Voter turnout tops 20% in Washtenaw County
Despite reports throughout the day of relatively light turnout, more than 20 percent of Washtenaw County's registered voters turned out at the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in the 2010 primary election.
Voters turned out heavily in Ann Arbor, topping 30 percent in several precincts. Voters there had multiple contested races, including a heated mayoral race and races for several city council seats.
Voter turnout was higher than expected in Washtenaw County
The highest turnout in the city was in Ward 2, Precinct 4, where 39 percent of registered voters cast ballots.
The highest turnout in the county came in Salem Township, where nearly 61 percent of registered voters in precinct 2 came out to vote. The race receiving the most attention in that precinct was the Republican gubernatorial decision. That precinct, like much of the rest of the state, went heavily for Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder.
In total, 55,562 of the county’s 261,115 registered voters cast ballots, a rate of 21.28 percent.
That’s up from recent primary elections.
In the August 2006 primary, 17.56 percent of Washtenaw County's registered voters cast ballots, and in the 2008 primary, 16.3 percent voted.
Comments
Fred
Wed, Aug 4, 2010 : 10:23 p.m.
Obviously there's a tremendous amount of disillusionment over the "Yes, We Can!" of '08 that soon became the "No, We Can't!" of '09 and '10. The 2008 primary drew a bigger turnout because we had a presidential candidate who said the Iraq War was wrong and should never have been fought. Well we've still got tens of thousands of troops there, with no realistic end in sight, almost 100,000 now in Afghanistan. Trillions were given to the banks. There's never difficulty finding billions for war. But we can't seem to find any money for schools, medicaid and unemployment benefits. Meanwhile Obama comes to Detroit to hype the "success" of creating a few thousand $14 per hour auto industry jobs - a poverty wage half that of the previous generation. With Democrats proving themselves to be just as brutal as Republicans to the working class - here and abroad - you can't blame people for staying home. Instead of Katrina we've got BP. It's not laziness and apathy. It's a vote of no-confidence in the system. And rightfully so.
townie54
Wed, Aug 4, 2010 : 3:40 p.m.
its not cynisism Fred its laziness and apathy.Its a shame people dont care if they are free and can vote
Veracity
Wed, Aug 4, 2010 : 8:51 a.m.
Ward 2 had 39% turnout. I spent 5 hours depositing political information at over 400 individual homes in Ward 2 and noticed that others had done the same. I want to believe that the more the more informed electorate votes! Of course, 51% of potential voters did not invoke their rights which is disappointing.
Laura Meisler
Wed, Aug 4, 2010 : 8:25 a.m.
Another low turnout...another argument in favor of balloting and voting by mail.
Fred
Wed, Aug 4, 2010 : 7:51 a.m.
"Tops" 20 percent? "More than" 20 percent? While it may be "up from recent primary elections," it's certainly no accomplishment. Presenting only 20 percent turnout as such seeks to whitewash the obvious level of cynicism with the political system.
xmo
Wed, Aug 4, 2010 : 7:41 a.m.
Awakened: In a primary, you have to vote Democrat or Republican so the voters who did not vote for Heiftje or Lesko voted Republican.
Awakened
Wed, Aug 4, 2010 : 6:22 a.m.
What percent of Ann Arbor turned out? Over 10,000 for Heiftje and almost 2000 for Lesko ads up to only about 10-12% in A2.