Romney winning in Yuma County

Although President Barack Obama was projected to have won re-election Tuesday night, the chairman of the Yuma County Republican Central Committee said he felt the race was just too close to call, especially since voters were still at the polls in several states.

“I still think there are a lot of votes nationwide that still need to be counted,” Jonathan Lines said. “I have to remain optimistic.”

As of 11 p.m., early ballot returns and partial results in Yuma County showed that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had a commanding lead with 13,046 votes, or 57.79 percent, to Obama's 9,207 votes, or 40.79 percent of the vote.

However, due to a heavy turnout and vote centers having technical problems with equipment, voters were still standing in lines at several polls around the county hours after they had closed, delaying the release of results.

Lines, who was still out checking on progress being made at several vote centers at about 9:30 p.m., said other states had experienced problems similar to what happened in Yuma County on Election Day, delaying their final results as well. He added that there were also several states that were still being deemed too close to call.

“Romney is not making any concession speeches. When he makes a concession speech, then I will concede it,” Lines said at the time. “I won't concede it until Romney concedes it.”

Wm. Michael Smith, chairman of the Yuma County Democratic Party, said he felt confident that his party's candidate would remain president of the United States. He added that voters in Yuma and around the country were sending a clear message about who they wanted to lead the country into the future.

“I have been (confident) from the beginning,” Smith said as loud cheering could be heard in the background when a television screen flashed a graphic showing the president had enough electoral votes to be re-elected.

“It tells me if the news media is counting right, and they call it right, it should be right.”

While Smith is ecstatic about another four years under President Obama, he said he is also hopeful that politicians from both sides of the aisle will find ways to work together this term for the best interests of the country. He said bipartisanship must stop.

“There has to be more civility and people concentrating on getting something done instead of getting re-elected. The country can't handle that anymore. When they put ideology in front of common sense and the necessity of the society and our country, it gets kind of silly.”

James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854. Find him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/YSJamesGilbert or on Twitter @YSJamesGilbert.