In Vienna, Few Voters Head to Polls for Democratic Primary

By noon Tuesday, fewer than 100 of the more than 4,000 voters registered at the Westbriar Elementary School precinct had cast ballots at the polls.

At James Madison High School, fewer than 50 had surfaced to vote. And at Flint Hill Elementary, turnout was just as low.

All across Vienna, polling places — open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday — have remained eerily deserted on the day of Virgina's democratic primary elections.

Voters have the opportunity to vote for the party's nomination for lieutenant governor and attorney general in the upcoming November elections.

State Senator Ralph Northam and former White House Technology Chief Aneesh Chopra are vying for lieutenant governor, and State Senator Mark Herring and former federal prosecutor Justin Fairfax are attorney general hopefuls.

Officials at local precincts admitted they expected a low turnout for the primary elections, one going as far as to say a 10 percent turnout would be "a miracle" — at Madison, only about 50 of the  more than 3,000 registered voters at the school's two precincts had cast their ballots by lunchtime.

In 2009, the last time Virginia held a June primary, less than 6.5 percent of registered voters statewide cast a ballot. That election, unlike Tuesday's, featured a ballot for each party's nomination for governor. Terry McAuliffe has already earned the party's nomination for governor in the upcoming election.

Carol Passar, chief elections officer for the 204 Madison precinct, said she was prepared for a low turnout at the polls.

"Voter turnout has been light, but we were told at chief training that that is to be expected in a primary," Passar said.

Poll workers speculated a number of reasons as to why voter turnout has been so low. Most have said it is typical of a primary election. Some said the lack of a gubernatorial ballot in these elections has taken much of the excitement out of the day for voters.

Passar feared voters were not adequately informed about the candidates before Tuesday's elections.

"There are people who aren't informed enough about the candidates to make a strong decision one way or the other," Passar said. "I think both candidates for either position can seem equally well qualified."

Local voter Donna Brewer disagreed, saying she was informed and that it was the duty of the voter to keep themselves informed.

"I think if you're interested you find out the information on your own," Brewer said. "You don't need to be spoonfed."

Poll workers from the various Vienna precincts said there were still peak times remaining for citizens to vote, most notably at the end of the work day between 5-7 p.m. Passar said there were greater clumps of voters before the start of the workday and during the lunchtime hours, with slow trickles of people in between those times.

But even with the peaks, the Vienna area is still on pace to match the low voter turnout of the 2009 June primaries, poll workers said.