The Fergus Falls Daily Journal

Marie Noplos/Daily Journal: Lloyd and Clarice Rudd cast their primary election ballots at the National Armory the polling place for Ward Two in Fergus Falls. Turnout among registered voters in Fergus Falls was 5.18 percent.

By Ryan Howard

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Voter turnout low except in BL [UPDATED]

Published 10:49am Wednesday, August 15, 2012 Updated 10:49am Wednesday, August 15, 2012

In a primary where voter turnout was predictably low in Otter Tail County, by far the biggest voter turnout in the county was in Battle Lake.

A total of 41.72 percent of the city’s 501 registered voters went to the polls to vote on whether the city should establish a natural gas utility, which was approved by 81.64 percent of voters.

For the rest of Otter Tail County, turnout was low, with only 6.85 percent of total registered voters making it out to the polls.

In Fergus Falls city limits, turnout was 5.18 percent.

The county followed the statewide trend in some of its races, but others saw different results. As expected, incumbent U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar won her Democratic primary in the county and the state by a landslide. In Otter Tail County, she won with 83.86 percent of the vote.

However, the county picked losers for the senator races of the Republican and Independence parties. The county selected David Carlson (44.6 percent) over Kurt Bills (36.66 percent) in the GOP race, but Bills won the state with 51.33 percent. The county also voted for Glen Anderson Menze (58.95 percent) over Stephen Williams for the Independence senator candidate, but Williams garnered 59.73 percent of the vote in Minnesota as a whole.

The county also voted similar to the state in the two Minnesota Supreme Court justice races, moving Lorie Skjerven Gildea and Dan Griffith on to the fall ballot for chief justice and David Stras and Tim Tingelstad on for associate justice.

In the county’s biggest state legislature race, the county’s southeast side picked Bob Cunniff (67.46 percent) over Bruce Campbell to face off against Republican Mary Franson in District 8B, a decision that was echoed by the rest of the district.

In the county’s far northeast corner, David Collins (52 percent) bested Steve Green in the race for who will be the GOP candidate against Brita Sailer in District 2B, but Green won the district with 53.45 percent.

The lowest voter turnout in the county was in Elizabeth township, where only 1.99 percent (10 voters) of the township’s 502 registered voters showed up.

For more county vote breakdowns, visit http://tinyurl.com/8v8e5w7.