Cape Girardeau County sets voting record

The story goes, according to one election observer in Jackson, that a woman brought her young daughter to the voting booth Tuesday. The mother filled out her ballot, handed it to the daughter and instructed the girl to put it into the machine to be counted. The girl did as instructed, and when the daughter did so, the mother said to her, "See there? We made history today."

Before dawn, cars filled parking lots and men and women waited in long lines outside buildings where election history was indeed being written one ink-filled oval at a time. Parents brought children with them to the polls to teach them about voting. Men and women waited up to 45 minutes to cast their ballots. In at least one instance, a hospital-bound voter had his ballot delivered to him. In other instances, election judges had to read and explain ballot language to some voters.

In Cape Girardeau County, 37,593 people voted, almost 3,000 more than the previous record set in the 2004 presidential election. Likewise, the country made its collective voice heard as never before. Thought not all of the votes were counted at press time, prognosticators believe a record number of people arrived at the polls.

The nation elected the first black president in the history of the country. Missouri voters also switched parties in the governor's race.

But locally many things stayed the same. Incumbent Republican Jo Ann Emerson easily retained her Congressional seat. Cape Girardeau County government remained heavily Republican, including Jay Purcell, who ran a hard-fought race against independent Rock Finch. Cape Girardeau voted heavily Republican in state and national races as well.

In Cape Girardeau, the weather was perfect for long lines more commonly seen for concert tickets and popular video game consoles. But in Virginia, according to the Associated Press, voters waited in lines up to a half-mile long in the rain. Some of the voters ruined their ballots as rainwater dripped from their clothes.

Here, too, there were a few glitches.

A couple of ballot-counting machines that worked the night before somehow broke down overnight and had to be replaced, but the breakdowns didn't affect the flow of the election, according to Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark.

In Scott County, Clerk Rita Milam said minor problems with mismarked ballots or misfeeds into the machine were fixed by giving voters new ballots when appropriate.

The lines that surprised 40-year election judges in the early morning lessened as the day wore on. By noon in Jackson and Cape Girardeau, voters no longer had to wait, thanks in part to a bolstered army of election judges, many of whom were recruited before the election.

In Perry County, Clerk Randy Taylor called Tuesday's election attendance "the biggest turnout in my 22 years."

Many voters expressed fears about the economy, jobs, health care, abortion, war and gun control. Some simply wanted change at the top. The presidential race was by far the most important ballot item cited by voters leaving the polls in Cape Girardeau.

Teacher Russell Grammer and his wife, Amy, took their three young children, John, 7, Luke, 6 and Sara, 4, to the polls with them. Grammer said he voted for U.S. Sen. John McCain because the Republican is pro-life.

Kelly Thomas, a working mother of four and in-home day care operator, left her charges with two of her employees, both relatives, to vote at the American Legion hall in Jackson.

"It's a historic moment," she said. "One that I thought I would never see."

Arizabeth Hahn, nine months pregnant with her second child, was to find out later in the day whether she would be induced. She discovered at the Legion hall that she had gone to the wrong place to cast a vote.

"Last time, I missed the election. I was working third shift as a nursing assistant in Ohio," she said. "Not everybody realizes how important it is to vote."

Both parties realized the importance.

Volunteers with Barack Obama's campaign were stationed at polling places, wearing bright green T-shirts reading "Voting Rights Team." They were there to ensure no eligible voter was turned away. One volunteer at Cape Girardeau City Hall, who declined to be identified, said he helped one couple who moved to Cape Girardeau after the Oct. 8 voter registration deadline. He said a little-known process allows such voters to file a ballot, but they must go to the county clerk's office. In Jackson, Obama supporters came up from Tennessee to help in Missouri, known as a battleground state.

Both parties took their voting message to the streets, offering rides to the polls and going door-to-door with a get-out-to-vote message.

By the time the votes had started pouring in, local Democrats celebrated state and national victories in the basement of the Elks Lodge. Watching a big-screen television, cheers erupted. A student at Southeast Missouri State University made cookies decorated with the Obama logo in icing.

"This is the first time in 26 years I've been here," said Roger Arpin as he entered the basement. "I felt kind of alienated. I didn't know we had a Democratic party in Cape Girardeau."

Republicans meeting at Drury Lodge had a more subdued party.

John Voss, chairman of the county central committee, said the Republican message didn't come across in the campaign.

"Palin gave us a boost at the convention and Joe the Plumber really helped crystallize the message for McCain-Palin," Voss said. "But I would have liked to have had more clarity in the message early in the campaign."

Still, the Republicans cleaned house locally and are still clearly the dominant party in Cape Girardeau County. The night's signature win was Jo Ann Emerson's.

In her victory speech, Emerson thanked the strong organization that supports her campaign efforts, an organization that is regularly refreshed with new young Republicans eager to learn the art of politics.

"It isn't just a victory for me. It isn't just a victory for you all," Emerson told a crowd of about 200 gathered at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau. "It is a victory for common sense conservative values and I think it is a victory for the next generation of American leaders."

Reporters Lindy Bavolek, Brian Blackwell, Rudi Keller and Peg McNichol contributed to this report.