Locals react to Obama’s re-election

Published 6:29 pm Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Showing support: A picture of U.S. President Barack Obama and wife Michelle hangs near the cash register window at Clara's Country Cafe.

Although President Barack Obama was re-elected Tuesday for a second term, voting results in Chilton County showed challenger Mitt Romney receiving the majority of votes.

According to the Alabama Secretary of State’s website, the unofficial results for presidential numbers in Chilton County showed Romney receiving 13,910 votes or 79.8 percent and Obama receiving 3,391 votes or 19.5 percent out of 17,589 ballots cast in the county.

Statewide results showed Obama receiving 680,831 votes and 38 percent and Romney 1,074,831 votes with 60 percent out of 1,783,186 ballots cast.

Nationally, Obama received 303 electoral votes and 50 percent of the popular vote with Romney receiving 206 and 48 percent of the popular vote.

Just a few steps away from the Chilton County Courthouse that was abuzz Tuesday with anticipation for election results coming in, citizens eating lunch at Main Street Café Wednesday afternoon dished up their thoughts on the election results.

“I was just disappointed,” Billy Weathers said. “The next four years will be very interesting.”

“It kind of makes you wonder why you even go vote if the whole decision of who is president is based on the electoral votes and not the individual votes,” Faye Baker said.

Even though the numbers throughout the county showed high favoritism for the Republican candidate, many supporters of the Democratic party in Chilton County were happy with Tuesday’s results, including Secretary for the Chilton County Democratic Club Barbara Schultz.

Schultz spent the majority of her day Tuesday working the election polls at the Chilton County Public Library noting the large turnout she witnessed.

“I have worked the polls for 20 years and this election I saw a variety of people with new faces and a lot of young people showing up to vote,” Schultz said. “I was very encouraged to see so many people coming to the polls and voting. People were pumped up for this election and there were strong emotions from both the Republican and Democratic parties.”

Schultz said Obama’s re-election will be a good thing for Chilton County in the areas of education, jobs and a boost of the economy.

“Obama is very strong on education and making it possible for the young people to be able to go to college instead of having them go to mom and dad and borrow money,” Schultz said. “Obama was handed a bad situation with the economy, and slowly but surely, our economy is improving and I think he is the right man for the job.”

Ahzeezee Agee waits tables at Clara’s Country Café, where a framed picture of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hangs between the counter where guests dip their own butterbeans and greens, and the cash register where they pay for the meal.

“I think the right person got re-elected back in there,” Agee said, because of what he thinks can be accomplished in Obama’s second term. “I don’t think he got a fair shake the first four years because of some of the stuff he inherited.”

Agee, 33, emphasized that he doesn’t support Obama just because he is black. Agee said he thinks Obama is the best choice for the position.

Clara’s is run by Ahzeezee’s mother, Emily Agee, who is also the wife of Bobby Agee, the only black member of the Chilton County Commission (he’s had a seat since 1989 and was re-elected Tuesday). Despite Chilton County’s heavy lean toward Republican challenger Mitt Romney, Agee said business at Clara’s hasn’t suffered during the election and that he doesn’t think there is a rift in the community, though he added that he was disturbed by acquaintances posting hateful, racist messages on social media.