Tuesday’s presidential primary election results in Missouri broke a turnout record, and results are almost too close to call. While Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are on top in the unofficial results, they both only beat their main opponents—Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Ted Cruz—by less than a quarter of a percentage point.
Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander announced the unofficial turnout results in a press release on Wednesday. More than 1.5 million registered voters turned out to vote for either the democratic or republican presidential nominee.
That number translates to around 39 percent of all registered voters in the state. Only 36 percent made it out to the polls eight years ago for the 2008 primary election, which set a high turnout record at the time. The turnout then was 1.4 million voters.
Kander thanked the Missourians who voted, as well as the election authorities and poll workers in the statement.
Despite the record-breaking turnout, Boone and Cole counties’ results were even higher.
In Boone County this year, the unofficial turnout was around 54 percent and it was around 40 percent in Cole County.
Political science professors believe voters who normally don’t vote but who voted this year contributed to the higher turnouts in those two counties.
“A candidate in each party brought marginal voters out that might not otherwise have voted and may not vote in the fall,” said Columbia College professor Terry Smith. “Trump, of course, brought voters out for the republicans, and Bernie Sanders brought voters out for the democrats, who are maybe new voters, but certainly marginal voters.”
MU professor Peverill Squire said the local issue of whether to ban roll carts in Boone County may also have led its higher turnout.
Another distinction between the state as a whole and Boone and Cole counties is the opponents who unofficially won.
The unofficial statewide results on the democratic side have Clinton winning over Bernie Sanders at 49.6 to 49.4 percent. The republican results show Trump’s 40.8 percent edging out over Ted Cruz’s 40.6 percent.
But in Boone and Cole counties, the apparent winners are reversed. Republican Ted Cruz received almost 13 percent more votes than Trump in Boone County and about 4 percent more in Cole County.
“I think there are probably a lot of moderate republicans who are trying to determine whether they prefer Trump or Cruz and they’re coming down thinking that perhaps maybe they’re slightly more comfortable with Cruz,” Squire said.
Democrat Bernie Sanders beat Clinton in Boone County with almost 61 percent and in Cole County with almost 54 percent.
Sander’s campaign targeted college-aged voters, which may explain this result.
“I’m not surprised about Sanders in Boone County because I’m sure a significant student turnout helped him there,” Smith said.
Smith said there probably was also a significant number of Lincoln University students that voted for Sanders, boosting his results in Cole County.
Clinton and Sanders received 32 delegates following the Missouri primary election, while Trump received 25 and Cruz received five. The candidates are legally allowed to demand a recount because of the extremely close results.
The unofficial turnout results do not include provisional and overseas absentee ballots. Final results will be certified in around four weeks.