In the general election last Tuesday, 73 percent of the 26,730 registered Independence Township voters cast ballots ? 6,009 voted absentee. The City of the Village of Clarkston’s turnout was 70 percent; 197 of the 600 who voted casted absentee ballots.
In 2008, there were more registered voters (26,852) in Independence, and 74 percent of them came out for the general election. 70 percent of citizens turned out in Clarkston eight years ago, but there were fewer registered voters at 817. In 2012, 861 people were registered to vote.
Precinct 9, located on the east side of Independence had the highest voter turnout with 80 percent of its registered voters getting to the polls. Just south in neighboring Precinct 10, only 59 percent of those registered voted.
Citizens who cast ballots picked Pat Kittle as Supervisor, Barb Pallotta for Clerk, and Paul Brown for treasurer. Each of them ran unopposed as Republicans.
The only race in Independence Township with opposition was for four open trustee seats, but no Democrats were able to secure a position. Trustee candidate Andrea Schroder won the largest number of votes at 10,631. Ron Ritchie followed close behind with 10,508 votes. David Lohmeier retained his seat with 10,441 residents voting for him. 9,937 votes went to Jose Aliaga.
While Joe Luginski won in Clarkston’s general election, he ran for mayor unopposed. On the other hand, the race for City Council ended with one new member: Carol Eberhardt. Richard Bisio was not reelected while incumbents Peggy Roth and Mike Sabol gained enough votes to continue serving as council members.
Of the 19,645 voters who cast ballots, 44 percent of Independence citizens were straight ticket voters. Of those one-party voters there were 5,814 Republican, 2,713 Democrat, 75 Libertarian, 25 Green Party, 21 U.S. Taxpayers Party, and 7 Natural Law Party voters.
In the City of the Village, there were no straight ticket Green Party or U.S. Taxpayer straight ticket voters. There were two Libertarian and one Natural Law straight ticket voters. 172 Republicans and 84 Democrats marked their ballots straight ticket in Clarkston, however.
Had the presidential election been decided by Independence Township or Clarkston City, Governor Mitt Romney would have won. Every precinct in Independence, except south central Precinct 14, turned red for the Republican candidate on Election Day ? 290 voters didn’t choose presidents from the two main political parties.
See detailed general election results on www.oakgov.com/clerkrod/elections.