CHARLES TOWN – Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin and Republican Betty Ireland were the top vote-getters in Jefferson County Saturday.

According to Jefferson County Clerk Jennifer Maghan, 3.5 percent of voters turned out for early voting, including absentee votes by mail.

The total percentage of eligible voters who cast ballots for the special primary, including early voting, was 10.13 percent. 3,434 votes were cast overall.

Maghan expressed some dissatisfaction with the number of voters who came out to the polls.

“Turnout was very low. … It’d be great if we had more citizens who were interested in taking part in the primary,” Maghan said.

Though poll workers encountered some issues with tabulating votes for precinct 16, all votes were counted and posted within approximately two hours of polls closing.

The cumulative results for the Jefferson County Democratic primary had Tomblin winning with 829 votes and 38.52 percent of the vote, followed by Secretary of State Natalie Tennant with 19.01 percent; Jeffrey Kessler with 15.89 percent; House Speaker Rick Thompson with 13.20 percent; Treasurer John Perdue with 13.06 percent; and Arne Moltis with .33 percent, receiving only seven votes.

The results for the Republican primary had former Secretary of State Betty Ireland winning with 476 votes and 37.30 percent of the vote. Larry Faircloth followed in second with 25.63 percent of the vote, followed by Bill Maloney with 23.04 percent. State Sen. Clark Barnes, Mark Sorsaia, Ralph William Clark, Mitch Carmichael and Cliff Ellis all received less than 10 percent of the vote, respectively.

More information about the election can be found by visiting the Jefferson County Clerk’s Web page at jeffersoncountyclerkwv.com.