LAPLACE — St. John the Baptist Parish voters followed the pattern of participants statewide in choosing candidates during Saturday’s Presidential Preference Primary.

With an unofficial eligible voter turnout of 24.7 percent, St. John voters selected Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, 3,818 to 564. The eight other Democratic candidates totaled 118 votes.

In the Republican primary, Donald Trump carried St. John the Baptist Parish over Ted Cruz 673 to 461, with Marco Rubio (158) and John Kasich (70) finishing third and fourth. The 1,411 votes cast totaled 30.1 percent of eligible voters parishwide.

Clinton’s 85 percent and Trump’s 48 percent showing in St. John compared favorably to their statewide victory numbers of 71 percent and 41 percent, respectively.

The Presidential Preference Primary was a chance for voters to let their respected political parties know the candidate they would like as their United States presidential representative.

The Primary was a closed party election, meaning a voter could only vote for a candidate in their registered political party. Voters registered as no party, none, other party, Green, Reform or Libertarian were not eligible to vote.

According to Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schelder’s office, in the 2012 Presidential Preference Primary, there were 18,438 Democrats in St. John eligible to vote and 1,470 voted. In the same election, there were 4,794 eligible Republicans and 822 voted.

In other election news:

Local residents selected Demona Harrison (69) over Robin Triche-Fields (61) as their Democratic State Central Committee 56 representative for District Office A, while voting Sylvia Taylor-Dunn (309) over Cherronna Frank (179) at the 81 District Representative.

Harrison and Taylor-Dunn join the Committee that is the governing body for the Democratic Party in Louisiana.

The Committee elects Democratic candidates in state and local elections, conducts the delegate selection processes to fill the Louisiana delegation to the Democratic National Conventions and Democratic Party Conference and promotes party activities at every level.

For Democratic Parish Executive Member, voters nearly deadlocked in choosing Bryant Jackson (742) over Laney Davis (734). Jackson joins a committee responsible for promoting the ideals and principles of the Louisiana Democratic Party.

Jackson’s term lasts four years.