Mount Pleasant Voters Wanted Romney

More than 38 percent of Mount Pleasant voters wanted former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to be the nominee, according to election data made available today.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich placed in second with 33 percent of the votes. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul placed in distant third and fourth places, respectively.

Statewide, Gingrich held a decisive 40 percent victory over Romney's 17 percent of the vote. Across Charleston County, however, voters seemed to favor Romney. He captured 36 percent of the vote here over Gingrich's 33 percent, state data shows.

Across the state, Herman Cain, who withdrew from the race, had more than 6,000 votes. Roughly 1,000 of those came from Charleston County where Cain campaigned with comedian Stephen Colbert. Just 276 Mount Pleasant voters cast their ballot for Cain.

Voter turnout in Mount Pleasant beat both state and county levels. Nearly 27 percent of local voters in Mount Pleasant went to the polls Saturday to decide who should represent the Republican Party in November's presidential election.

That beat county and state turnout levels. Just less than 20 percent of registered voters turned out in Charleston County on Saturday, according to the county data.

Across the state, turnout averaged 21.51 percent, which was high for a primary.

Charleston County Democrats will vote in party organization events on Jan. 28. President Barack Obama is the only candidate on the ballot.