(November 9, 2006)--Armstrong County's election clerk couldn't put his finger on why voter turnout in this sparsely populated area was a state-high 67 percent.

County and district clerk Joe Reck says candidates in all the local races were uncontested.

Reck thinks the governor's race and nice weather contributed to the high turnout.

According to the Secretary of State's Office Web site, 938 of the county's 1,398 registered voters cast ballots in the governor's race.

In a predominantly Republican region, Governor Rick Perry got an understandable 442 votes.

Bucking the statewide trend, however, independent candidate Kinky Friedman finished second, garnering 209 votes.

Statewide turnout hovered at around 33 percent, a few percent less than election officials expected.

A preliminary analysis shows that nationwide voter turnout was at more than 40 percent this year, slightly higher than it was in the last midterm election.

According to the nonpartisan Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University in Washington, turnout was down in some states, but was notably up in Virginia where it appears more people may have voted than in any midterm in the state's history.

The center's president says it was also a big turnout success for Democrats, who drew more voters than Republicans for the first time in a midterm election since 1990.

In Virginia, nearly 44 percent of eligible voters went to the polls, compared to just more than 29 percent in the previous midterm.

The last time turnout was comparably high in Virginia was when it topped 43 percent in 1994.

In Ohio, unofficial figures show more than 44 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

Turnout also was substantially higher in Michigan and Missouri.

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