Low turnout noted for presidential primary

About 12 percent of registered Republican voters and 8.3 percent of registered Democrat voters in Jackson County participated in yesterday’s Presidential Preference Primary election here, which saw former President Donald Trump (Rep.) and current President Joe Biden (Dem.) receiving the most votes.

According to the unofficial results, President Biden received 35,031 votes statewide (84 percent) from Democrats while Trump earned 70,561 votes throughout the state (75 percent) from Republicans.

In Jackson County, only 147 of the county’s 1,753 registered Democrats participated in the election. 

President Biden received 109 votes compared to 21 votes for ‘none of the names shown,’ 12 votes for Marianne Williamson, four for Dean Phillips and one for Jason Michael Palmer.

Only 585 registered Republican voters in the county cast their vote, which included 438 votes for Trump, 109 votes for Nikki R. Haley, 25 votes for ‘none of the names shown,’ 16 for Ron DeSantis and four for Ryan L. Binkley.

This was the state’s first Presidential Preference Primary election since 1992.

The official election results will not be available until the county board of canvassers and the state board of canvassers have certified the election and all the ballots have been counted, including provisional ballots, it was reported. 

Once the results are certified, each political party will take the votes cast from the Presidential Preference Primary and turn them into delegate votes at their party convention.

The Republican National Convention will be held July 15-18 in Milwaukee. The Democratic National Convention will be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, Ill.