Rain, Uncontested Races Drive Voters Away

Outside local polling locations during Tuesday's primary election, political signs were staked into grass and lined the walkways of polling places. The sea of signs alone would give the impression that Tuesday's race was a pretty big deal. 

But, inside political committee people and poll workers told a different story. , coupled with rain, kept voters away, some said.

At the Horsham Community Center, which housed two of Horsham's largest voting districts, voters were hard to come by. At noon, only 39 had cast votes from district 2-1, according to Peter Choate, judge of elections.

"This is terrible," Choate said. "It's a primary without a lot of tension."

Democrat Committeeman Tom Brown said "hot issues," like the debate over an airport continue, but, since they're not on the ballot, voters stayed home.

Brown said it's important for parties to come out, even for "little local elections."

"We have a whole bunch of county things," Brown said. "It could be the first time in 100 years for a Democrat-controlled county."

His Republican counterpart, Committeeman Andrew Johnson jokingly disagreed with the comment from Brown, his neighbor. But both committeemen acknowledged that turnout was extraordinarily low Tuesday.

"We're usually getting around 210 votes on a good election," Johnson said. 

In Hatboro, Mike Griffin hit the polls Tuesday afternoon.

"I just always do," Griffin said. "If I skip one it'll become a habit."

At just after 2 p.m., Virginia Hart, a poll worker at Crooked Billet Elementary School, said Griffin was the 70th voter of the day. 

"We're Republican and Democrat," Hart said, adding that that voting district had a higher number of registered Democrats, but a much smaller number of voting Democrats. Of the 70 who voted, Hart said only 18 were Democrats. In terms of school board and municipal government, all of the races were uncontested, but officials pointed out that Republicans had several contested races countywide.

At in Hatboro, another of the town's four voting districts, 52 of 812 registered voters had cast a vote by 2 p.m. 

Republican Committeewoman Sandy Zygmont, seeking cover under an umbrella, said "the weather doesn't help" with voter turnout.

Were the number of voters what she had expected?

"In this kind of election, yeah," Zygmont said.