Low voter turnout at Iowa primary

Published 9:42 pm Wednesday, June 9, 2010

A low number of voters across Iowa — including Worth and Winnebago counties — participated in the state’s primary election Tuesday.

Of the 7,414 registered voters in Winnebago County, 1,318 voters cast their ballots Tuesday, according to the Winnebago County auditor. This is an almost 18 percent turnout.

In Worth County the numbers were lower, with an about 14 percent turnout, according to the Worth County Auditor’s Office. Of the 5,643 registered voters there, 774 cards were cast.

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Worth County Auditor Kay Clark said the Worth County numbers are comparable, if not slightly higher, than previous primary elections.

In 2008, 679 people — or just over 12 percent of registered voters — cast their ballots during the primary. In 2006, which is the last time there was a gubernatorial race, there were 534 people — or only about 9 percent — who voted in the primary election.

Clark said primaries typically do not have a high turnout in Worth County, so she was not surprised by the voter turnout from Tuesday’s election.

Similar to in other counties across the state, Republicans appeared to outnumber Democrats on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro predicted a Republican turnout of 150,000 with just over 100,000 Democrats voting. He guessed this was because of the contested Republican governor race with former Gov. Terry Branstad, Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City and state Rep. Rod Roberts, of Carroll.

Branstad won the party primary with about 50 percent of the votes, and will next face off against Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.

Other large federal races included a U.S. Senate and House of Representatives seat.

In the Senate seat, Roxanne Conlin won the Democratic party ballot for this seat. She ran against Thomas L. Fiegen and Bob Kraus.

In the U.S. House of Representatives District 4 race, Republican Tom Latham and Democrat Bill Maske will face off in November.

In Iowa, there are more than 2 million registered voters in Iowa, with about 100,000 more Democrats than Republicans, according to the Associated Press.