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In addition to picking a Presidential candidate next Tuesday, voters in two rural counties will vote on whether to allow slot machines at dog and horse racing tracks. Gadsden is a liberal Democratic County, While Washington is a conservative Republican stronghold. The outcome Tuesday could impact the casino debate at the state legislature.

Chattahoochee Florida is reeling. When 300 jobs were lost at the state mental institution last year, The IGA across the street closed. Empty buildings litter downtown. Another 77 jobs are slated to leave when the state closes this prison work camp.

On Tuesday, voters will decide whether to legalize slot machines at a newly opened barrel racing track. The promise; 15 hundred new jobs.

Voter Laura Smith is pragmatic. “If this going to bring jobs to Gadsden County I’m not against it.”

In this heavily Democratic county, interest is running high. So far more than 1300 people in this small county have voted early and another 800 have returned absentee ballots.

Realtor Dick D’Alemberte early voted on Wednesday. He voted yes. We asked why. “For the economy.  We are really hurting for Gadsden County,” says D’Alemberte.

In the last two weeks, churches here have mounted a church by church campaign against slots. Howard Adams works for all the Baptist churches in the county and says “A lot of our signs says don’t gamble with our children’s future and we feel that very strongly.”

An estimated seven to eight thousand voters are expected to vote.

And how the vote goes here and in nearby Washington County could help determine how lawmakers vote on expanded gambling.

Should the slot machine referendums pass in either Washington or Gadsden County, a legal challenge is a certainty, because the Attorney General has issued an opinion which says the state has no authority to issue slot machine permits without new legislative authority.