As millions of eyes across the nation were drawn to the national presidential election on Tuesday, Nov. 5, that saw former President Donald Trump defeat Vice President Kamala Harris — residents of Limestone County also witnessed a historic milestone in terms of voter participation.

According to Limestone County Probate Judge Charles Woodroof, the 2024 General Election featured the largest number of voters in the county’s history — with more than 53,000 ballots cast across the county’s 25 polling locations. That number shattered the previous record set in the 2020 General Election of 49,383 ballots cast.

“Limestone County has grown exponentially in recent years, and with that growth we have seen more registered voters than we ever had before,” Woodroof told The News Courier. “We had 53,001 votes from the precincts and absentees, and we had over 700 provisional ballots that are currently being processed by the Board of Registrars — so that number will only go up.”

Woodroof noted that Limestone County boasted the sixth highest voter turnout percentage in the state — at 64.14 percent — according to the Alabama Secretary of State’s website. Woodroof also said that Limestone County was just one percentage point away from being the second highest turnout out of the 67 counties in the state.

“Our people take elections seriously, as do our almost 270 poll workers,” Woodroof said. “It was all and all a good day. We did have some isolated incidents of some ballots jamming in machines, with moisture and the volume of votes being contributing factors, but we were able to quickly resolve those issues. I can assure all voters that the inspectors did exactly what they were supposed to make sure their votes counted.”

According to Woodroof, the election results will not be officially certified until the Board of Registrars finishes processing the more than 700 provisional ballots on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at around noon.

The current unofficial election results from Limestone County in the 2024 General Election reciprocated the national results, as Trump received 37,524 votes while Harris received just 14,452 votes.

“We’ve been cautiously optimistic, but I think we were all happy with the news,” Noah Wahl, the current chairman of the Limestone County Republican Party said. “I think it shows the American people are ready for a change. Our country has always excelled under a less restrictive, more conservative government — and the American people are ready to get back to that.”

On a far less national campaign, 16 precincts within District 4 of Limestone County voted for Independent candidate LaDon Townsend to reclaim his seat on the Limestone County Commission over Republican candidate Dawn Craig. Townsend received 5,518 total votes in comparison to Craig’s 4,385 votes.

“As much as I work in the community, it meant a lot that people got out and filled in that bubble by my name — it was truly humbling,” Townsend said. “I was nervous all day, so when I finally got that relief it was like a breath of fresh air. Now that it’s over I can focus on the next four years of trying to get some projects in Limestone County done.”

Other results from Limestone County included:

— U.S. Representative, 5th District

(R) Dale Strong: 38,910 — 96.7%

Write-In: 1,322 — 3.29%

— Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

(R) Sarah Stewart: 37,118 — 72.33%

(D) Greg Griffin: 14,129 — 27.53%

Write-In: 73 — .14%

— Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Place 1

(R) Chris McCool: 39,870 — 97.60%

Write-In: 980 — 2.40%

— Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Place 2

(R) Tommy Bryan: 39,813 — 97.67%

Write-In: 950 — 2.33%

— Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Place 3

(R) Will Sellers: 39,706 — 97.69%

Write-In: 939 — 2.31%

— Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Place 4

(R) Jay Mitchell: 39,658 — 97.70%

Write-In: 935 — 2.30%

— Court of Civil Appeals Judge, Place 1

(R) Christy Edwards: 39,726 — 97.77%

Write-In: 906 — 2.23%

— Court of Civil Appeals Judge, Place 2

(R) Chad Hanson: 39,620 — 97.79%

Write-In: 897 — 2.21%

— Court of Civil Appeals Judge, Place 3

(R) Terry A. Moore: 39,613 — 97.81%

Write-In: 889 — 2.19%

— Court of Criminal Appeals Judge, Place 1

(R) Richard Minor: 39,552 — 97.81%

Write-In: 885 — 2.19%

— Court of Criminal Appeals Judge, Place 2

(R) Rich Anderson: 39,546 — 97.82%

Write-In: 881 — 2.18%

— Court of Criminal Appeals Judge, Place 3

(R) Bill Cole: 39,558 — 97.81%

Write-In: 888 — 2.18%

— President, Public Service Commission

(R) Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh: 39,401 — 97.07%

Write-In: 1,191 — 2.93%

— Circuit Clerk, Limestone County

(R) Kelly M. Davis: 39,960 — 97.76%

Write-In: 915 — 2.24%

— Limestone County Judge of Probate

(R) Charles C. Woodroof: 40,402 — 97.51%

Write-In: 1,032 — 2.49%

— Limestone County License Commissioner

(R) Joseph Cannon: 40,622 — 97.89%

Write-In: 874 — 2.11%

— Limestone County Board of Education, District 6:

(R) Anthony Hillard: 4,673 — 97.76%

Write-In: 107 — 2.24%

— Limestone County Board of Education, District 7:

(R) Warren Herring: 4,841 — 96.30%

Write-In: 186 — 3.70%

— Statewide Amendment 1

Yes: 28,557 — 75.32%

No: 9,359 — 24.68%