Messenger Intern

The election is three days history, but the votes were still being counted past Tuesday night.

The Democratic and Republican committees in Pike County came behind the voting officials and recounted the votes- just to make sure.

Of course, this is just basic procedure.

"The primary election is a party election, and, in this case, we have two main candidates. The primary wasn’t to elect anybody to office. It was for us to pick a candidate," said Lawrence Bowden, chairman of the Pike County Republican Committee.

"The party is responsible to certify the votes. The county conducts the election, and, of course, they count the votes. But it’s up to the party to make sure the votes are correct.

"We just make sure the county was correct, and everything was fine. By the time it goes through, we seldom have a problem. The probate judge, circuit clerk and sheriff do an outstanding job. They are to be commended for the job they do," he said.

Both parties have certified all the votes, and no votes were disqualified from the mix.

Out of the 3,696 people who voted, 1,658 were Democrat and 2,019 were Republican.

There are 16,211 registered voters in Pike County, leaving Tuesday night’s election with a 23 percent voter turnout, according to Probate Judge Bill Stone.

There was a 45 percent difference between the Democratic and Republican turnout in Pike County with the Republicans outnumbering the Democrats.

"Aside from voter turnout being very light, the results were pretty close to the polls," said Bowden.

After considering previous years, Bowden said he was not surprised there was a stronger Republican turnout.

"Certainly, I would like to see things return to how they used to be. The low turnout has a lot to do with the general apathy of society. It would great to see more people get involved," said John Key, chairman for the Pike County Democratic Committee.

Key remembers when there was at least a 50 percent voter turnout back in the 70s and 80s.

Key was not surprised that the Democrat party was outnumbered since that has been the trend lately.

· Democrat Don Siegelman and Republican Bob Riley won the race for governor.

· Republican Bill Armistead will run for Lieutenant Governor.

· There will be a runoff between Republicans Julian McPhillips and Susan Parker for United States Senator.

· There will be a runoff for Secretary of State for the Democratic Party with Chris Pitts and Nancy L. Worley.

· Dave Thomas will run on the Republican ticket.

· There will be a runoff for State Treasurer for Democrats Stephen Black and Carol Jean Smith.

· Republican Kay Ivey won.

· There will be a runoff for State Auditor for Democrats Debbie Tucker Corbett and Carolyn Gibson.

· There will also be a runoff for Republicans Beth Chapman and Jim W. Zeigler.

· For Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Democrat Ron Sparks and Republican J. Lee Alley won.

· Charles B. Martin won the Democratic race for Public Service Commission, Place No. 1.

· Democrat Debbie Davis Fortune won the race for State Republican Executive Committee, Place 1.