Super Tuesday voters cast 810 ballots in the Presidential Preference Primary election last week, in addition to the 581 absentee and early votes that had already been cast. A total of 1,391 votes were cast in the primary. Overall voter turnout was low, with only 14% of the 9,988 registered voters in Wayne County casting their ballots.
Donald Trump was the big winner in Wayne County, with the former president garnering 1,199 votes. This was 91.32% of the total votes cast in the Republican Primary. Trump faced seven opponents on the Presidential Preference Primary ballot, with all but one, Nikki Haley, having announced previously that they were officially dropping out of the race. Haley came in second behind Trump, receiving 88 of Wayne County’s Republican Primary votes.
President Joe Biden swept the Democratic Presidential Preference Primary with no opponents listed on the ballot. However, there were only 66 votes cast for President Biden in Wayne County. One could argue that the low vote count for Biden was due to the fact that he was unopposed on the ballot.
In the Judicial Primary for the office of Circuit Court Judge, Part V, unexpired term, called for by the Wayne County Republican Party, Julie Carrell Heffington was unopposed on the ballot. She received 482 votes, and there were six write-in votes.
For a complete breakdown of votes by precinct, see page ___.
Something different that voters saw on the ballot this year were some county seats. According to Wayne County Administrator of Elections Lillie Ruth Brewer, county seats have not been on a primary ballot in many years.
“Most people are unaware that all County Democrat Parties and County Republican Parties can call for county offices to be on the Primary ballot,” said Brewer. In times past, candidates for county seats have not been affiliated with either party.
“Candidates in the past have always run as “Independent” on Election Day, since neither the Wayne County Republican Party or the Wayne County Democrat Party ever called for the candidates to declare affiliation with either party,” Brewer continued.
Although the Wayne County Democrat Party called for candidates to declare affiliation with the Democratic Party, the candidates running for county seats declined to state their party affiliation. This meant that no candidates for the county seats were on the primary ballot. All county seats on the August ballot will be listed as Independent.
All the candidates that qualified to be on the August ballot for county seats are running unopposed. They are: Property Assessor – Dustin White; School Board District 1 – Drew Turman (incumbent Andy Yarbrough not running for re-election), District 3 – Charity Horton, District 4 – Deborah Brown, District 6 – Camryn Eaton, and District 7 – Amanda Van Fleet.
The County Election, State House & Senate Primary, and U.S. House & Senate Primary will be held on Thursday, August 1st. The 2024 Presidential Election will be held on Tuesday, November 5th.
For more information on voting and upcoming elections, visit GoVoteTN.gov or contact the Wayne County Election Commission at 931-722-3517.
