Voters More Interested In Presidential Race Than Local Races

VOTING  ELECTIONS 

By Pete Springer

Portland, OR  May 21, 2008 2:47 p.m.

Around 57 percent of registered voters in Oregon cast ballots in Tuesday's election.  Pete Springer reports on some of the other ballot numbers associated with the voting.

Democrats turned out in record numbers for the election with 73 percent of registered Dems casting ballots compared to 55 percent of registered Republicans.

And the interest was clearly in the presidential primary with many voters not even bothering to mark their ballots for the other races.

Scott Moore is a spokesman for the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.  He says in Multnomah County, for example, 135,000 votes were cast for president.

Scott Moore: “But if you looked at the number for say the secretary of state race, it was down considerably, it was around 115,000 votes cast.”

The state attorney general race attracted even less attention, with about 27,000 Multnomah County voters leaving that part of their ballot blank.

Other trends the Secretary of State’s office noted this election include a surge of last minute voting, with almost half of ballots being returned just a few days before the May 20th deadline.

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