Voter turnout in local primary elections historically low

Wichita voters will narrow the field of 10 mayoral candidates to two during Tuesday’s primary election.

But voter turnout in primaries has been abysmally low the past 10 years. Only 7.7 percent of registered voters cast ballots during the last mayoral primary in 2011.

We may see a slight increase in turnout this year, said Tabitha Lehman, Sedgwick County election commissioner, because voters will begin to choose a new mayor. The 2011 race included an incumbent mayor – Carl Brewer – who cannot run again because of term limits.

The largest primary voter turnout in the past 15 years was in spring 2003, when more than 27 percent of registered voters went to the polls. Fifteen candidates competed for mayor in a race that Carlos Mayans ultimately won.

That primary also included races for City Council in Districts 2, 4 and 5, which helped increase turnout. This election includes council races in Districts 2 and 5.

We’re also coming off of a hot 2014 election cycle, which could negatively affect turnout if “voter fatigue” occurs, Lehman said.

‘Low-info’ voters

Turnout in local elections, particularly primaries, is low because most people are “low-information” voters, said Russell Fox, a political science professor at Friends University.

“Not very many people show up to vote in primaries because not very many people choose to take the time or are capable of taking the time to find enough relevant information to make it worth their while,” he said.

“So the election comes around, and you think to yourself, ‘I don’t know who any of these people are,’ ‘I don’t know what any of them stand for,’ ‘I don’t have an opinion on any of these people,’ ‘I’m not going to vote.’ ”

Voter turnout usually increases when people perceive a race is especially exciting or a candidate being elected could threaten their way of life, Fox said.

“This is why there’s higher turnout in presidential elections. Because in presidential elections, you’ve got the whole country involved, you’ve got billions of dollars involved in spreading messages, and everybody gets the idea that ‘I have to vote for Mitt Romney’ or ‘I have to vote for Barack Obama’ or else the world will be destroyed,” Fox said.

“That’s the kind of message that gets through to even low-information voters. You don’t see stuff like that usually in local elections and especially not in primaries for local elections.”

Fox predicts that maybe 10 percent of registered voters will turn out for Tuesday’s primary.

The 2008 presidential election had about 57 percent turnout nationwide – the highest level in about 40 years, according to the Pew Research Center.

Weather factor

So far, more than 600 people have voted in advance in person, and 1,700 people have voted early by mail, Lehman said.

About 200 more people have voted early in person than in the mayoral election in 2011, which could be a positive sign of increased turnout – or just people expecting poor weather on Tuesday, Lehman said.

Weather is the biggest concern for election workers, who worried it would affect advance voting on Saturday and, if snow or cold continues, voting on Tuesday.

The election office has agreements in place for snow removal at polling places, Lehman said.

“In 2013, we had really horrible turnout, but we had a massive snowstorm come through, and that one did not have mayor on the ballot,” Lehman said. The county spent thousands of dollars on snow removal at polling places.

This story was originally published February 28, 2015 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Voter turnout in local primary elections historically low."