RECORD CAIRO VOTER TURNOUT; OTHER ALEXANDER TOTALS ALSO HIGH

CAIRO, Ill. -- Alexander County voters posted record turnout totals during school board elections Tuesday.

A total of 1,970 ballots were cast in elections in Cairo, Cache, Sandusky, Tamms, McClure, Thebes and Olive Branch. That number amounts to a little more than 27 percent of all registered voters.

Alexander County Clerk Sue Harrington said the number of people voting in Cairo, Tamms and Thebes was especially notable because it was the largest turnout ever for an off-year election.

"Cairo definitely set a record for an election that didn't include a presidential election," she said. "Tamms and Thebes also had very good showings."

Harrington said generally less than 10 percent of registered voters participate in school board elections.

Election judges, county officials and candidates said they were surprised by the number of voters participating in the contests. Off-year elections -- especially school board elections -- usually generate only nominal voter interest, they said.

Candidates cited a number of reasons for the heavy turnouts. People could have been interested because of a better-than-average field of candidates or because of the issues the candidates raised, they said.

"We had a hot little race over here, so I guess that's why so many people came out this time," said Brenda Webb, who was elected to the Shawnee Community District 84 Board of Education. "It was a good race."

Bruce Crosby, who represented a trio of Cairo Board of Education hopefuls, said voters may also have been trying to make a statement about their schools.

"This was probably the highest turnout in history for a Cairo school board election, and clearly in this decade," he said. "Obviously, for whatever their reasons, the voters turned out because they had a concern about what's going on in our school district."

A precinct-by-precinct breakdown of voter turnout Tuesday in Alexander County:

-- Cairo 1, 735 registered; 225 votes, 30.61 percent turnout.

-- Cairo 2, 658 registered; 229 votes; 34.8 percent turnout.

-- Cairo 3, 372 registered; 124 votes; 33.33 percent turnout.

-- Cairo 4, 707 registered; 310 votes; 43.85 percent turnout.

-- Cairo 5, 615 registered; 211 votes; 34.31 percent turnout.

-- Cache, 600 registered; 126 votes; 25.2 percent turnout.

-- Sandusky, 356 registered; 71 votes; 19.94 percent turnout.

-- Tamms, 1,038 registered; 180 votes; 17.34 percent turnout.

-- McClure, 814 registered; 303 votes; 37.22 percent turnout.

-- Thebes, 608 registered; 84 votes; 13.82 percent turnout.

-- Olive Branch, 772 registered; 107 votes; 13.86 percent turnout.