Berrien voters favor Santorum
Published 11:41 pm Tuesday, February 28, 2012
While Mitt Romney captured the Republican presidential primary in his native state of Michigan Tuesday, Berrien and Cass voters favored Rick Santorum. Ron Paul came in third and Newt Gingrich was fourth in both counties.
Results for the Republican primary are as follows (Royalton Twp. Precinct 2 in Berrien had not reported yet at press time):
Berrien County
• Rick Santorum — 6,870
• Mitt Romney — 6,397
• Ron Paul — 1,708
• Newt Gingrich — 1,275
Cass County
• Rick Santorum — 2,930
• Mitt Romney — 1,866
• Ron Paul — 599
• Newt Gingrich — 413
Other candidates
The following GOP candidates previously pulled out of the race, but were still on the ballot: Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Fred Karger, Rick Perry and Buddy Roemer.
In Berrien County, 1,917 votes were cast for Barack Obama; he received 742 votes in Cass County.
Voter turnout
Berrien County has 124,298 registered voters; Cass has 38,892.
Turnout for the primary among registered voters in Berrien County was higher in the City of Buchanan — location of Buchanan Community Schools and the bond proposal — with the two precincts reporting about 25 percent registered voter turnout.
In Berrien County communities with only the presidential primary on the ballot, like the City of Niles, turnout hovered around 10 percent among the four precincts. In Niles Township, turnout ranged from 10.65 percent in Precinct 2 to 26.37 percent in Precinct 5 (there are five precincts total).
In Cass County, voter turnout was as high as 26.02 percent in Porter Township No. 1, and as low as about 10 percent in the three City of Dowagiac precincts.