Primaries draw nearly 43 percent of voters to polls

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Voter turnout in Tuesday's statewide primary elections reached its highest level since the state began tracking it 24 years ago.

At least 42.8 percent of Missouri's nearly 3.5 million registered voters cast ballots, surpassing the previous primary election high of 36.5 percent set in August 1992, the secretary of state's office said Wednesday.

The 1992 and 2004 primaries both featured hotly contested gubernatorial elections.

But this year's Democratic contest between Gov. Bob Holden and State Auditor Claire McCaskill was not the top vote-getter. That distinction fell to proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 2, a ban on gay marriage, which attracted 1,491,798 votes -- easily passing with 71 percent support.

The unsuccessful proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 1, which would have authorized a casino in Rockaway Beach, also attracted more votes than the governor's races.

The Democratic, Republican and Libertarian gubernatorial primaries drew a total of 1,453,825 votes.

The secretary of state's office calculates voter turnout by identifying the contest that attracted the most votes -- in this case, the gay marriage amendment -- and dividing that figure by the total number of registered voters. Considering some people may have voted on other contests but not on the marriage amendment, the overall voter turnout could be slightly higher than 42.8 percent.

Voter turnout figures are not available before 1980 because the secretary of state's office did not have good voter registration figures from local jurisdictions until after an election overhaul law took effect in 1978, said Terri Durdaller, an office spokeswoman for Secretary of State Matt Blunt, who won Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary.

Blunt will face McCaskill, who defeated Holden in the Democratic primary.

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Secretary of State: http://www.sos.mo.gov