Voter turnout in both Sturtevant and Mount Pleasant was expected to be high, and voters did not disappoint.

In Sturtevant, there were 2,927 ballots cast compared with 3,264 registered voters. Over in Mount Pleasant, 16,123 ballots were cast out of 18,131 registered voters. Turnout for each village was 89 percent, an increase of 15 percent in Sturtevant and over 10 percent in Mount Pleasant from what was considered almost record turnout for the June recall election.

"I ordered enough ballots for 110 percent turnout," said Sturtevant Village Clerk/Interim Administrator Mary Cole. "That's my biggest fear, running out of ballots. I always think I might be going overboard, but turns out for these big elections, I need all those ballots."

Both communities were flooded with new voter registrations, too. By 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, poll workers at Sturtevant Village Hall (that community's only polling location) had helped usher over 100 new voters through the form and to the voting booth. By the night's end, almost 300 new voters had registered in Sturtevant. At Peace Lutheran Church in Mount Pleasant, there were 300 new registrations at that single polling location.

"I know that was a little surprising so processing those applications slowed things down a little," said Mount Pleasant Village Clerk/Treasurer Veronica Rudychev. "I know there were similar numbers at our other polling locations, too."

Looking at results

Voters in both villages went decidedly purple on Election Night 2012.

President Barack Obama garnered the most votes in Sturtevant—by the narrowest margin of one vote—over Republican Mitt Romney. Voters in Mount Pleasant, however, went for Romney over Obama by a more decided margin of 176 votes (see table below).

And that is where the respective village residents' divergent paths end. For the races that effect residents of both communities, voters were mostly aligned.

US Rep. Tammy Baldwin came out the winner in both villages and the state. She was announced the winner of her race against former Gov. Tommy Thompson by 11:30 p.m. and she acknowleged her historic win at her Election Night party in Madison: Baldwin is the first female and openly gay senator from Wisconsin.

Congressman Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, was also the decisive winner in both communities over Democratic challenger Rob Zerban. Overall, Ryan came out on top with an almost two-to-one margin, but the leads locally were a little smaller. In Sturtevant, Ryan came out the winner by 82 votes and in Mount Pleasant by a more comfortable 1,029.

On a more local level

State legislative races did not impact all village residents the same. For example, only Ward 5 in Mount Pleasant is located in the 62nd Assembly District while the Lake Park neighborhood and a small piece of the surrounding area - also in Mount Pleasant - are located in the 22nd State Senate District, which also encompasses most of the cities of Racine and Kenosha.

Voters were split evenly in the 62nd between Republican Tom Weatherston and Democrat Melissa Lemke, giving them both 394 votes. Overall, though, Weatherston garnered the most votes and was declared the winner.

Incumbent Sen. Bob Wirch, D-Kenosha, led Republican Pam Stevens in the race for the 22nd, and was ultimately declared the winner there as well. 

Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, was challenged by Democrat Kelley Albrecht in the 63rd Assembly District. Though Albrecht came out on top in Sturtevant by 45 votes, Vos' support in Mount Pleasant and the west end of the county was too much to overcome. He is expected to be named Assembly Speaker when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

Interested in breakdown by the numbers? Click here to be taken to the county's elections results website, or, if you prefer, Patch has a table for village tallies: