Preliminary vote totals show Paul Foster likely will be the next Jackson County coroner.

As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, Jackson County only had the Election Day vote totals counted. More than 9,000 registered voters in the county filled out their ballots Tuesday.

Absentee votes from the 10,154 people who voted early hadn’t been counted by The Tribune’s 10 p.m. deadline.

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The final results will appear in Thursday’s Tribune. Jackson County had 68% registered votes participate in the general election.

Based on Election Day voting, Foster, a Republican, received 6,350 votes, or 71%. That’s compared to Jeff Walters, a Democrat, with 2,505 votes, or 28%.

Foster is a self-employed owner of Foster Brothers LLC and FosTecH and a retired firefighter.

Walters is a former deputy for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

The winner will replace Republican Mike Bobb, who did not seek re-election for coroner. Bobb was elected in the November 2016 general election and started serving in January 2017.

In 2019, the coroner’s salary was $10,983.