Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on November 9, 1960.
Nixon Wins In County By 10,700
The majority of Porter county voters went with the minority of the nation in the attempt to elect Vice President Richard M. Nixon as President of the United States.
Total county returns in the heaviest vote in county political history at 2:30 a.m. today gave Nixon 4,927 votes over Sen. John F. Kennedy as the Vice President scored a vote of 15,666 to 10,733 in Porter county.
Unofficial totals of voters in the county showed 26,557 residents going to the polls out of 32,284 registered voters. Percentage figures however, showed only a small increase over the percentages recorded in 1956 and 1952, as a county-wide percent of 82.2 percent voted this year and 81.5 percent voted in each of the last Presidential elections in 1956 and 1952.
Nixon Loses Three
In the county, Nixon lost only three precincts out of 29; Portage’s precincts 2,3, and 5. He and Kennedy “tied” with 220 votes each in Portage’s first precinct.
The only other county precinct which showed Kennedy particularly close in votes to Nixon was Pine township which “went Democratic” except for the Presidential election in which Nixon eaked out a vote of 519 to 509 for Kennedy.
The Vice President did not hit the mark set by President D.W. Eisenhower, who received the widest Presidential majority in the history of Porter county politics with 72.7 percent of the votes.
As the number of Democrats in the traditional Republican stronghold of Porter county increases, the figures of voting trends showed a number of Democrats crossing the line to vote for Nixon to give the Vice President a percentage of 59.1 percent of those voting in the Presidential race.
The Socialist and Prohibition Presidential candidates did not record more than 75 votes in the county. The Socialist candidate for President received 16 votes, the same number as 1956, and the Prohibition candidate for the office had 59 votes, an increase over the 45 given to him in 1956.
A Democratic Presidential candidate has never received the majority of votes in Porter county.
HAPPY ABOUT KENNEDY-WELSH VICTORY 一 Porter County Democratic chairman Maurice Mason, center, heads happy group of Kennedy-Welsh adherents in victory cheer at local Demo headquarters Tuesday evening.
