Karnes County voters turned out in big numbers for the March 4 primary elections.

3,551 of Karnes County’s 8,010 registered voters cast ballots in the elections – that’s a voter turnout of about 44%, which is higher than the statewide turnout of 33%.

Although the state turnout was unusually high, local election officials said that the turnout in Karnes County was fairly typical. About 30 to 50 percent of Karnes County registered voters will vote in any given election, they said.

Karnes County Sheriff David Jalufka won the Democratic primary with 1,738 votes (53.68%) defeating challenger Charlie White who received 1,500 votes (46.32%). Jalufka will run unopposed in the general election in November.

Carl Hummel won the open seat of County Commissioner Precinct 1 with 541 votes (61.27%) over Robert Leal who received 342 votes (38.73%). Hummel will face Republican Steve Ryan in the November general election.

Donald Edward Hons won the open seat of Constable Precinct No. 2 with 541 votes (66.63%) over Lynn Malcolm who received 271 votes (33.37%).

Dwayne Villanueva won the open seat of Constable Precinct No. 3 with 570 votes (77.87%) over Robert Rosales who received 162 votes (22.31%).

Neither Hons nor Villanueva will face Republican opponents in the November general election.

In the Republican presidential election, Karnes County voters chose John McCain (129) over Mike Huckabee (109) and Ron Paul (29).

In the Democratic presidential election Karnes County voters picked Hillary Clinton (1,615) over Barack Obama (1,101).

See page A2 for "precinct by precinct" results.

Visit www.thecountywide.com to get more detailed election results.