Local voter turnout dips

For weeks, the media has been abuzz about the significance of "Super Tuesday," the vote two days ago that amounted to the first national presidential primary in American history and was the first time in a generation that a California presidential primary actually mattered.

Turns out that Kings County's mostly Republican voters didn't get all that fired up about it after all.

In the end, 46 percent of the county's approximately 45,000 registered voters cast a ballot, down from expectations of between 50 and 60 percent.

"It was a little disappointing," said Ken Baird, county assessor/clerk-recorder.

Baird said that there was a huge increase in absentee voter registration in the weeks leading up to Tuesday's vote, leading him and some other officials to expect a higher than usual turnout for a presidential primary.

Baird said the huge percentage of local voters who waited until the end may have found that their candidate was no longer on the ballot.

Only 8,388 of the approximately 25,000 mail-in voters actually sent in a ballot, according to Ed Rose, county elections manager.

On the Republican side, it's easy to see why people might have lost interest.

The competition a month ago was split evenly among four or five candidates, each with a loyal following and each with significant weaknesses.

Then Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson dropped out, leaving John McCain, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. Romney has since announced he was suspending his campaign.

Many of Kings County's core Republican base weren't entirely satisfied with any of the them: McCain was seen as too moderate, many Christian conservatives couldn't get enthusiastic about Romney and Huckabee alienated secular conservatives for his stances on poverty and the environment.

In the week before Tuesday's vote, McCain was on the rise.

That may also have turned off a lot of core conservatives in Kings County, many of whom are unhappy with McCain's willingness to deviate from the Republican party line.

In the end, county Republicans largely voted for McCain, but the conservative heart of the local Republican central committee didn't.

That may help explain why Republican turnout was 48 percent, while Democratic turnout was 53 percent.

Baird said a lot of people signed up for absentee ballots early on, but didn't vote in the end.

Some may simply have missed the vote because it never dawned on them that the primary is in February this year instead of June, according to Baird.

"February is not a traditional month for an election," Baird said.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2432.

(Feb. 7, 2008)