Metro Albany reflects statewide voter preferences on Super Tuesday

ATLANTA — Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, as had been expected, were the winners in Georgia on Super Tuesday.

Unofficial results on the Secretary of State’s elections website with all precincts reporting showed that Trump collected 501,624 of the 1.29 million votes cast in the Republican primary, or 38.8 percent. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was runner-up with 315,954 votes, or 24.45 percent, and Ted Cruz came in third with 305,087 votes, 23.6 percent.

The other active GOP candidates were retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 80,491 votes, 6.2 percent, and Gov. John Kasich with 72,296 votes, 5.6 percent.

On the Democratic side, Clinton pulled in 542,632 votes, or 71.3 percent of the 760,817 ballots cast in that primary. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, her only active competition, drew 214,311 votes, 28.2 percent.

With just under 4.7 million residents eligible to vote in the state, Georgia’s turnout of more than 2.05 million was about 43.7 percent.

The GOP turnout was up significantly from presidential preference primaries in Georgia in 2008, which drew 963,541 GOP voters, and 2012, when 901,470 voters cast ballots for Republican candidates.

For Democrats, Tuesday’s numbers were up significantly from the 139,273 who voted in the 2012 presidential preference primary when President Obama was running unopposed for re-election, but well below the more than 1.06 million Democrats who turned out for the 2008 presidential primary that pitted Obama against Clinton.

In heavily Democratic Dougherty County, 10,373 voters cast ballots in the Super Tuesday primary, with 8,891 going to Clinton, who garnered 85.7 percent of the vote. Sanders got 1,435 votes, 13.8 percent.

On the Republican side, Trump was No. 1 with 3,078, or 46.8 percent, of the 6,574 GOP votes cast. Cruz finished second in the county with 1,398, 21.3 percent, and Rubio was third with 1,148, 17.5 percent. Carson was fourth with 445 votes, 6.8 percent, and Kasich fifth with 386 ballots, 5.9 percent.

In all, 16,991 votes were cast in the parties’ primaries, just more than 40.2 percent of Dougherty County’s 42,232 voters who were eligible to cast ballots.

In Lee County, Trump took a majority of the 5,963 GOP votes cast with 3,057, 51.3 percent. he was followed, in order, by Cruz, 1,427, 23.9 percent; Rubio, 829, 13.9 percent; Carson, 388, 6.5 percent, and Kasich, 184, 3.1 percent.

Of the 1,360 Democratic votes cast in Lee County, Clinton took 1,009, or 74.2 percent, with Sanders named on 335 ballots, 24.6 percent.

Trump took a stronger majority in Worth County, collecting 1,890 votes, or 55.2 percent of the 3,452 cast in that Republican primary. He was followed by Cruz with 833, 24.3 percent; Rubio, 325, 9.5 percent; Carson, 220, 6.4 percent, and Kasich, 91, 2.7 percent.

Of the 861 Worth County Democrats who voted, 684, 79.4 percent, supported Clinton, with Sanders getting 166, or 19.3 percent.

In Terrell County, site of a Farmers for Trump rally last month, Trump took 649 votes, or 55.9 percent of the 1,161 cast in the GOP race. He was followed by Cruz with 249, 21.45 percent; Rubio, 138, 11.9 percent; Carson, 71, 6.1 percent, and Kasich, 30, 2.6 percent.

Of the 913 Democratic voters who cast ballots in Terrell County, 804, or 88.1 percent, preferred Clinton over Sanders, who received 105, 11.5 percent.

Trump had his best showing in the five-county metro Albany area in the MSA’s smallest county, Baker. Of the 435 voters who cast GOP ballots, 262, or 60.2 percent, endorsed Trump. He was followed by Cruz with 87, 20 percent; Rubio with 42, 9.7 percent; Carson, 25, 5.75 percent, and Kasich, 8, 1.8 percent.

Clinton took 303, 85.1 percent, of the 356 votes cast by Baker County Democrats, with Sanders collecting 48, 13.5 percent.

In Tift County, where U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, had endorsed Rubio and blasted Trump, the numbers still followed suit with the state. Trump won 2,697 votes, or 47.8 percent of the 5,647 cast in the Republican primary. Rubio finished third with 920, or 16.3 percent, trailing Cruz, who got 1,286 votes, 22.8 percent. Carson was named on 433 ballots, 7.7 percent, and Kasich on 226, 4 percent.

Also in Tift County, Clinton took 1,151 of the 1,517 votes cast, or 75.9 percent. Sanders got 344 votes, 22.7 percent.

In other nearby counties, the results were:

Mitchell County (GOP, 2,277 total votes): Trump, 1,246, 54.7 percent; Cruz, 441, 19.4 percent; Rubio, 298, 13.1 percent; Carson, 161, 7.1 percent; Kasich, 88, 3.9 percent.

Mitchell County (Democratic, 1,560 total votes): Clinton, 1,338, 85.8 percent; Sanders, 203, 13 percent.

Calhoun County (GOP, 447 total votes): Trump, 227, 50.8 percent; Cruz, 104, 23.3 percent; Rubio, 69, 15.4 percent; Carson, 29, 6.5 percent; Kasich, 15, 3.4 percent.

Calhoun County (Democratic, 561 total votes): Clinton, 499, 88.95 percent; Sanders, 61, 10.9 percent.

Colquitt County (GOP, 5,979 total votes): Trump, 2,967, 49.6 percent; Cruz, 1,398, 23.4 percent; Rubio, 773, 12.9 percent; Carson, 509, 8.5 percent; Kasich, 199, 3.3 percent.

Colquitt County (Democratic, 1,360 total votes): Clinton, 1,035, 76.1 percent; Sanders, 302, 22.2 percent.