Jefferson County voters had their chance on Tuesday (March 10) to tell the country's political parties who they'd like to see as their presidential nominees and Republicans and Democrats here both cast their lots with the front runners -- Incumbent President Donald J. Trump and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, respectively.
No surprise on the Republican side, as incumbent Donald J. Trump easily sailed to victory in Jefferson County, with 97.46 percent of the Republican ballots marked for him in final, unofficial results.
Only 22.9 percent of the county's registered voters cast ballots, compared with 41.49 percent during the 2016 primary.
County Clerk Ken Waller said the low turnout could be attributed to the lack of a competitive race for GOP voters, relatively chilly and overcast weather and the possibility of illness.
"We had several poll workers call us and tell us they couldn't work today because they had the flu -- not the coronavirus -- and I'm sure that was probably the case for voters as well," Waller said.
Democrats had to make their choice from a mind-numbing 22 candidates listed on the Missouri ballot, but in recent days, the race has narrowed to two -- former Vice President Joseph Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Jefferson County voters showed on Tuesday that they were paying attention. Biden received 57.85% of the vote (12,069) and Sanders 35.62% (7,430).
Those results roughly mirror incomplete results statewide.
In third place in Jefferson County was Michael Bloomberg, who finished with 473 votes (2.27%).
"In the absentee voting, Bloomberg was running strong," Waller said. "Most of those absentee votes came in before Super Tuesday (last week's series of primary elections after which Bloomberg and other Democrats dropped out). I think Bloomberg got maybe 150 or 200 votes today."
Every one of the 22 Democrats received at least one vote.
Sanders' second-place finish reverses the result from the 2016 March primary, in which Jefferson County preferred him by more than 2,000 votes over eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.
Waller said the results don't seem to reflect a case of Republicans crossing over to cast Democratic ballots for Sanders.
"No, I don't think that happened today," he said. "There were 7,000 more Democratic ballots cast than Republican, which would seem to indicate that a lot of Republicans stayed home. That's not going to be the case in August and November. I think in the August primary, you'll see a lot of crossover voting the other way, with Democrats asking for a Republican ballot, simply because it doesn't look like there will be a lot of races to decide on the Democratic ticket."
Three other parties also held primaries in Missouri, and in the case of two of them -- the Green Party and the Constitution Party -- more of the few Jefferson Countians who pulled their ballots chose "uncommitted" rather than the choices on the ballot.
And 161 Republicans chose "uncommitted," making that the runner-up to Trump. In the Democratic side, 160 voters opted for "uncommitted," making it the sixth-most popular choice.