Voter Turnout Worst in 10 Years

St. Petersburg Times | 8/27/2008

Voter apathy in Florida rivaled historic depths Tuesday. The 2008 primary election drew the lowest statewide voter turnout for a primary in at least a decade. Incomplete returns late Tuesday showed roughly 17 percent of voters cast a ballot.

A computer glitch stalled the posting of results from Hillsborough County, and Pasco saw 18 of its 147 new optical scan voting machines malfunction when they tried to transmit their tallies via modem.

But those were rare technical stumbles as the entire state for the first time voted using optical scan equipment, a change pushed by Gov. Charlie Crist and others seeking a paper trail.

From a purely mechanical standpoint, "we had a good election day in Florida," said Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning, the former Pasco County elections supervisor. "Voting systems performed well."

But not many people showed up to use the machines, with the turnout at least equalling the previous record low mark for a primary: 17 percent, set in 1998. State officials blamed rainy weather in some parts of the state and the lack of any statewide races on the ballot.

In Pinellas County, where the weather was fine, turnout was just 12 percent, meaning just 75,000 out of 620,000 eligible voters showed up at the polls. That set a new record for primaries. The previous record for the lowest primary vote in Pinellas was 13 percent.

Hillsborough's turnout was even more abysmal — 6.9 percent, meaning about seven voters out of 100 went to the polls. In Pasco, just over 12 percent of the county's 260,593 registered voters — or about 33,000 — cast ballots in Tuesday's primary. Hernando had the highest turnout in the Tampa Bay area, just less than 15 percent.

The Florida Legislature mandated that as of July 2008, all 67 counties switch to optical scan machines for voting, guaranteeing a paper trail should there be any disputes. Browning said voter education efforts had paid off, and the successful ballot counting would go a long way toward rebuilding confidence in the state's often-mocked election system.

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