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The numbers posted outside the entrance to the polling place at Earle B. Wood Middle School in Rockville early Tuesday afternoon told the tale heard across the region: Turnout is low at polling places through the morning hours of this primary election day.
Between the opening of polls at 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., the precinct reported ballots cast by 45 of the precinct's 1,136 registered Democrats, 21 of 548 registered Republicans and two "other" voters.
Inside, six voters were outnumbered by election judges and poll watchers.
Outside, a table with campaign literature for U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) of Pikesville sat unattended. No one greeted voters. Only a few campaign signs lined the sidewalks.
“People are just turned off,” said a 79-year-old Rockville resident who declined to give her name, but said that she is a longtime registered Democrat who is angry with the state’s Democratic Party over recent congressional redistricting.
“I have no idea who [the candidates] are,” she said. “I’ve never heard of these people.”
Other parts of the county also reported low turnout including in Gaithersburg, Germantown, Kensington, North Potomac and Potomac.
Speaking on WTOP radio, Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said that turnout is typically “tiny” for primaries and that primary turnout means little for turnout in the general election.
Polls remain open until 8 p.m.
Kathleen McManus
3:19 pm on Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Maybe more people would turn out to vote if they had a better choice of candidates. I don't have children in the public schools (oldest daughter just graduated), but know we need people in office who care about more than just getting elected. I voted for Jean Ellinport cuz she seemed like someone new who will look at things from a different perspective, but some of the others have been around for a while. We need more people to get involved and run for office, but today we just need people to come out and vote!
Temperance Blalock
3:55 pm on Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Voting is something that takes time, energy, and motivation. Most people take voting for granted and don't care about it unless there's something or someone that they really like, or really dislike. It's very sad when we think of how hard our ancestors fought to get the right to vote for women, for minorities, for poor people. When I think about the fact that my great-great-grandfather had to ride a mule (or walk) six miles through the mountains of Tennessee to vote, and his wife didn't even have the right to cast a vote herself, it motivates me even more.
Jeff Hawkins
8:08 am on Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Where I voted yesterday was almost like a "ghost town"......very sad indeed. The election workers there treated me like "royalty", I really got the red carpet treatment and was thanked "numerous" times by the staff for voting.
I do understand the many reasons why our citizen's don't participate, mostly what I hear is a disatisfaction with the candidates and politics in general. For the most part I agree, there is a mistrust of politicans and their machines. Having said that, we must still try and get out and vote, just try and pick the "least" offensive candidate. I know it's hard because......frankly almost all of them are "offensive" in some way :))