Photos by Makayla Boling | Assistant Lifestyles editor
Story by Savannah Meade | News editor and Brandon Black | Lifestyles editor
Across Tennessee, hundreds of residents went to their local voting locations Tuesday to vote in the presidential primary. Following the deadly storms, many locations in Nashville stayed open as late as 10 p.m., but in Rutherford County, the polls closed at 7 p.m.
In the end, former Vice President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary and Pres. Donald Trump won the Republican primary in Tennessee.
In early voting, Rutherford county had an 8 percent voter turnout. The top three democrats were Bernie Sanders with 33 percent, Michael Bloomberg with 18 percent and Biden with 17 percent. Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren were close behind as the only other candidates with over 10 percent vote.
On the Republican side, Trump led the early wave with over 96 percent of votes. Other Republican candidates Joe Walsh and Bill Weld with 0.8 percent and 0.76 percent respectively.
The final numbers for Rutherford County were: Trump at 96.46 percent, Biden at 37.89 percent, Sanders at 32.47 percent, Bloomberg at 11.79 percent and Warren at 10.47 percent.
Rutherford County had a voter turnout of 22.56 percent with over 39,000 people voting, including early and absentee.
As the numbers came in across the state, Biden, Bloomberg and Sanders were all within 20 percent. Though the divide became clearer as the night went on and before polls in Nashville were even closed, Biden was deemed a winner.
The final numbers for the state of Tennessee are: Biden at 41.53 percent, Sanders at 24.74 percent, Bloomberg at 15.86 percent and Warren at 10.07 percent.
Here is what some residents of Rutherford County had to say about voting.
“I believe that he (Bernie Sanders) truly has the people’s interests in his best interests… I think we should give him another shot, and this might be too much, but I think after the past four years, why not go so far in the other direction? Let’s give everyone a chance,” said Rutherford County resident Scout Cerveny.
“I voted for Bernie Sanders because I’m a college student and I feel like he’s the only one who cares about issues that affect college students, and he’s got a great track record compared to everybody else,” said MTSU student Robert Sain.
“Well I think it’s important to choose who the Russians are going to steal the election from,” said MTSU professor Robb McDaniel, “You know, we only get to do this for the presidency once every four years and it’s a big civic responsibility, and it’s not something that you get to do in every country and so while we still have this right, I think we ought to exercise it. And I want my daughters to see what it was like back in the day when grown-ups got to vote.”
“It went smooth today. The line wasn’t too long, I didn’t feel intimidated, everyone was helpful and organized,” said resident Carmen Maples about the overall voting experience.
“It was hard. I went with Biden. I think he’s got the best chance of actually taking on Trump. I love Bernie, but I think he is divisive in a lot of areas and people may go another direction, and I love Elizabeth Warren, but I don’t trust this country to hire a woman yet, unfortunately. I hate to be such a fatalist, but that’s the truth. I’m 45. I just don’t see it happening yet. He wasn’t my favorite candidate, but I think he’s somebody who can beat Trump and that’s all that mattered to me,” said “Southern Fried True Crime” podcast host Erica Kelley.
To contact News Editor Savannah Meade, email newseditor@mtsusidelines.com.
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