In Troy, Voter Turnout is 'Pretty Light'

In Troy, city staff and election workers agree voter turnout is pretty low so far this primary day, with some precincts reporting just a few dozen votes after the lunch-time rush.

"It's been pretty light," City Clerk Aileen Bittner said. "We probably won't get 30 percent turnout this year."

Bittner said the last presidential primary in 2008 drew about 28 percent of Troy's registered voters, and she expects this year's total to be roughly the same.

"It's not like a normal August or November main election," she said. "It's been quiet."

At , 104 out of 2,506 registered voters had cast their ballot at Precinct 22 as of 12:45 p.m., while Precinct 14 saw 109 voters.

"It's kind of trickling," said Rob Bittner, Aileen's husband and an election worker for Precinct 14. "We haven't had much of a rush."

"It gets busy at breakfast, lunch and dinner," said Ann Lemke, Precinct 22 chairwoman. "Then you have the people who forget and then come in at the last minute."

At the , where NBC's Today Show was rumored to have been taping earlier in the day, voter turnout at precincts 26, 27 and 30 was less than robust.

"It feels slow, very smooth, but we were excited to see the national media," said Mike Kennedy, Precinct 27 chairman, adding that only 40 out of 1,200 registered voters had voted by 1 p.m. Precinct 26 saw just 62 out of roughly 2,000 registered voters come in to vote by the end of lunchtime. 

"It's not better than before, but I don't know if it's worse, either," said Robert Plater, chairman of Precinct 30, where 20 out of 473 registered voters had cast their ballots by early Tuesday afternoon.

Plater added, "There are a lot of absentee ballots."

Bittner confirmed that many of Tuesday's votes have already been cast as absentee ballots and are being counted by the Absentee Ballot Counting Board, which will remain sequestered in the Troy City Council chambers at counting absentee ballots until the polls close.

According to Bittner, just more than 5,000 absentee ballots had been turned in as of 1 p.m. Those who are still hanging on to their absentee ballots may turn them in by 8 p.m.

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