JOPLIN, Mo. —
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum trounced Mitt Romney in Southwest Missouri as well as statewide in Republican balloting Tuesday in the state’s presidential preference primary.
In parts of Southwest Missouri, Santorum’s margin of victory over Romney and Ron Paul was higher than it was statewide. He received 76 percent of the Republican vote in Newton County and 61 percent in Jasper County. Statewide, Santorum got 55 percent of the GOP votes.
Newt Gingrich was not on the ballot. He chose early on to not pay the $1,000 filing fee because no delegates would be awarded in Missouri’s primary, which critics have described as meaningless and a waste of $7 million to $8 million in taxpayer dollars.
The GOP has decided to ignore the vote and instead will use caucuses starting March 17 to begin the process of awarding Missouri’s 52 presidential delegates.
Tuesday’s primary was used to award delegates for the Democratic nominee. Democrats in Southwest Missouri and elsewhere in the state overwhelmingly chose President Barack Obama.
Several other Republican candidates were on the ballot, including four relatively prominent figures who already had dropped out of the race: Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Jon Huntsman.
Here are the returns by county.
Jasper County
Santorum was the choice of nearly 61 percent of residents who cast Republican ballots. He garnered 2,337 votes, or 60.8 percent. Romney finished second with 813 votes, followed by Paul with 416.
Obama received 260 votes.
With 49 of 49 precincts reporting, voter turnout was 5.4 percent.
Newton County
More than three-fourths of Republicans voting chose Santorum. He received 1,871 votes, or 76.6 percent. Romney finished a distant second with 516 votes. Paul received 259 votes.
Obama was the choice of Democrats with 145 of 159 votes cast.
With 23 of 23 precincts reporting, voter turnout was 7.5 percent.
McDonald County
Santorum captured 45 percent of Republican votes, while Paul garnered almost as many votes as distant second-place finisher Romney. The tally was 438 for Santorum, 235 for Romney and 215 for Paul.
Obama drew 97 Democratic votes, or 80.2 percent.
The voter turnout percentage was not readily available Tuesday night.
Barry County
Santorum received 2,046 votes, or 52 percent of those cast. He was followed by Romney with 875 votes and Paul with 499 votes.
Democrats chose Obama with 665 votes, or 78.4 percent of the ballots cast.
Lawrence County
Republicans chose Santorum with 1,603 votes, or 63.7 percent of the vote. Romney finished second with 470 votes. He was followed by Paul with 247 votes.
Democrats in the county chose Obama with 198 votes, or 80.8 percent of the vote.
With 19 of 19 precincts reporting, turnout was 11.59 percent.
Barton County
Santorum pulled in 596 votes, 66 percent of the Republican primary votes. Romney was second with 147 votes. Paul had 77 votes.
Obama received 75 votes, or 74 percent of the total, in the Democratic primary.
With eight of eight precincts reporting, voter turnout was 11.6 percent.
Vernon County
Santorum won with 397 votes. Romney trailed with 260 votes. Paul received 121 votes.
Obama was the top choice of Democrats with 187 votes.
With 18 of 18 precincts reporting, turnout was 8.94 percent.
STAFF WRITERS Susan Redden, Debby Woodin, Roger McKinney, Andra Stefanoni, Jeff Lehr, Josh Letner and Kelsey Ryan, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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