Early votes total 3,593

The early vote totals in the race for the Wharton County District attorney party nominations gave Incumbent Josh McCown a decided advantage in the Republican primary while John Roades built a substantial lead in the Democratic primary.

Early voters in the GOP race cast 885 ballots for McCown while 692 cast their vote for his opponent Dawn Allison, a difference of 56 to 44 percent.

A total of 1,632 early votes were cast in the Republican primary, meaning only 55 voters did not indicate a preference on the ballot.

In the Democratic primary's early voting, Roades was the clear favorite garnering 1,040 votes to John Maher's 668, a 61 to 39 percent advantage. A total of 1,961 votes were cast in the race with 253 not voting in the DA race.

At the national level, Wharton County's early voters went for Hillary Clinton in a modest way with 986 votes, giving her 51 percent of the vote, in the Democratic primary presidential race. Barack Obama was second in the county with 912 votes, 46.91 percent.

In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, John McCain received 934 votes, 58 percent, to easily outdistance runner up Mike Huckabee, 402 votes, 25 percent.

A total of 3,593 early ballots were documented. Of that number, 2,679 were electronically registered while 914 were paper ballots. In the Republican Primary, paper ballots were more frequently used, 825 to 807, while there were 1,872 votes cast electronically in the Democratic primary to 89 paper ballots.