Early Votes Show Manatee in Line With the State

Early Manatee County voters overwhelmingly voted for Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee for president.

In early and absentee voting, Romney took 47 percent of the vote, while his toughest opponent Newt Gingrich took just 27 percent. Rick Santorum is in third place with just 16 percent of votes counted so far.

Ron Paul is in a distant third with just over 6.5 percent of the votes.

Early results show Romney took more than 15,000 votes, while Gingrich netted just over 8,700 with 94 of 124 precincts reporting.