Editorial: Palm Beachers showed up to vote Tuesday

The right to vote is now as American as apple pie, thanks to amendments to the Constitution that ensure the privilege for all Americans.

For Tuesday's municipal and presidential primary elections, voters in Palm Beach showed up.

It wasn't 100%, but considering it was a municipal election and there was no contest in the presidential primary, the turnout was impressive.

Turnout was 44% of the town's 7,661 registered voters.

Approximately one-third of the town's voters cast their ballots by mail in the election, totaling just over 1,200. In-person voting was even more robust, with slightly more than 2,000 voters — including former President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania — casting ballots at three polling locations.

In the council race, Bridget Moran won with 1,725 votes to John David Corey's 1,637 — a slim margin. Mr. Trump won the Florida presidential Republican primary with 81% of the vote. Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race March 6, finished second with 13%. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who suspended his campaign in January, was third with 3.7%.

Overall turnout was significantly higher than the 33.2% who voted in 2021, which was the last time the town held a municipal election.

The hotly contested race for Town Council likely was what led to the turnout. Residents have many concerns about growth and the town's future and so were driven to vote for the person they thought would be better for dealing with the issues at hand and those that are to come.

The close vote suggests that Mrs. Moran and Mr. Corey were indeed very similar in many regards. We congratulate Mrs. Moran on her victory and give kudos to Mr. Corey for stepping up to share his vision. We hope he will continue doing just that at Town Hall as a citizen advocate.

With her win, Mrs. Moran will get to show the leadership she has brought to many town groups, including the Landmarks Preservation Board.

And residents who showed up to vote can rest confident that they did their civic duty, regardless of how their candidate fared.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Editorial: Palm Beachers showed up to vote Tuesday