Pike County votes decidedly GOP
Published 11:20 pm Tuesday, June 3, 2014
For the most part, Pike County’s results in Tuesday’s party primaries mimicked statewide results. Voter turnout was another story.
“Voter turnout was low. I expected a little more and was disappointed in the turnout,” Probate Judge Wes Allen said of the 15 percent voter turnout.
In the Republican primary, incumbent Gov. Robert Bentley won Pike County by a landslide, taking 90.9 percent (2,149) of the votes. Stacy Lee George had 125 votes and Bob Starkey received 90 votes.
Bentley will face Parker Griffith in November. The Democrat earned 62 percent of Pike County’s Democratic vote, echoing the support he received statewide.
In other races on the GOP primary ballot, incumbent Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey took more 73 percent of the Pike County vote with 1,724 votes to opponent Stan Cooke’s 615.
The GOP secretary of state race was a close one. Local voters preferred Reese McKinney with 931 votes to Jim Perdue’s 813. John Merrill picked up 446 votes.
Nearly half of Pike County GOP voters chose Jim Zeigler for state auditor. He gained 979 votes here. His closest opposition was Adam Thompson with 491 votes. Dale Peterson had 298 votes and Hobbie Sealy had 225 votes.
Public Service Commissioner Jeremy Oden gained 1,142 votes in Pike County to Kathy Peterson’s 800 in the race for place one. With four candidates on the ballot, place two was a tighter race. Terry Dunn came out ahead with 37 percent (681) of the vote. Chris Beeker, Jr. received 504 votes. Close behind was Jonathan Barbee with 496 votes. Phillip Brown earned 154 votes in Pike County.
Pike County will send Shirley Reddoch back to the State Republican Executive Committee. She won place one with 1,049 votes to Amy Dent’s 919.
In the Democratic Party, Samuel Gillis earned the State Democratic Executive Committee position with 470 votes to Joel Lee Williams’ 328 votes.
All results are unofficial until provisional ballots have been recorded. Allen said provisional ballots would be counted next week.