Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Election Is Lively Event In Clark County

An hour before the polls closed in the Preferential Party Primary Election Tuesday, May 23, all was quiet at the Clark County Courthouse.

The new annex was void of life, though its outside doors were open to any who wanted to venture inside. The municipal courtroom, however, was locked to prevent any chance of vandalism.

As time ran down for voters, the candidates could still be seen trying to drum up votes one last time.

There are no ties in political races. It's a win or lose proposition, nothing more, nothing less.

Once the election is over, the crash hits as the adrenalin rush also comes to an end for the candidates, leaving them physically drained.

Still, until the last vote has been counted, the hopefuls wear a smile plastered across their face, refusing to let it relax for a second  not even when defeat is preordained.

Activity began stirring at the courthouse around 6:45 p.m. with the arrival of members of the Clark County Election Commission, some election workers and visitors.

Word early on was it would be a low turnout from voters, and it was with only 38 percent bothering to go to the polls.

Outside the temperature was in the low 90s, but in the courtroom the temperature was cool. This was to keep the humidity level down and prevent the ballots from sticking together when ran through the AIS 115 electronic vote tabulator.

In spite of all the precautions, the weights used to help counterbalance the tabulator were off slightly and reduced the speed it was able to count the votes.

From the time the polls closed at 7:30 p.m., it took three hours to get all 34 precincts boxes counted.

Oddly, when the first boxes did arrive, at 7:40, few candidates were on hand.

Once the first boxes came in, the rest soon followed, with all of the precincts turning their boxes in before 9 o'clock.

The atmosphere inside the courtroom was jovial, with the crowd laughing and joking until the results were read. Then the room became deathly quiet so Hal Bass, chairman of the Clark County Election Commission, could be heard.

Early voting and absentee ballots were the first to be counted. These ballots set the pattern for the drama as it unfolded during the night.

The crowd soon filled the courtroom and overflowed into the foyer, with everyone interested in knowing what was happening with the results.

Because of the problems with the tabulator, though, only four boxes were counted by 9 p.m., even though all 34 boxes were in.

A startling trend developed in the race for U.S. President as Lyndon LaRouche Jr., received substantial support, all things considered. He finished the night garnering 754 votes in the county.

Another surprise, which also occurred across the Fourth Congressional District, was DeWayne Graham coming from behind to earn a runoff with State Sen. Mike Ross. Graham edged Judy Smith for second place, while Bruce Harris was nothing more than a footnote to the race.

The closest race of the night proved to be the one for Clark County Assessor between incumbent Wanda Knight and Kasey Summerville.

Until the final boxes were counted this was a nip and tuck affair, separated, at one time, by a scant three votes.

Most of the night it appeared as though the loser of this race would be demanding a recount because of its closeness. However, Knight pulled out to a 202 vote margin when the counting was done.

The final tally in the race was 2,537 for Knight and 2,335 for Summerville.

Early on in the race for the State House of Representative seat in District 36 Tommy Roebuck established a narrow lead over Brown Hardman.

This race stayed close in Clark County, ending up decided by 107 votes locally with Roebuck receiving 2,333 to Hardman's 2,226. However, Roebuck won convincingly in Nevada County by a 2:1 margin.

Roebuck will now face independent challenger Ron Addington in the November General Election.

Incumbent Floyd "Buddy" Manning earned a second term with a 3,014-1,840 win over Runyan.

According to the Clark County Clerk's Office, there are 13,381 registered voters in the county. Of this, 5,054, or 38 percent, voted in the primary election.