VOTER TURNOUT IN COUNTY PRIMARIES 23 PERCENT

Fewer than one in four of Cape Girardeau County's registered voters went to the polls in Tuesday's primary election.

Only 10,794 of the county's 46,867 voters went to the polls, or about 23 percent, election officials said.

Turnout was higher in the Jackson School District where 31 percent of the voters went to the polls or 5,365 of the district's 17,007 registered voters.

A proposed $6 million bond issue went down to defeat as did a companion measure to increase the operating tax levy for the school district.

Fewer than 5,000 voters actually cast ballots on those two issues, election records show.

A total of 4,940 people or 29 percent of voters marked their ballots on the bond issue. A total of 4,869 people or 28.6 percent of voters marked their ballots on the tax levy issue. The rest skipped over it.

Fewer than 20 percent of voters turned out in Cape Girardeau even though the ballot featured a Cape Girardeau city transportation sales tax measure and a heated Republican primary for state representative of the 158th District.

Voters approved the transportation sales tax extension.

Only 18.8 percent of the 24,691 voters in the city of Cape Girardeau went to the polls. In all, 4,664 Cape Girardeau city voters cast ballots.

Of those, only 3,750 people or 15 percent of registered voters bothered to vote on the transportation tax measure, election figures show.

In the 158th state House district, which covers most of Cape Girardeau, only 3,996 of the district's 21,587 voters cast ballots. That amounted to an 18.5 percent turnout.

Only 3,747 of those residents or 17.4 percent of the voters in the district actually voted in the state representative election.

Not surprisingly, far more Republican ballots were cast than Democratic ballots. At the county level, there were no contested races on the Democratic side.

In all, 7,719 Republican ballots were cast compared to 2,639 Democratic ones. Forty-three voters took Libertarian ballots, 12 took Reform Party ballots and six cast Constitution Party ballots.

County Clerk Rodney Miller said the turnout countywide was less than he expected, particularly in Cape Girardeau. Miller said he wasn't certain as to the reasons for the low turnout.

But Southeast Missouri State University political science professor Russell Renka wasn't surprised by the low turnout.

Renka said voter turnout is driven by national races and those at the top of the state ticket. There were no heated races in the primary in either party for U.S. Senate or governor in Missouri.

"There wasn't much of anything going on at the top of the ticket," he said.

Renka said voter turnout continues to decline nationwide. "A lot of people already opt out of politics completely. They don't even vote," he said.

Renka said Cape Girardeau city voters weren't excited about the transportation sales tax issue because it involved simply an extension of an existing tax.

Many people don't view local elections as important to their lives, he said.

Young adults, in particular, aren't interested in voting, he said. "A lot of them dismiss it because they see it as irrelevant," he said.

Others stay away from the ballot box because they view politicians as "a bunch of crooks," Renka said.