RON THORNBURGH
Secretary of State |
STATE OF KANSAS |
Memorial Hall, 1st Floor
120 SW 10th Avenue
Topeka, KS 66612-1594
(785) 296-4564
www.kssos.org
|
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Friday, August 1, 2008
Contact Information
Stephanie Wing, Public Information Officer
Office of the Secretary of State
(785) 296-8571
stephaniew@kssos.org
THORNBURGH PREDICTS
LOWER THAN AVERAGE PRIMARY TURNOUT
Topeka , KS – Today, Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh predicted lower than average voter turnout for the upcoming primary election.
“Unfortunately, a number of factors that would signal a large voter turnout are absent in the upcoming election. The high number of uncontested races, lack of local ballot issues, and a generally slow campaign cycle are leading me to predict a below average showing on Tuesday,” said Thornburgh.
The Secretary of State’s office projected approximately 319,000 voters will cast a ballot in the August 5 primary election.
This year, 1,642,477 voters are eligible to participate in the primary election because only registered Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated are eligible to vote in the primary. Anyone who is registered as an unaffiliated voter can, on Election Day, choose to vote in the Democrat primary. Unaffiliated voters wanting to vote in the Republican primary will be required to affiliate with the political party by completing an affiliation form available at the polls on Election Day.
The number of voters affiliated with each recognized political party includes:
Democratic – 449,058
Libertarian – 9,152
Reform – 1,344
Republican – 741,786
Unaffiliated – 451,633
Total – 1,652,973
Election results will be posted on the Secretary of State’s Web site at www.kssos.org, starting at 7 p.m. on August 5. The election results will be offered on an interactive mapping system and users can access results by clicking on each county.
Primary Election Results
| Year |
Registered Voters |
Turnout |
Percent |
| 1990 |
1,166,031 |
481,788 |
41% |
| 1992 |
1,187,515 |
516,532 |
43% |
| 1994 |
1,273,648 |
458,336 |
36% |
| 1996 |
1,352,393 |
532,294 |
39% |
| 1998 |
1,493,779 |
439,463 |
29% |
| 2000 |
1,557,692 |
425,568 |
27% |
| 2002 |
1,588,859 |
410,703 |
26% |
| 2004 |
1,591,428 |
486,798 |
30% |
| 2006 |
1,651,334 |
298,972 |
18.1% |
- Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee and Wyandotte counties make up 46.7 percent of the total registered voters.
- The top 10 counties include Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, Wyandotte, Douglas, Reno, Leavenworth, Saline, Butler and Riley. They make up 62.2 percent of total registered voters.
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