Voters in one part of Blount County have voted to establish their own full-fledged fire district, while those in another part have elected to continue to prohibit legal alcohol sales.

The referendum to set up the West Blount Fire District, for areas around Hayden and Smoke Rise, won overwhelmingly. When returns were tallied Tuesday night, the “Yes” vote prevailed by better than a 2-to-1 margin. The referendum passing with 1,890 votes in favor, and 815 against — almost 70 percent for and a bit more than 30 percent opposed.

The vote means that the West Blount Fire District, which has for years operated on voluntary fire dues that haven’t come close to meeting expenses, can now levy mandatory fire dues to residents. Those dues will be $150 per year.

Meanwhile, Locust Fork voters chose to stay a “dry” town, with the “no” (or “dry”) vote winning by a 221 to 122 margin.

The only truly contested races in the local area were all north of the Blount County line, where voters also re-elected Sheriff Loyd Arrington for another term.

Arrington, a Republican, defeated independent challenger Ryan Fortenberry. As of 8:45 p.m. Tuesday with 17 out of 26 boxes reporting, Arrington was ahead by a margin of roughly 2-to-1.

Most Jefferson County incumbents were safely ahead in their races as of 9:15 p.m. The lone exception was Sheriff Mike Hale, the Republican incumbent who was trailing Democrat challenger William Anger by six percentage points with about two-thirds of all boxes reporting. Independent Willie Hill was a distant third with three percent.

In statewide races, Republican Gov. Robert Bentley easily won re-election over Democrat Parker Griffith, Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey was also a big re-election winner, and Republican Jim Zeigler handily won the state auditor’s race.

Incumbent GOP Attorney General Luther Strange was having a tougher time holding off Democratic contender Joe Hubbard. With 26 percent of boxes reporting, Strange was ahead by just four percentage points.

In the U.S. House Sixth District race, Republican Gary Palmer easily defeated Democrat Mark Lester by a 3-to-1 margin. Palmer will replace Spencer Bachus, who is retiring after 11 terms.

On the national front, the GOP appears to be headed toward taking over the majority in the U.S. Senate. As of 9:25 p.m., the major news channels and wire services had Republicans gaining five seats held by Democrats, needing just one more to take control away from Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). His presumptive successor, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, defeated Democrat challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes early in the evening.

If the trend continues, the GOP will control both chambers of Congress for the first time since 2006. The switch would be a major setback for President Barack Obama in his final two years in office.