Local Voter Turnout Picks Up A Little

Wednesday, May 9, 2018 at 9:51 AM

By Mike Perleberg @mikedup84

By far, southeastern Indiana voters chose to vote on a Republican ballot more often on Tuesday, May 8.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - How was local voter turnout for the primary election on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 As with most mid-term elections, it was expectedly low.

Only 17.8 percent of registered voters in Dearborn County cast a ballot in this election, according to results from the Dearborn County Clerk of Courts. Only 6,816 of the county’s 38,311 registered voters participated in this election.

Although the participation was not high, it was better than the last presidential midterm primary election in 2014, when only about nine percent of the county’s registered voters showed up.

It is worth noting that more than 85 percent of voters in the Republican-leaning county pulled a GOP ballot Tuesday. There were 5,811 Republican ballots cast, while Democratic ballots turned in totaled just 1,005. The statistic shows Dearborn County – and others in southeastern Indiana – may be resistant to a so-called “Blue Wave” of support for Democratic candidates in the November general election.

Switzerland County had the highest voter turnout locally at 27.8 percent, up from 21 percent four years ago. Three in four ballots in the county were cast in the Republican primary.

The lowest local turnout was in Ripley County with just 13.7 percent, actually lower than the 20 percent turnout in 2014. Over 80 percent of the ballots there were Republican.

Franklin County’s turnout was 23.4 percent, up from 16.5 percent in 2014. Republican ballots were chosen about 82 percent of the time.

Ohio County’s voter turnout figures were not available, but ballot dispersal shows about 62 percent of voters chose Republican ballots.

The trend in better voter participation could be related to the Indiana Secretary of State's office purging inactive of unverifiable voters from voter rolls since last November.

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