Voter Turnout 'Terrible' on Primary Day

With Mitt Romney receiving enough delegates to win the Republican nomination for his race to the White House, and Washington Township’s Mayor Ken Short and Vice Mayor Bill Roehrich running unopposed locally, there was a feeling Tuesday’s Primary election turnout would be low.

But even poll workers didn’t expect it to be this low.

By 10 a.m. just 13 voters had come out to District 4 voting booths, set up at the .

“There’s not much going on with this election,” said worker Barbara Bacon. “Primaries are usually pretty quiet, except for 2008 during the Presidential Primary. We had unaffiliated voters coming in and declaring parties just so they could vote.”

Morris County Freeholder races and a hotly-contested 7th District Congressional battle between David Larsen and Leonard Lance were the main points of Primary day. 

District 5, one of the township’s most populated voting regions, had seen more success than District 4 at that time, with 38 voters having punched ballots.

But that didn’t impress longtime poll worker Chris Kitzerow.

“(Turnout) has been terrible,” Kitzerow said. “It’s been trickling in. No rushes or crowds.”

Over at the , it was more of the same, as Districts 6 and 12 waited for any kind of rush.

“We just had a busy spurt,” said a joking Steve Rattner. “There were three people coming to vote at once!”

Bob Taylor of District 12 said there was no pre-work rush for voters, but expected more of a crowd once school and work let out.

“It’s been a trickle this whole time,” Taylor said of the 22 voters in the district before 11 a.m. “There’s been one Democrat, so that disproves the myth there are none in Long Valley.

“We can take this and save our energy for November,” Taylor said, smiling.

Polls are open until 8 p.m.

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