Presumed Republican nominee Donald Trump had few detractors while Hillary Clinton outpolled Bernie Sanders statewide — the opposite of the Democratic caucuses results — for the Democratic nomination in the first count of tonight’s presidential primary.
Sanders was tops in Jefferson County but came in second with Clallam County Democrats.
Results of the $11.5 million beauty contest will be ignored by the state Democratic Party, which has apportioned delegates based on the March 26 caucuses, in which most of the state’s delegates went to Sanders.
And although Republicans use the primary to determine delegate affiliations, Trump was the only candidate left in the race for the nomination after Ted Cruz dropped out earlier this month.
Republicans
Trump was the big GOP winner in tonight’s count of primary ballots.
The state total as of 8:45 p.m. in the all-mail election was 367,671 votes, or 76.16 percent, for Trump; 48,965 votes, or 10.14 percent for Cruz; 47,697 votes, or 9.88 percent, for John Kasich; and 18,427 votes, or 3.82 percent, for Ben Carson.
The Peninsula GOP breakdown, as of tonight, was as follows:
■ Clallam County: 6,715 votes, or 78.1 percent, for Trump; 798 votes, or 9.28 percent for Cruz; 707 votes, or 8.22 percent, for Kasich; and 378 votes, or 4.4 percent, for Carson.
■ Jefferson County: 2,462 votes, or 74.44 percent, for Trump; 410 votes, or 12.73 percent, for Kasich; 221 votes, or 6.86 percent for Cruz; and 128 votes, or 3.97 percent, for Carson.
Kasich and Cruz were still on the ballot because they suspended their campaigns in early May after the ballots were printed. Carson, who suspended his campaign in March, was still on the ballot because he never submitted a withdrawal of candidacy with the state.
Democrats
Clinton, former Secretary of State, took the most votes statewide in the Democratic primary with 353,244 votes, or 53.65 percent.
Sanders, a U.S. Senator for Vermont, won 305,173 votes, or 46.35 percent, statewide.
For Jefferson County Democrats, Sanders was the top choice.
He won 4,162 votes, or 53.95 percent, to Clinton’s 3,552 votes, or 46.05 percent.
In Clallam County, Clinton won more votes.
She won 4,739 votes, or 51.25 percent, to Sanders’ 4,508 votes, or 48.75 percent.
In the caucuses, statewide, Sanders won 74 delegates in caucus voting compared to Clinton’s 27 delegates.
In Clallam County, 185 precinct delegates were elected at caucuses for Sanders while 85 were elected for Clinton.
In Jefferson County, 135 precinct delegates were elected for Sanders while 56 were elected for Clinton.
Of the 118 national level delegates for the Democratic Party, 17 are technically unpledged party and elected leaders, though a majority of them — including Gov. Jay Inslee and the state’s congressional delegation — support front-runner Clinton, according to the Associated Press.
If the presidential primary has any effect on the national Democratic convention, it will be through influencing superdelegates, some have said.
Bruce Cowan, Jefferson County Democratic Party chairman, has said the results of the primary “could be informative to the superdelegates, and also it could be informative to people making decisions about whether we should use caucuses and primaries for years from now.”
The Facebook page Olympic Peninsula Committee to Elect Bernie Sanders President 2016 urged Sanders supporters to vote in the primary to help convince superdelegates to vote for him.
The Democratic National Convention will be July 25-28 in Philadelphia.
The Republican National Convention will be July 18-21 in Cleveland.
Voter turnout
The Jefferson County Auditor’s Office counted 11,011 ballots out of 23,880 mailed for a voter turnout of 46.11 percent tonight.
The number represents all ballots on hand that were eligible to be counted tonight.
Seventy-five ballots will go to the canvassing board for rejection because of cross-party voting, said Betty Johnson, elections supervisor.
The office has 449 challenged ballots — ballots with signature issues or other problems that voters can rectify. Voters can go to the Auditor’s Office to fix the ballots up to 4:30 p.m. June 2, the day before certification.
The next count will be by 2 p.m. Friday.
The Clallam County Auditor’s Office counted 18,049 ballots out of 48,941 mailed for a 36.88 percent voter turnout.
It had 201 ballots that had cross-party voting and will go to the canvassing board.
Four envelopes contained no ballots.
County Auditor Shoona Riggs did not know tonight how many ballots were challenged but estimated them in the hundreds.
“We have trays and trays of them,” she said.
The next count will be by 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Statewide, 1,159,598 ballots were counted by 8:45 p.m.tonight, for a voter turnout of 28.37 percent. Counts will continue until elections are certified June 3.
