More than half of Cape County voters turn out for election

More than half of the registered voters in Cape Girardeau County went to the polls Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the county clerk's office.

Of the 51,504 registered voters in the county, 53 percent of them, or 27,505, cast their ballot in the midterm election. The figure was just 5 percentage points below County Clerk Kara Clark Summers' original prediction.

Summers said Tuesday afternoon that some Cape Girardeau city precincts were busier than a normal midterm election, but didn't believe voter activity was been busier than in 2008. In 2008, about 80 percent of county voters went to the ballot box.

There were some problems with voting when a statewide database of voter registration malfunctioned, causing some waits at the polls while poll workers verified the identities of voters whose names weren't recorded on the paper voter registration list. However, Summers said the problems didn't prevent anyone from voting.

The larger voter turnout began early Tuesday, according to several election workers.

By the lunch hour, Precinct 1 at Red Star Baptist Church reported 354 ballots cast, Grace United Methodist Church had seen 431 voters for Precinct 6 and more than 1,337 turned out at the Arena Building for Precincts 7 and 17.

Less than half of the registered voters in Scott County went to the polls Tuesday. The county clerk's office reported that 43 percent of the 26,841 registered voters cast a ballot. Turnout was considerably less than the 2008 election, where 66 percent of county voters headed to the polls.

Of the 11,915 voters registered in Perry County, 6,224 went to the polls -- a total of 52 percent -- voting in a number of races, including the race for presiding commissioner and associate circuit court judge.