Spartanburg Witnesses Record Election Turnout and Political Shakeup
Good citizens of Spartanburg, it’s time for a hearty pat on the back; our little county has just seen its highest general election turnout rate in a whopping 32 years!
Isn’t that impressive? Now, let me spill the beans on the total number of ballots cast – 156,136. Yes, you read that right – it’s a new record for our county and it all happened during the Nov. 5 election.
Let’s talk big-picture changes first. Across the nation, we’ve seen a pretty significant political turnover with the Republicans regaining control of the U.S. Senate, and Donald Trump earning his second ticket to the White House. That’s not something we see every day, folks – he’s only the second former president in U.S. history to make a nonconsecutive comeback.
But let’s bring it back home to Spartanburg, where things have stayed pretty much the same. None of our seats changed hands in this election. Which really isn’t too surprising considering that all contested seats were already in Republican hands.
And our voters turned out in force. Around 75.49 percent of registered voters in our county cast their ballots – and they really seemed to be rooting for Trump this time around. His margin of victory was a hearty 6 points higher than four years ago.
Voter Verdict on Local Issues
But it wasn’t just about choosing our leaders. Our voters also weighed in on some key local issues. They approved referendums that set property taxes to support services in our fire districts and gave the green light to issue a cool $2.5 million in bonds for improving fire station facilities and buying a brand new engine. Bravo, people!
If you’re curious about the unofficial results from each race, you’ll find the winners all marked up in italics in the next section of our post. Unfortunately, I can’t broadcast that information here, but pop on over to the results site for the full details.
Also, just a quick note for clarity, all write-in votes count towards the overall votes in a race. So when you’re doing your own race result maths, you might notice that the percentages in some races fall a shade below 100 percent. Now you know why – isn’t that handy?
Signing Off
Well, that’s all from me, folks. I’m sure we’re all eager to see how these developments will shape the near future. For now, we can only urge everyone to keep engaging in our democratic process.
As your local Spartanburg editor, I always look forward to your thoughts on my reporting. Conversation is, after all, the lifeblood of a vibrant community. Until the next big story, happy reading!
