By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – More than twice as many voters cast their ballots in Shelby County’s March 1 primary election compared to the 2014 primary, leading to a significant surge in voter turnout percentages.

Of the 128,374 registered voters in Shelby County, 63,967 voted in the March 1 primary, leading to a nearly 50 percent voter turnout. Of ballots cast on March 1, 53,300 – or about 83 percent – were Republican, while 10,617 – or about 17 percent – were Democrat.

The nearly 50 percent voter turnout was much higher than it was during the June 3, 2014 primary election. Then, only 28,270 of the 121, 263 registered voters cast their ballots, leading to a 23 percent voter turnout number.

“We had about 7,000 more registered voters this year, but we still had a much higher voter turnout,” said Shelby County Probate Court Chief Clerk Kim Melton.

The inclusion of a local constitutional amendment regarding Sunday alcohol sales in the county appeared on both the Republican and Democratic ballots, and saw one of the highest draws out of all March 1 races.

Nearly 62,000 voters cast ballots in the Sunday alcohol sales decision, with about 70 percent voting in favor of allowing the sales.

In addition to presidential nominee races on both parties’ ballots, the Republican ballot also featured multiple highly contested local races.

Incumbent Jim Kramer soundly won the Shelby County District Judge race, incumbent Robbie Hayes won re-election to the County Commission District 9 seat, and incumbent Jane Hampton easily won re-election to the Shelby County Board of Education.

However, voters will have a chance to top the March 1 turnout in several weeks, as the County Commission District 4 seat and the Circuit Court judge race will go to a runoff on April 12.

Candidates Lara Alvis and Patrick Kennedy, who earned 45 percent and 39 percent of the votes, respectively, will be the runoff for the Circuit Judge seat.

In the District 4 County Commission race, candidates Ron Griggs, Gene Rowley and Ward Williams finished the primary in a near three-way tie. The top two vote-getters will move on to the April 12 primary, but the runoff candidates will not be finalized until provisional ballots are tallied on March 8.