REGION – Even though Bush may have won the Presidency, West Alabama seems to be Kerry territory.

Senator John Kerry has taken Sumter County with 1,414 votes to 791 votes for George Bush. Michael Badnarik, Ralph Nader and Michael Peroutka did not receive any votes in the County.

After speaking with Jackie Meeks at the Probate office, there were no known problems at the polls and she did not know about the voter turn out at that time.

All incumbents in Sumter County ran unopposed.

“I thank the people of Sumter County for their confidence in me and I will do my best to uphold that confidence for the next six years,” said School Board member Wendall Larkin.

In Hale County, Probate Judge Leland Avery said that they had record numbers at the polls with between 7,500 and 8,000. “Seventy-two hundred was the highest until now and this was the smoothest election in several years,” said Avery.

Also in Hale County, there were two local amendments, one of which was a hot topic in the county. Amendment 2 would have raised property taxes to almost double with 18 mills of the increase going to the Hale County public school system. The Amendment was vetoed with 3876 no votes to 3143 yes votes

Perry County had an overwhelming majority vote for Kerry. Kerry had 3,754 votes to 1,733 for Bush. Perry County also had a great turnout for this year’s election.

In Marengo County voter turnout was very high. George Bush had a slim margin over John Kerry with 5,242 votes to 5,026. Michael Badnarik had 10 votes, Ralph Nader had 16 votes and Michael Peroutka had 3 votes.

Greene County Probate Judge Earlean Isaac was pleased with voting, with more than a 50 percent turnout.

There, Kerry took a big lead with 3,763 votes to 958 for Bush. Greene countians passed all but Amendment 6.

Patrick Ellis contributed to this story.