County goes Republican, picking winners

By Dawn Slade
Posted 11/13/02

Mille Lacs County had an increased number of voters turn out for this yearís election on Nov. 5 compared to other mid-term election years. And the number appears to be increasing with each election.

Eighty-one and a half percent of registered voters in the county turned up at the polls, which includes the 1,734 voters who registered the day of the election. In all, 10,386 of the 12,741 registered voters in Mille Lacs County cast their votes.

During the 2000 election for President of the United States, 85.9 percent of registered voters in the county made it to the polls. The 1998 mid-term election yielded 79.9 percent of county voters.

The 1996 election had 75.99 percent voter turnout for Mille Lacs County.

The cities of Milaca and Princeton had the largest number of new registered voters, with 212 and 366 respectively.

Isle Harbor Township had 92 percent of its registered voters at the polls, while Mudgett Township was a close second, having 91 percent of its registered voters at the polls.

Mille Lacs County voters went mostly Republican for state offices this year. The only exceptions were the U.S. Representative District 8 and the attorney general seats.

The highest concentration of Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) votes in Mille Lacs County came from Kathio Township, the city of Onamia and Onamia Township.

Governor

Nearly half of the voters chose Tim Pawlenty and Carol Molnau for governor and lieutenant governor (5,190 votes), with only 30 percent voting for Roger Moe and Julie Sabo (3,205 votes).

Overall, Pawlenty received 44.37 percent of the votes in Minnesota, while Moe received only 36.47 percent.

Green Party candidate Ken Pentel received just 2.25 percent (170 from Mille Lacs County), while Independence party candidate Tim Penny received 16.19 percent of Minnesotaís votes, including 1,510 votes from Mille Lacs County.

U.S. Senate

In the highly publicized U.S. Senate race, Mille Lacs County voters went Republican again.

Norm Coleman received 52 percent of the votes (5,454), while his opponent Walter Mondale received 42 percent (4,355).

The late Paul Wellstone received 50 votes from Mille Lacs County residents.

U.S. Representative

In the District 8 race for U.S. Representative, Democrat James Oberstar won out against Republican Bob Lemen. Mille Lacs County voters contributed to Oberstarís victory with 6,059 votes, while only 3,909 county residents voted for Lemen.

State Senator

In the District 16 race for State Senate, Betsy Wergin of Princeton was the victor with 61.23 percent of the vote. Her opponent, David Reines of Big Lake received only 38.62 percent of the votes.

Mille Lacs County residents again sided with the winning candidate bringing in 5,893 votes for Republican Wergin, while Democrat Reines received 4,106 votes from Mille Lacs County.

State Representative

In the District 16A race for State Representative, Republican Sondra Erickson of Princeton won out over her Democratic opponent Chuck Davis of Milaca.

Again, Mille Lacs County picked the winner, bringing in 6,002 of Ericksonís total 9,337 votes.

Davis received 3,690 votes from Mille Lacs County. He received 6,327 votes in all.

Secretary of State

Republican Mary Kiffmeyer won out over DFL candidate Buck Humphrey for the Secretary of State position.

Kiffmeyer received 5,362 votes in Mille Lacs County, while Humphrey received 4,018.

In total, Kiffmeyer received 47.56 percent of the vote, while Humphrey received 44.52 percent.

State Auditor

Patricia Anderson Awada, another Republican, won the seat for State Auditor. She squeaked by with 44.63 percent of the vote, which included 4,461 votes from Mille Lacs County.

Awadaís opponent, DFL candidate Carol Johnson was close behind, receiving 43.94 of the vote, which included 4,194 Mille Lacs County votes.

Attorney General

And in the race for Attorney General, Democrat Mike Hatch came in first with 54.65 percent of the vote.

Hatchís opponent, Tom Kelly received only 40.83 percent.

Mille Lacs County residents pegged this one right, too, giving Hatch 5,226 votes. Kelly received 4,285 votes from the county residents.