Clay County sees strong turnout countywide

(Photo by Randy M. Cauthron) Retiring Clay County Supervisor Sylvia Schoer visited with Clay County Auditor Marjorie Pitts outside the Spencer polling site at the Clay County Regional Events Center. [Order this photo]

Over seventy percent of Clay County's eligible voters took part in Tuesday's general election, posting 8,414 votes in a series of contested races on the national and county level - as well as a few not so heavily contested battles.

New this year was the opportunity for voters to register at the polls. Although she wasn't able to give an exact figure on election night, Clay County Auditor Marjorie Pitts said that poll workers reported many on-site registrants. "We had a lot of first time registrants. We won't know how many until we get the provincial boxes in, but with those, participation has increased."

With regard to the provincial ballots, Pitts said they will be verified on Monday, Nov. 10.

Numbers at the polls were strong all day. In Spencer's 5 Wards, by noon Tuesday, 1,226 voters had cast ballots; that number jumped to 2,598 by 6 p.m. in Spencer.

"There was a pretty good surge at 7 a.m. and then things were pretty steady the rest of the day," Pitts said.

Pitts, along with Clay County Sheriff Randy Krukow, were both running unopposed on the ballot at the county level. Pitts collected support from 6,686 voters while Krukow garnered support from 7,124.

A total of 2,883 absentee ballots were filed countywide, up from 2,441 four years ago. A total of 3,023 absentee ballots were requested. Workers began tabulating the absentee ballots in the afternoon at the Clay County Administration Building.

Coming into the election day, and not counting on-site registrations, Spencer had 7,846 registered voters, broken down to 1,970 Democrats, 3,024 Republicans, 2,850 declared no party, and 2 Green Party candidates.

The rural voting body comprises 4,158 of the county voters. Democrats account for 903, Republicans hold 1,546 votes, and no party voters account for 1,709.

There were a total of 12,004 voters registered in Clay County prior to the election date.

According to numbers from the polls, there were 1,070 Republicans and 818 Democrats that voted straight party tickets.