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Election Day Goes Well

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By GEORGE WILKENS gwilkens@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 12, 2008

PLANT CITY - Election Day went relatively smoothly at most Plant City area polls, including several where voters slowed to a trickle late in the day, providing procrastinators to cast line-free, eleventh-hour ballots.

While some early ballots were still being tabulated by Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections personnel late last week, unofficial counts showed area voters bucked the state and national trend: Republican John McCain won all but one of east Hillsborough's 11 precincts.

Democrat Barack Obama won easily in Precinct 753 at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, 1601 E. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. on Plant City's east side, 751 to 210, election results show.

McCain fared best in several precincts where he beat the now president-elect by a margin of 2-to-1 or better, such as Precinct 751 at Plant City Church of God, 2103 Mud Lake Road, where he received 875 votes to Obama's 393.

That precinct and two others bordering Walden Lake and the city's southwest side were busiest during early morning, followed by a steady flow of voters, but no long lines or backups were reported.

Precinct 750 at Plant City Community Church of the Nazarene, 2402 Mud Lake Road, suffered a scanner failure 15 minutes after the 7 a.m. opening, poll clerk Gloria Cozart said. Voters waited about 40 minutes as poll workers fixed the glitch.

At Precinct 761, Bethany Baptist Church in Cork, northwest of Plant City, three voters were already waiting at 5:45 a.m., sitting in lawn chairs. By 7 a.m., about 100 were in line, said poll deputy Howard Roberts.

"The line moved along without too much of a wait," Roberts said. "But it was almost 10 a.m. when I could finally see the end of the line around the corner."

During early voting at City Hall, more than 10,200 voters cast ballots, often producing lines that spilled beyond the building's entrance.

That downtown block around City Hall was also a favorite high-traffic spot for supporters of the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates who waved campaign signs at passing motorists.

For a database of votes in each precinct in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, go to tbo.com, Keyword: Precinct Vote.

Reporter George Newman contributed to this report. Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4433.

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