Turnout in February primary reaches 55 percent

Feb 24, 2008
By Shaun Bishop / Daily News Staff Writer

Voter turnout in the February presidential primary wasn't quite what the San Mateo County elections office had hoped for, but it sure beat the dismal response to the November contest.

With less than 1,000 ballots left to count, semi-official election results for the county released last week show 55.4 percent of registered voters, or about 197,700 residents, made their mark on Feb. 5.

"It isn't as good as we hoped," said David Tom, the county elections manager who had predicted a 60

percent turnout.

But it did best the turnout for the last presidential primary in March 2004, in which 48.6 percent of registered voters cast a ballot.

It also dwarfed the turnout for the most recent local election in November, which drew only 24.4 percent of registered voters.

Tom said he believes the upcoming November presidential election could bring a record turnout of 80 percent or more, given the interest in the contest and the fact that an incumbent is not running.

About 116,000 Democratic ballots were cast in the February primary compared to the 47,000 thrown by Republicans. Democratic turnout was 65.5 percent compared to a Republican turnout of 56 percent and the less than 40 percent for all of the minor parties.

The turnout figure could reach 56 percent with less than 1,000 provisional ballots left to count, Tom said. Counting the ballots is a labor-intensive process because they have to be inspected individually and transcribed before they can be officially tallied.


E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.

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