Projo Politics Blog

PROVIDENCE - At 9.92 percent, Tuesday's primary-day voter turnout fell short of turnouts in recent years.

In all, there were 65,965 primary votes cast out of a pool of 665,092 registered and eligible primary voters, according to Robert Kando, executive director of the state Board of Elections. The overwhelming majority of those votes - 62,309 - were cast in the Democratic primaries across the state.

A much small number, 1,616, were cast in the handful of Republican primaries. Another 2,040 votes were cast in non-partisan municipal contests.

Kando said the turnout numbers he has gathered so far do not include escrowed or provisional ballots, which the board is still evaluating.

By way of comparison, 20.99 percent of eligible voters turned out for the high-interest September '06 primaries, which included a high-profile, top-of-the-ticket Republican primary contest race between then Cranston mayor Steve Laffey and then U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee. In 2004, the turnout was 11.01 percent.

Last March, the heated race between Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fueled a record-breaking turnout for primaries of any kind in Rhode Island.

 Tags  R.I. primary voter turnout

Comments

Karen Anne said:

And on the national front:

Linc Chafee calls Sarah Palin a "whacko"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hlRG6nJhRw

and "dangerous for the future of the country."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvnFz-WZVZo
(long clip, pertinent part starts about 53 minutes in.)

Link | September 10, 2008 11:31 PM
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