County voters' choices mirror state trend
By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 7, 2014 1:46 PM
Despite a lack of local races, voter turnout in Wayne County for Tuesday's primary was nearly double compared to that of the May 4, 2010, primary.
And for the most part, the local vote followed the statewide trends in deciding winners in the handful of national offices.
In the only local race, District 5 state Sen. Don Davis of Greene County easily turned back challenges from Tony Moore of Winterville and Henry Williams of Greenville to win the Democratic primary.
Slightly more than 11 percent -- 8,084 of the county's 73,035 eligible voters -- cast ballots compared to slightly more than 6 percent in 2010.
"If I had my guess the cause would be between the (Goldsboro) bond issue and the interest in the U.S. Senate race, particularly the Republican one, and the Democratic," said Rosemary Blizzard, Wayne County elections director. "Whatever it was, we were glad to see the turnout."
Overall, there were no problems and only 15 provisional votes (questionable ballots) -- news that Mrs. Blizzard described as "wonderful."
State Senate District 5 covers Greene County and parts of Wayne, Lenoir and Pitt counties.
Davis, who won by substantial margins in all of the counties in the district, faces no Republican opposition in the general election. Unless a write-in or unaffiliated candidate surfaces, Davis will automatically win the seat.
District wide, Davis received 9,899 votes (71.71 percent), Moore, 3,236 (23.44 percent) and Williams, 669 (4.85 percent).
Davis recorded 2,174 votes (88.55 percent) in Wayne County while Moore had 207 (8.43 percent) and Williams 74 (3.01 percent).
In Greene County, Davis had 1,965 votes (60.72 percent) to 1,149 (35.51 percent) for Moore. Williams had 122 votes (3.77 percent).
In Pitt County, Davis had 3,533 (67.03 percent), Moore had 1,459 (27.68 percent) and Williams 279 (5.29 percent).
Davis took Lenoir County with 2,227 votes (78.36 percent), Moore, 421 votes (14.81 percent) and Williams, 194 (6.83 percent)
The results are unofficial until the canvass next Tuesday.
Next Wednesday is the deadline for requesting a recount.
Thursday, May 15, is the deadline to file an election protest and Friday, May 16, at noon is the deadline to request a second primary, which would be held June 24 or July 15 depending on the offices.