Statewide Voter Turnout About Average

Statewide voter turnout for the U.S. Senate race was about average last Tuesday, with 21 percent of registered voters casting ballots. Gary Bartlett, executive director of the N.C. State Board of Elections said that in all, 1,047,832 voted.

Counties canvassed results Thursday, incorporating any provisional ballots.

Voter turnout in Orange County was 24 percent -- with 18,378 of 77,224 registered voters casting ballots in the U.S. Senate race.

The Chatham County Board of Elections estimated that 38 percent of registered county voters cast votes in the U.S. Senate primary, about 2 percent fewer voters than last year.

The SBOE will certify the primary election results today.

"This turnout is not something to be proud of," Bartlett said. "But it is pretty average for a primary election."

Six candidates vying for state political offices filed for recounts after last week's primaries, including Sen. Howard Lee, D-Orange, who was defeated by Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, for the 23rd District Senate seat.

Kinnaird won the first election by 162 votes -- less than 1 percent of the total cast. Lee requested a recount the next day, but again Kinnaird topped Lee by 119 votes, according to results released Monday.

"The reason why the Lee-Kinnaird race was so close was the fact that you had two very compatible Democrats running against each other," said Thad Beyle, UNC political science professor.

Lee and Kinnaird, long-time running mates, were pitted against each other after a Republican judge redrew the legislative districts after ruling the original map unconstitutional.

Beyle said this might have deterred people from voting in the primaries.

"All the districts were redone, and people didn't know who they were voting for," he said.

Ferrel Guillory, director of the UNC Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life, said the Lee-Kinnaird race was cordial, causing the voters' interest to wane.

"The truth is that voter turnout grows as campaigns intensify, and we didn't have that," he said. "There was a hard-fought, close race between Lee and Kinnaird, but it wasn't mean."

Guillory said the dynamics of N.C. voter turnout have changed during the past 30 years. "(Before), if you won the Democratic primary, you were guaranteed to win the general election."

Guillory said in the past, North Carolina's legendary races were in the primaries, but since the mid-1960s, the state has been divided between two parties. "The highest turnouts are in November," he said.

Guillory said turnout was low last week because of the dwindling importance of the primary election in comparison to the general election.

He also said the number of younger people who vote has decreased. "(They) just don't vote at the same rate as older adults," he said. "People tend to vote more when they're settled in their communities."

Beyle said more than a general election is needed to lure people to cast their votes. "If you don't have any interesting races, why should (turnout) increase?"

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.