By Darcy Ellis
Editor

2-7-2007

A little more than half of Inyo County’s eligible voting population took part in the high-profile “Super Tuesday” election that saw Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain win the majority of their respective parties’ California delegates, and resulted in the passage of four controversial Indian casino gaming agreements.

Inyo County’s election results, for the seven statewide propositions as well as the presidential candidates, are in line with the overall state outcome, though the margins indicate local ballot-casters felt more strongly about certain issues and candidates than their California counterparts as a whole.
In the Democratic race, statewide, Clinton claimed a solid victory with 51.9 percent of the vote, to Sen. Barack Obama’s 42.4 percent. John Edwards came in at a distant third with 4.2 percent of the vote. At this point, Clinton and Obama are essentially neck-and-neck for the Democratic party nomination, with about three more weeks of primary elections across the country still to go.
Republican voters across the state gave McCain 41.2 percent of the vote, to former Governor Mitt Romney’s 33.9 percent and Mike Huckabee’s 11.6 percent.
McCain, according to polls, has all but locked up the Republican nomination.
The senator from Arizona was the top Republican vote-getter on Tuesday in Inyo County, traditionally “conservative” with currently 4,512 of its 9,946 voters registered as Republicans.
And while McCain has been labeled a “moderate,” Inyo County voters gave him an overwhelming backing over his more conservative rival Romney with 46.96 percent of the vote. The former Massachusetts governor followed with 23.15 percent of the vote, while Huckabee had 17.69 percent.
 According to the County Clerk’s Office, 2,092 registered Republicans voted Tuesday.
McCain may also have taken on some of the votes from the 317 ballots cast by Inyo’s 1,715 “non-partisan”  voters.
Conversely, those voting on the Democratic ticket in Inyo County were more evenly divided on who should move on to the Nov. 4 General Election.

While Clinton came away in Inyo County as top Democratic vote-getter, just as she did at the state level, she did so by a much smaller margin. She received 44.97 percent of the Inyo County vote, with Obama closely on her heels at 41.41 percent. Edwards also fared better here, earning 10.17 percent of the vote. A total of 2,501 Democratic ballots were cast in Inyo on Tuesday.
Statewide and in Inyo County, Propositions 91, 92 and 93 failed, while Props 94-97 passed.
With regard to the last four propositions, all of which allow four Southern California Indian gaming tribes additional slot machines in exchange for greater contributions to the state, local voters showed significant support for their passage at the polls.
Each and every one of the controversial ballot questions (opponents called the compacts unfair deals for the rest of California’s tribes and questioned how the state would be spending the additional revenue) received no less than 58 percent of the vote in Inyo County.
Statewide, Props 94-97 fared well with about 55 percent of the vote each.
Following is a complete breakdown of the major races. Not all numbers are final.

CANDIDATES FOR
PRESIDENT

Sen. John McCain

Sen. Hillary Clinton