“It looks like it’s going to be roughly what we saw in 2006, a little less in 2014,” said
In the 2014 gubernatorial primary, voter turnout in Butler County was at 17.63 percent while it was at 15.42 percent in the 2006 gubernatorial election
“We thought with contested primaries on both sides, and a state issue, we were thinking that might generate more turnout,” Bucaro said.
Issue 1 changes how Ohio draws its congressional district in order to reverse the trend of gerrymandered districts, an issue that had no opposition.
UPDATE @ 12:15 p.m. Voter turnout in Butler County is slowly picking up as election day wears on, the percentage is up to 5.2 percent of voters visiting the polls, according to election officials.
Board of Elections Director Diane Noonan said so far 12,705 voters have cast ballots today.
One voter who turned out early Tuesday morning at the BOE headquarters on Princeton Road in Hamilton said he was there to help his party.
“I’m not no Republican,” the Hamilton resident said, adding he came to the polls “To vote for Democrats.”
Today, there are nearly three registered Republican voters (74,229) for every one registered Democratic voter (26,062).
MORE: Democrats vow to turn Butler County blue again
Noonan said there haven’t been any glitches at the polls so far.
INITIAL REPORT: Polling places were like ghost towns early this morning for the primary election with only 3.6 percent of registered voters casting ballots.
MORE: Today is Election day: Where do you vote? What’s on the ballot?
At Hopewell Junior School in West Chester Twp. Tuesday morning precinct captain Bob Riebel said only 21 out of 2,433 voters had come to cast their ballots during the first hour of voting.
“At 6:30 we had like 10 people standing in line,” Riebel said. “That’s been almost half of our total turnout so far.”
Board of Elections Deputy Director Jocelyn Bucaro said 9,000 people — including absentee ballots — have voted. Minus early ballots about 4,100 have cast ballots today. There are 251,159 registered voters in the county so only 3.6 percent have voted.
“Turnout is very low,” Bucaro said. “It’s been low throughout the early voting period. We were anticipating under 17 percent turnout after seeing the lack of participation during early voting.”
BUTLER COUNTY: 8 things to watch in today’s election
There are contested races all over the ballot, from local races to the big-money primaries for governor and U.S. Senate.
About the Author