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Big turnout marks Orange primaries

Posted on May 8, 2008 by Staff

Lorie Clark was an enthusiastic supporter of Moses Carey who lost to Ellie Kinnaird in the state Senate race. She and Obama poll worker Julia Tarr camped out all day Tuesday at the OWASA precinct. Photo by Kirk Ross.by Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Going into Tuesday, higher registration numbers were already indicating a heavy turnout for Election Day, when Orange County voters would cast their ballots for everything from a tax referendum to the next president. The early vote total swelled as well, nearly reaching 18,000 votes by the close of business on Saturday, meaning that 18 percent of those registered voted prior to Election Day, a total close to the average total turnout in a typical primary year. By the time Tuesday’s votes were added in, more than 46,190 had voted in the county, putting turnout at an estimated 48 percent.

As evidenced by the results, driving the turnout was a surge of interest in the Democratic presidential race. In that contest, Barack Obama won 62 of North Carolina’s 128 delegates with 56 percent of the vote. In Orange County, where Obama had high visibility and an office full of volunteers on West Franklin Street, the Illinois senator won 70 percent of the vote to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s 29 percent. Clinton did not appear in Orange County, but her husband, former president Bill Clinton, made a stop in Hillsborough.

A 14 percent victory in North Carolina and a tighter than expected race in Indiana shifted momentum back to Obama, who on Wednesday picked up the endorsement of state Democratic Party chairman Jerry Meek, one of the roughly 800 so-called superdelegates who may decide the nomination.

Election results also showed that concerns that thousands of new voters would not participate in down-ballot races were exaggerated.

The state Senate District 23 primary between incumbent Sen. Ellie Kinnaird and veteran County Commissioner Moses Carey drew a total of 34,831 votes in Orange County — about 5,000 less than those at the top of the ticket.

Overall in the state senate race, Kinnaird won 27,084 votes or 64 percent of the total. Cary received 14,982 votes for 36 percent.

Person County totals for the race were somewhat closer, with Kinnaird winning 57 percent of the total to Carey’s 43 percent.

Kinnaird said Wednesday that she thought it was a good race in which both candidates dealt with issues and showed considerable respect for each other’s contributions in public life.

“I think we were very respectful of each other,” she said. “All in all, it was a good campaign.”

County races

In the county’s first election with a mix of district and at-large races, planning board member Bernadette Pelissier won 13,865 votes or 50 percent. Her closest challenger was Mary Wolff, with 29 percent, followed by Rogers Road neighborhood activist Neloa Jones, who received 20 percent of the votes.

Pelissier faces Republican Kevin Wolff, the husband of her primary challenger, in the fall.

District 1 representatives will be incumbent board member Valerie Foushee and Pam Hemminger, who ran unopposed.

In District 2, Steve Yuhasz was the top vote-getter with 37 percent, followed by Leo Allison with 28 percent, Luther Brooks with 22 percent and Tommy McNeill with 13.5 percent.

Though the ballot was mainly comprised of primaries, there was one election. In the race for Orange County Schools Board of Education, former County Commissioner Steve Halkiotis will return to local office as a member of the school board, along with newcomers Eddie Eubanks and Tony McKnight, defeating board incumbent Al Hartkopf.

Candidates Jeff Michalski and Stan Morris were also defeated. While Halkiotis brings local government experience to the board, Eubanks and McKnight, who are both black, will bring diversity to the previously all-white board.

Halkiotis, 64, won the highest percentage of the vote, with 22 percent. Eubanks received 21 percent, while McKnight won about 18 percent.

Hartkopf, Michalski and Morris received 15, 12 and 11 percent, respectively. Hartkopf had served on the board for four years.

Halkiotis served on the board of county commissioners for 20 years. A Hillsborough resident, he worked in Orange County Schools for 30 years as a principal, teacher and administrator.

Eubanks, 64, has worked in social work for 30 years. He lives in Hillsborough.

McKnight, 41, joins the board after running unsuccessfully in 2006. He is a former teacher and lives in Hillsborough.

The new members will take the seats of Hartkopf; Liz Brown, who did not run for re-election; and Dennis Whitling, who resigned in February following his arrest on charges of embezzlement.

Other races

In other top-of-the-ticket races, state Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro trounced Jim Neal, a Chapel Hill investment banker, winning 60 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Neal won 18 percent and Marcus Williams received 13 percent. Neal ran strong in Orange County, winning 39 percent here, while Hagan won 51 percent. Hagan faces incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole in the fall. She beat Pete Di Lauro by capturing 90 percent of the vote.

The GOP race to decide the party’s candidate for the Fourth U.S. Congressional District was won by B.J. Lawson of Cary, who beat former Orange County GOP chair Augustus Cho with 70.5 percent of the vote to Cho’s 29.5 percent.

In the nonpartisan race for district court judge in N.C. District 15B, covering Orange and Chatham counties, Chapel Hill resident Page Vernon and local attorney Glenn Gerding were the two top vote-getters, and will thus be on the ballot in November. Vernon tallied 65 percent of the vote, Gerding finished with 21 percent and Lamar F. Proctor Jr. was third with 14 percent.

In the GOP presidential primary, Orange County voters gave presumptive nominee John McCain of Arizona a comfortable win, with 74 percent of the vote.

Susan Dickson contributed to this report.

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