Turnout Down Across State, GOP Votes Fall Most

By Jeff Amy/The Associated Press

JACKSON — The number of Mississippi voters dropped from the 2008 presidential election by as much as 90,000 people, with Republican votes falling twice as much as Democrats’.

In 2008, 1.29 million Mississippians voted, the most ever in a presidential election. Tuesday’s turnout, still second-highest, fell 7 percent to 1.2 million. That gap could narrow as affidavit votes are counted and totals are certified.

Republican nominee Mitt Romney won 664,000 votes, according to an unofficial count by The Associated Press. In 2008, the GOP’s John McCain won 725,000. President Barack Obama’s total fell to 523,000, down 30,000 votes from 2008 to 2012. Figures are rounded.

Obama won 43.7 percent in Mississippi Tuesday. That’s second-best of any Democrat in the last eight elections, trailing only 44.1 percent for Bill Clinton in 1996.