Buyer, Hill headed back

With no major problems at the polls today, Monroe County Clerk Pat Haley said things went fine. There were some minor problems with machines early in the day, she said, but they were quickly cleared up.\n"Everything went pretty smooth," Haley said. "We had a good day."\nThe biggest trend this year was the increase in absentee voters, Haley said.\n"We had almost 3000 absentee ballots; that's quite a bit for an off election year," Haley said.\nFirst year poll worker Ken Rogers said he hadn't known quite what to expect, but that voting was slow but steady throughout the day, perhaps due to the rain.\nRogers worked the polling site on North Curry Pike at the Elletsville Fire Station. He said several voters remarked that they had difficulty finding the location.\n"I don't know if anybody didn't vote today because of that," Rogers said. \nVoter turnout was lower than Monroe County Elections Supervisor expected, but Haley said people did show interest in the election.\nCounty Recorder Jim Fielder said voters showed more attention than usual to making sure they visited the correct polling site. \n"It was one of our busier days as far as phone calls," Fielder said. "I think the electorate was very good about calling before they went to the wrong place."\nIn U.S. Congressional races, Baron Hill (Dem.) won the Indiana's District 9, and Steve Buyer (Rep.) won District 4. In the highly contested nearby District 7 of Indianapolis, incumbent Julia Carson (Dem.) beat out Brose McVey (Rep.). \nBloomington Mayor John Fernandez (Dem.) lost his bid for Secretary of State, as did Bloomington resident Rebecca Sink-Burris (Lib.), to Todd Rokita (Rep.). \nIn state senate races Peggy Welch (Rep.) won over L. David Sabbagh (Dem.) and Jim Billingsley (Lib.) in District 60. In District 61, Matt Pierce (Dem.) beat Clark Brittain (Lib.) by a landslide, earning 75 percent of the vote.\nFor the Monroe County Council, several races were close. Green party candidate Julie Roberts earned 15 percent of the vote in District 2 votes, where Trenton A. Jones (Rep.) won with 46 percent over Bill Hayden (Dem.) with 40 percent. District 1 was taken by Susan L. West (Rep.), District 3 by Martha (Marty) Hawk (Rep.), and District 4 by Mark Stoops (Dem.). \nIn other local races, Carl Salzmann (Rep.) won the job of Monroe County Prosecuting Attorney, and Stephen E. Sharp (Dem.) was named Sheriff. \nThe newly elected Circuit Court Judge for seat 5 is Kenneth G. Todd (Rep.), and in seat 6 is David L. Welch (Dem.).\nThe Clerk of Court position was taken by Jim Fielder (Rep.), and the new County Recorder is Pat Haley. Judith A. Sharp (Dem.) was elected Assessor, and Herb Kilmer (Rep.) is now County Commissioner in District 1.