Local voters file in 'nonstop'

Election officials gauged turnout as "nonstop" in Cape Girardeau County on Tuesday, while voters said the presidential and U.S. Senate races were driving them to the polls.

In Scott County, contested legislative races were also bringing voters out in high numbers.

A high voter turnout, as much as 75 percent in some counties, was predicted for Tuesday's general election by county clerks last week. In Cape Girardeau County, turnout ended up at almost 69 percent, with county voters favoring Republicans across the board. Scott County saw 68 percent turnout.

Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark Summers said voting booths were full but lines were not overwhelming at precincts she visited in the city of Cape Girardeau on Tuesday morning.

At Cape Girardeau's precinct 14 at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, many voters said they chose a straight Republican ticket, although some weren't necessarily happy with the candidate lineup.

In the U.S. Senate race between Sen. Claire McCaskill, the incumbent Democrat, and Rep. Todd Akin, a Republican, voter Brittany McQuire's vote went to Akin, but only because she was "raised Republican," she said.

"That one was hard. I didn't want to vote for either of them," she said.

Jackson voter Steve Gunter, who cast his ballot for McCaskill, said he felt Missouri's Senate race was key in this year's election because the Republican party has an opportunity to win a majority in the chamber in addition to the presidency and House.

"Then Republicans could gain control," he said.

In Jackson, election workers said they'd seen a steady flow of voters all morning.

"We've had a lot more than in a typical election, but this is about average for a presidential election," said Vicky McDowell, an election judge in Byrd 1, a precinct that votes at the First Baptist Church in Jackson.

Several voters said the opportunity to pick the next president is what brought them to the polls Tuesday.

Erma Call said she cast a vote for Mitt Romney because she didn't believe President Barack Obama was qualified when he first ran in 2008.

"These last four years have just proved that," she said.

Poll workers at Scott City's polling place reported more than 1,000 voters just after noon Tuesday, which they said was many more than had voted at that point on election day in 2008. Voting equipment at one point became overloaded with ballots, resulting in a temporarily jammed machine at Broadway United Methodist Church. Across the street, supporters of candidates for Missouri's 148th House district, Republican Holly Rehder and Democrat Bart Ziegenhorn, stood together in a group, amazed at the amount of traffic at the polls.

Ziegenhorn, son of Scott County Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn, is making his first attempt at elected office, as is Rehder, a business owner, former lobbyist and staffer for U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson.

Jerald Hillman, a retired construction laborer from Scott City, cast his vote for Ziegenhorn, betting that the "good reputation" he said the current commissioner has can be carried on by his son.

"His daddy's an honest, good guy, and I think he will be, too," Hillman said.

Hillman voted a straight Democratic ticket Tuesday because he said he wants to keep the current president, McCaskill and other Democrats in charge of his pension.

"Mitt Romney's not for the working people. He's for the businesspeople," Hillman said. "We don't need that. He doesn't understand us."

Republican Shirley Young, a former mayor of Scott City, was out in full support of the GOP and Rehder's bid for the House seat.

"I vote Christian, not always Republican," Young said. "As a Christian, I just cannot vote for Obama. We vote the Bible and he condones abortion."

Young described Rehder as a "wonderful Christian lady" who is "talented, and a hard worker."

She also said governments need leaders with business experience, which Rehder has.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

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