Aug. 25, 2009 — With a 28 percent voter turnout Tuesday, Democrat Robin Webb snatched the senatorial seat by a slender 282 votes.

Webb won the 18th Senatorial District with 8,684 votes to Republican Dr. Jack Ditty’s 8,402 and the 953 votes received by Independent contender Guy Gibbons.

In Carter County alone, Webb prevailed with 3,105 to Ditty’s 1,955 votes and Gibbons 199 votes.

The absentee votes were Webb – 132, Ditty – 57 and 1 vote for Gibbons.

Close to the end of the race it didn’t look good for Webb as Ditty had taken the majority of the votes in Greenup, Lewis, Mason and Bracken Counties, only leaving Webb to win Carter and Robertson Counties.

Senator Robin Webb will now take the position left vacant by Rep. Charles Borders who opted in July to take a job with Kentucky Public Service Commission.

Although most county clerks in the 18th District predicted a low voter turnout for Tuesday special election, County Clerk Mike Johnston estimated the turnout to be at about 20 to 25 percent – at the end of the day he had made a close call.

There are about 11,600 registered Democrats and 6,500 Republicans in Carter County.

As a surprise to the counties involved, the special election put a pinch on county budgets but lined the pockets of radio stations, television and newspapers.

The campaign started on the soft side, but soon turned ugly when smear tactics began with negative ads surfacing against Webb and then toward Ditty.

“There comes a point when you have to respond to all these lies,” Webb commented one week before the election while appearing in court with a client.

The polls opened at 6 a.m. Tuesday with voter turnout being light, said Election Officer Clerk Carolyn Thomas, Cedar Grove Precinct.

“It’s just before 8:30 a.m. and we have had only about 17 to vote so far,” she commented.

On the west side of the county all the precincts moved to the West Carter Middle School except Cedar Grove.

Grace Knipp, election officer for Smokey Valley Precinct, said before 10 a.m., the voter turnout had been modest but was picking up a bit.

In 2006, Charlie Borders won the 18th Senatorial District by a slim 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent. In that election, democrats held a 42,651 to 20,014 edge in raw voter registration.



Unofficial votes tallied from the other counties in the18th Senatorial District:

Greenup

Webb – 2,737

Ditty – 3,407

Gibbons – 538

Lewis

Webb – 1,072

Ditty – 1,184

Gibbons – 63

Bracken

Webb – 474

Ditty – 520

Gibbons – 62

Mason

Webb – 1,128

Ditty – 1,194

Gibbons – 79

Robertson

Webb – 168

Ditty – 142

Gibbons – 12

• Carter Precinct totals will be printed in next week’s edition of Journal-Times.