County chooses Huckabee, but McCain the big winner
GOP presidential primary
By LARRY HILLIARD Ledger Staff Writer larry@gaffneyledger.com

Ledger photo / CODY SOSSAMON Paul Davis, 20, casts his ballot for Fred Thompson at Cherokee Creek VFD on Kegtown Mill Road during Saturday's Republican Presidential Primary. Davis, voting in his first presidential primary, said he supported Thompson because he is the most conservative of all candidates.

County voters tried to do their part to give former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee a muchneeded victory in the South Carolina Republican Primary on Saturday.

In Cherokee County, Huckabee received 1,827 of the 4,561 ballots cast to outdistance second-place finisher Arizona Sen. John McCain, who picked up 1,213 votes.

Neither candidate made a stop in the county before the election.

The order of finish was reversed statewide, where McCain got 33 percent of the vote to edge Huckabee, who had 30 percent. The South Carolina primary was considered key, with the winner receiving a boost heading into the Florida primary on Jan. 29 and the 21-state Super Tuesday battles on Feb. 5.

Fred Thompson was third here with 767 votes, followed by Mitt Romney (507 votes), Ron Paul (171 votes), Rudy Giuliani (45) and Duncan Hunter (8). Hugh Cort and Tom Tancredo each received one vote here.

Statewide, Thompson finished third with 16 percent of the vote and Romney was fourth with 15 percent.

Local election officials had hoped for a turnout of around 5,000 voters. In fact, the turnout was only 18 percent. The dreary winter day - with temperatures in the mid to upper 30s and a mixture of rain and snow - likely kept some voters away from the polls.

"The turnout would have been better if the weather hadn't been like this," Cherokee County Election Commission Executive Director Suzanne Turner said.

For Saturday's Republican presidential and this Saturday's Democrat Party presidential primaries, the number of polling places has decreased from 33 to 13. Turner said the consolidation of polling places due to a lack of available poll workers went smoothly.

"We had several people call to ask directions, but only one or two people were mad about it," she said.

"Everything went smoothly," she added. "We were real happy about it."