The political atmosphere that continues to shake up not only our nation but also our county generated another large voter turnout for Tuesday’s election.

It was not quite as large as the November 2016 presidential election, which saw a 59.52 percent voter turnout from Jefferson County, but it was still close.

Although there has been a drop in Jefferson County registered voters over the past two years of 1,040, last week’s mid-term election saw a 50.51 percent voter turnout for a total of 74,895 votes. That was a decrease of 13,977 from November 2016 — the presidential year.

First, we must congratulate all the winners across our county. These were some hard-fought races across the board with some very close finishes.

Jefferson County has long been a Democratic Party stronghold within the bright red state of Texas. However, this year more than 3 percent of Democratic voters changed from voting straight ticket to “by candidate” voting. Republican voters increased their straight-ticket voting by 4 percent.

Why is this important? When you look at the election results below, it’s hard not to question voter apathy in the decreased voter turnout, especially for an important mid-term election. But it is just as important to see where cross-ticket voting impacted close races:

• House District 14: Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Weber won by 800 votes here over Democratic candidate Adrienne Bell, a relative newcomer, who did well against Weber.
• District judge, 172^nd Judicial District: Republican Mitch Templeton won by 1,800 votes. This one really interested me. Retiring Judge Donald Floyd, a Democrat, has held the 172nd District judge position for years. That made me question if there was a large number of Democratic voters that did not feel comfortable with Democratic candidate Melody Chappell for some reason?
• Jefferson County judge: Republican Jeff Branick won by 949 votes. This was another close and interesting race that saw Branick win over Democratic candidate Nick Lampson. Lampson, a veteran public official, is widely known throughout Jefferson County, with much political experience. I figured Branick would take this one, but the final count was closer than I thought it would be.
• County Clerk: Democrat Carolyn Guidry won by 1,313 over Republican Bailey Wingate. Not unexpected as Guidry has held the position for a number of years.
• Senate: Republican Ted Cruz won overall, but in Jefferson County it was almost a 50-50 split with Beto O’Rourke, the Democrat, getting 364 votes more than Cruz.

All this is to say that every vote counts, every election. That’s especially true these days, where the divisiveness between political parties is increasing in some ways, but seemingly crossing over in others.

To me this indicates a potential, but slow-moving change that sees voters looking for the best candidate, rather than the need to stay within party lines whether you like a political candidate or not. Or, maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part.

You be the judge. (No pun intended.)

Rich Macke is publisher of The Port Arthur News.