Thursday, November 6, 2008 9:22 PM CST
Obama wins in most Coles precincts
By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
dfopay@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — It took more than the university student vote to make Coles County the only one in the area that supported President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday.
Obama’s 742-vote margin in the county over Republican John McCain was a result of the Democrat getting the majority of the votes in 28 of the county’s 44 voting precincts. McCain’s majority in the other 16 precincts included one of the six that’s part of the Eastern Illinois University campus.
National reports have indicated that Obama’s victory Tuesday was in part because he was heavily favored by first-time and other younger voters, and those groups went to the polls in higher numbers than in the past. Coles County’s total, however, showed fewer votes cast at the campus precincts than four years ago, though more than in the 2000 presidential election.
The precinct-by-precinct voting total breakdown also shows that county voters were clear on their choices for state’s attorney and coroner, and even more definitive on U.S. senator and the state’s constitutional convention question.
The presidential vote totals showed that Obama received the majority in all but three of Charleston’s 16 precincts. McCain was the top vote-getter in precincts 3, 8 and 19, with precinct 19 voting at one of the EIU polling places, the Newman Catholic Center.
None of the other nine candidates for the office received enough votes to register even 1 percent of the county’s total, with one receiving only one vote and three getting zero.
The total number of ballots cast Tuesday at Charleston precincts 16 and 17, which vote at the EIU student union, and precincts 14, 15, 18 and 19, which vote at the Newman center, was 3,697. Those precincts had a total of 3,964 in 2004 and 2,778 in 2000. The countywide total for Tuesday was 23,259 for turnout of nearly 71 percent.
Even the vote at precincts 16 and 17, the two precincts that vote at the university union, had more total votes in 2004 when 507 votes were cast in precinct 16 and 841 votes cast in precinct 17 for the Bush-Kerry contest. The Obama-McCain vote this week drew 459 votes in precinct 16 and 740 votes in precinct 17.
McCain also received more votes than Obama in all but one of the county’s rural or small-town precincts, with Obama coming out ahead only in Humboldt precinct 1. Obama received the majority in 13 of the 19 Mattoon and Lafayette precincts.
Meanwhile, Republican Ed Schniers’ victory in the race for coroner was by 4,213 votes, but appeared even more decisive with the precinct breakdown. Incumbent Democrat Mike Nichols received the majority of votes in just three precincts, Charleston 16 and 17 and Mattoon 7-1; Green Party candidate Michael Snow received no more than 8.5 percent of the vote in any precinct and ended with just less than 3.5 percent overall.
Democrat Steve Ferguson’s re-election as state’s attorney also showed a consistent trend throughout the county. Republican Paul Komada was the leader in nine precincts, while Green Party candidate Todd Reardon received the majority in none. There were a few precincts where the three candidates nearly split the votes, such as Charleston precinct 4, where Reardon received his highest percentage of 34.8.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s easy statewide victory Tuesday was also mirrored in the county’s results. The Democrat received a majority of votes in every county precinct, at least 55 percent, in his victory over Republican Steve Sauerberg and two other candidates.
The county also followed the rest of the state in heavy opposition to the proposed constitutional convention, with the question receiving a majority of “no” votes — at least 52 percent and as much as 82 percent — in every precinct.
The city of Mattoon’s referendum that asked voters if they wanted a change to a city manager form of government received a majority of “yes” votes in only two precincts, Lafayette precincts 2 and 4. The proposition received at least 57 percent “no” votes in the others except for Mattoon precinct 8-2 (51 percent “no” to 49 percent “yes” and Paradise precinct 1 (50.8 percent “no” to 49.2 percent “yes”).
Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 348-5733.
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Harry Potter wrote on Nov 8, 2008 3:55 PM: