You could say the votes cast at the polls on Anna Maria Island in the March 15 presidential primary election are following suit with the rest of the state. Well, yes, in terms of winners.
In terms of votes cast on the island, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the winners.
The votes in Anna Maria, with one polling location, and in Holmes Beach, with two polling locations, followed the state numbers, with more than 45 percent for Trump and about 25 percent for Rubio on the Republican ballot.
At the polling location in Bradenton Beach, the spread for Trump went higher than the state average.
Trump, in the unofficial returns, was edging over 60 percent of the vote among the GOP voters in the island’s southernmost city. Rubio was trailing at about 20 percent of the vote.
As for the Democrats, the votes in Anna Maria and Holmes Beach also follow closely with the state averages.
The vote was more than 60 percent for Hillary Clinton and about 35 percent for Bernie Sanders.
But in Bradenton Beach, Clinton has 51 percent to Sanders 47 percent.
So what tips the party scales in Bradenton Beach?
In Bradenton Beach, there were 193 GOP ballots and 110 Democratic ballots cast.
In Anna Maria, 337 Republican votes were cast at Roser Memorial Community Church. There were 204 Democrat votes.
In Holmes Beach, the poll at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church received 303 Republican votes, while 191 Democrats cast ballots.
Also, in Holmes Beach, at St. Bernard Catholic Church, there were 305 Republican votes and 194 by Democrats.
Overall, the state went to Trump and Clinton.
To view the Manatee County results online, including the island precincts, go to www.votemanatee.com.
Click on the red “results” bar near the top of the page and click on precinct results.
The island precincts are Anna Maria, 301; Gloria Dei 303; St. Bernard, 305; and Bradenton Beach Volunteer Fire House, 307.