It's official: Report details low voter turnout in last week's primary

Fewer than one in 10 Vermonters cast a ballot in this year's statewide primary election, making this year the worst turnout of any primary election this decade.

On Tuesday, the Elections and Campaign Finance division of Vermont's State Department published its report on this year's voter turnout as well as complete election results. Only 36,716 people participated in last week's election, out of a possible 431,631 registered voters -- just 8.5 percent, far less than half of about 87,000 Vermonters who made it to the polls in 2006.

Officials anticipated a low voter turnout this year, as Secretary of State Deb Markowitz told PolitickerVT.com last week that this year was a sleepy year for elections, especially since the only two competitive statewide races were the Democratic race for U.S. representative and for lieutenant governor.

Yet this year also showed one of the highest percentage of Democrats heading out to the polls -- almost two-thirds of all voters were Democrats. Two years ago, just under 50 percent of all voters were Democrats. In 2000, only 32.5 percent voted for the Democratic Party.

Despite the low turnout, the election results proved interesting. Although Anthony Pollina is pursuing the governor's race as an Independent candidate, he received enough write-in votes to win the Progressive Party's nomination to be their candidate for governor.

U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Hartland) both handily sunk the Democratic nomination to be Vermont's at-large U.S. representative by a margin of almost 80 points and also clinched the Republican nomination as well with 600 write-in votes.

But Welch was not the only challenger to win the nomination of both parties. State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding (D-Montpelier) almost unanimously won the Democratic nomination to maintain his seat, but also received 926 write-in votes from Republicans, making him the GOP's choice for state treasurer as well.

Similarly, State Auditor Tom Salmon (D-St. Johnsbury), a Navy reservist who is currently serving in the Middle East, easily won the Democratic nomination to keep his position, but also won the Republican nomination to be the Green Mountain State's auditor by 645 write-in votes. This year's general election will be a far cry from 2006's hotly contested race between former State Auditor Randy Brock -- so close it resulted in a recount.

Jake Perkinson, Salmon's campaign manager, said in a statement released Tuesday: "It is clear there is broad support for Tom Salmon and the job he has done as State Auditor. Auditor Salmon filed his paperwork to run as a Democrat prior to being deployed and has a strong commitment to the Democratic Party, but I think the Republican support he received in the primary voting reflects the fact that Tom has worked hard to build bridges and find pro-active solutions to the problems facing our State." The Salmon for Auditor campaign went on to thank its supporters.