ballot for Clinton, as did her 18-year-old son, Michael Caudill, voting for the first time.

“We like Hillary Clinton. She’d make a strong president,” said Jim Sebastian, voting with his wife, Maxine, at Hager Elementary.

Like many in the state, the Sebastians were eager to cast ballots in a primary in which the candidate was not yet a foregone conclusion. Being late in the season, Kentucky’s primary usually comes at a time when one candidate has already sewn up the nomination.

“Often it’s decided before we get a chance to vote,” Maxine Sebastian said.

“I’m not excited at all about the choices,” said Teresa Perry of Wurtland. She voted for Clinton because she doesn’t like Obama. However, she may vote for McCain in the fall, she said.

At Russell Primary School, Richard Parker did just the opposite, voting for Obama because he didn’t want to vote for Clinton. “I didn’t vote for anybody. I voted against Hillary,” he said, mainly because he’s concerned that Bill Clinton would be involved in Hillary Clinton administration.

Turnout figures for Boyd County weren’t available Tuesday night, but County Clerk Debbie Jones said the supersite of nine precincts at the Kyova Mall was a resounding success, both with voters and poll workers. “It’s something I expect to do on a bigger scale in the next year or two to streamline the voting process and to save the taxpayers money,” Jones said.

Greenup County turnout was about 33 percent, County Clerk Pat Hieneman said.

Greenup saw a significant number of new voters as well. Quite a few young faces made their way into her Wurtland precinct, poll worker Cindy Ransbottom said.

In Carter County, 29 percent of voters turned out, Clerk Mike Johnston said. More Democrats than usual — drawn by the continued battle between Clinton and Obama — cast ballots, but those votes were offset by a drop in the number of Republican voters, he said.

With John McCain the presumed nominee and only weak challengers in GOP Senate and Congressional races, Republican voters apparently saw little reason to come to the polls, at least in Carter County.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2652.

        

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