Before the presidential race was called, Pike County Republican Chair Thomas Haigh said he felt the votes were neck and neck.

Early on, Alabama was declared a Romney state, which was no surprise to Haigh.

“I think people in Alabama tend to vote based on moral issues,” he said.

In Pike County, 6,009 people cast their vote for President Barack Obama and 7,939 voted for Republican Gov. Mitt Romney. Fifteen votes were cast for Virgil H. Goode Jr., Gary Johnson received 76 and Jill Stein garnered 16 votes.

“It sounds like it is split pretty evenly between Obama and Romney from what television stations are reporting,” Haigh said about 9:30 Tuesday night. “It’s just a question now of who got out to vote on the West Coast.”

Less than two hours later, Obama was declared the winner by many TV networks as he claimed California, Oregon and Washington.

Obama was re-elected to a second term, defeating Romney in a hard-fought race in which the economy was the dominant issue. Obama captured battleground states including Ohio, Iowa and Colorado on his way to the 270 electoral votes he needed.

Romney unsuccessfully campaigned on the theme that his business background gave him the experience needed to guide the nation out of tough economic times.

Before the national race was called, Pike County attorney Joel Williams said he was baffled by how naive voters seemed to be.

“What I find interesting with this election is the lack of substance,” Williams said. Voters on both sides of the political spectrum just seem to accept statements from these politicians without analyzing what’s being said. In many ways, the voters are going to get exactly what they deserve, whoever wins the election.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.