A reader thought 64 percent Democratic voter turnout in Blossburg wasn't very impressive.
Actually, 64 percent turnout is excellent, particularly for a primary election.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Election officials projected turnout among Pennsylvania's 8.3 million registered voters at 40 percent to 50 percent for the presidential primary, double that of the state's primary four years ago.
Secretary of State Pedro Cortes said Tuesday that for the 2004 primary 21 percent of Democrats, Republicans, independents and other registered voters turned out. In 2000 the primary turnout was just 18 percent.
Democrats set their primary turnout record in 1980 when just under 55 percent went to the polls. An Associated Press analysis projected Democratic turnout at more than 50 percent, but a record-setting percentage was unlikely.
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See this graph from George Mason University for general presidential election turnouts from 1948 to 2004. General elections usually have higher turnout than primaries.
My guess is that Blossburg's Democratic turnout is far higher than the rest of the county due to Shane's efforts. This 131-page PDF gives the jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction breakdown for each race for Tioga County. According to it, there are 23,946 registered voters in Tioga County and 9,468 ballots were cast yesterday - 39.5 percent. Unfortunately, I can't get separate Republican/Democrat turnout percentage from that site.
Here's the statewide results.
