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Hernando Today

Hernando Goes For Clinton, McCain

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By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: January 30, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Hernando County Democrats picked Hillary Clinton, the Republicans chose John McCain and voters said yes to the Amendment 1 property tax reform measure.

The results appeared to mirror the direction the state of Florida's primary preferences were headed by Hernando Today's deadline at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

The margins of victory in Hernando were wider, however, and statewide results for the Republican race between McCain and Mitt Romney and the results for Amendment 1 were both still too close call.

Here's a rundown of Hernando's results with 45 of 56 precincts reporting:

- Clinton had 60 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary; Barack Obama was in second with 21 percent; and John Edwards was third with 15.5 percent.

- McCain had 36 percent in Republican primary; Mitt Romney was in second with 29 percent; and Rudy Giuliani was third with 16.5 percent.

- And 70.8 percent of voters had said yes to Amendment 1.

Amendment 1, which needs 60 percent to pass, would: Increase the exemption for homesteaded homeowners; make the Save Our Homes benefit "portable"; cap property assessment increases for non-homesteaded property at no more than 10 percent each year; and create a new $25,000 property exemption for some business equipment and mobile home property.

The day went off with few hitches, Hernando Supervisor of Elections Williams said.

However, at Precinct 47 in Timber Pines, one of two machines that poll workers use to check in voters by scanning their driver's licenses stopped working early in the day.

"It's a computer, and it went down," Williams said.
Precinct workers were forced to check in voters the old-fashioned way by using the hard copy of the voter rolls, Williams said.

The precinct is one of the busier in the county, and the computer crash caused lines to lengthen some, Williams said. She denied a claim by Shirley Anderson, a Republican seeking to unseat Williams in the November election, that for "half an hour, no one was able to vote."

"Voting never stopped," Williams said. "All it did was slow the process down."

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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