By REGAN FOSTER - rfoster@nwherald.com Feb. 7, 2008

WOODSTOCK – McHenry County Democratic Chairman Thomas Cynor called it “a big wow;” Sheriff Keith Nygren said it was an anomaly.State Rep. Mike Tryon said it was not indicative of future votes, although first-time candidate David Bachmann heralded it as a sign that McHenry County was ready for change.Regardless of how you look at it, one thing’s certain: McHenry County voters pulled more Democratic ballots than Republican in this year’s primary.County reports show that 65,201 ballots were cast in the Super Tuesday primary.

Of those ballots, about 52 percent were Democratic, McHenry County Clerk Katherine Schultz said Wednesday.High Democratic turnout also was reported Wednesday by the clerks in Kane and Lake counties.Several McHenry County officials credited that to the presidential primary.Nygren said he thought many Republicans took Democratic ballots in order to chime in over Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.He added that just because there was an unusual surge in Democratic ballots, it shouldn’t imply that Democrats have a stronger grip in the county than Republicans. McHenry County remains a Republican stronghold, Nygren said.“While that’s unheard of in McHenry County, I think it means more people wanted to have an impact on that presidential race,” he said. “It kind of turned things upside down.”

McHenry County cast 33,421 Democratic ballots, unofficial results showed, and 31,211 Republican ballots. Forty-eight ballots were cast for Green Party candidates here. Numbers do not reflect late absentee ballots postmarked by Monday, or provisional ballots, Schultz said.Schultz added that voters of all ages pulled Democratic ballots.“You had some new [voters], but I know that … we were also getting calls from judges who wanted to know about switching parties,” she said “Yeah, they got younger people out there and they were probably pulling those Democratic ballots, but there were … older people too.”

Cynor pointed out that high Democratic participation is not a local phenomenon.“In each and every state, in the contested primaries, the Democrats are outpolling Republicans,” he said. “It’s not like there wasn’t a real good contested primary in the Republican primary, both nationally and locally.”The same trend held true in one local race.Democrat coroner candidate David Bachmann, who was uncontested in his bid, outpolled incumbent Marlene Lantz in her uncontested Republican primary.Bachmann rejected any claim that his 25,944 ballots were the result of coattail votes from presidential votes.“Just because a person pulled a Democratic ballot does not mean that [he or she] had to vote for me, they could have bypassed my name,” Bachmann said. “People are longing for a change … and the vote that we saw [Tuesday] evening certainly confirms that.”To Lantz, the 24,941 votes she earned mean one thing: “That I’ll have a fight on my hands.”“If in the past, more people voted Republican than Democrat and now we’re seeing more Democratic votes, there must be a shift” in partisan support, she said. “I’ll just have to fight very hard.”

Tryon, a Crystal Lake Republican, took a different view. He joins party Vice Chairman Rick Mack in a race to replace outgoing GOP Chairman Bill LeFew in March.Neither LeFew nor Mack returned calls for comment on Wednesday.“More Democrats got excited about their primary than Republicans and we probably had many Republicans cross-over,” Tryon said. “I don’t think it’s indicative of what’s going to happen in the general election.“I don’t read too much more into it than what happened in the primary election.”By the numbers65,201 ballots cast in McHenry County as of Tuesday evening.33,421 Democratic ballots cast in McHenry County.31,211 Republican ballots cast in McHenry County.48 Green Party ballots cast in McHenry County.– Northwest Herald reporter Brandon Coutre contributed to this report.