Fourteen percent of Montezuma County’s registered voters turned out Friday to cast their votes in a presidential primary that was somewhat of a foregone conclusion.

Along with the rest of the state, the county voted largely for front-runners George W. Bush and Al Gore. Bush, the governor of Texas, received 66.5 percent of the Republican votes cast in Montezuma County (689 votes) and a roughly equal percentage statewide.

Vice President Gore garnered 64.5 percent of the county’s Democratic votes (272) and 71 percent statewide.

Republican challenger John McCain, who dropped out of the race Wednesday, nevertheless earned 25.1 percent of the county’s vote. Alan Keyes received 7 percent and Gary Bauer, Steve Forbes, and Orrin Hatch pulled a few votes apiece.

On the Democratic slate, Bill Bradley, another challenger who quit the race Wednesday, got 24.6 percent of the county vote, while Lyndon LaRouche received 2 percent.

A total of 426 of Montezuma County’s 4,258 registered Democrats went to the polls for a turnout of 10 percent. Among Republicans, 1,045 of the 6,254 registered party faithful (16.71 percent) voted.