After what seemed a dismal start Tuesday morning, Carson City’s primary voter turnout climbed back into its historical range by the close of voting.
Although less than 300 voted in the first two hours Tuesday, by day’s end, fully 36 percent of the capital’s registered voters had gone to the polls — 8,414 out of 23,260.
That’s about the same percentage as have voted in the primary every two years since 2000. General election turnout is normally quite a bit higher.
Statewide, however, just 18.5 percent of the 1.25 million registered voters cast ballots this primary season. That is the third time in a row that total turnout fell below 20 percent, the fourth in the past five cycles and the second lowest overall turnout in the past 16 years.
The exception in the past decade was 2010 when Republicans Sharron Angle and Sue Lowden were battling for the right to face Harry Reid in the U.S. Senate race and incumbent Gov. Jim Gibbons was in a tough primary against eventual victor Brian Sandoval.
Those races raised turnout to better than 30 percent statewide and to 51.6 percent in Carson City.
The next highest overall turnout in a recent primary also involved Jim Gibbons — his first run for the governorship in 2006 against now Rep. Dina Titus. That election also just topped the 30 percent mark.
According to the Secretary of State’s elections division, total turnout this primary season was 240,122.
The low turnout was a bit of a surprise given the contentious battles within the Republican Party over the tax increases approved by the 2015 Legislature. Tea Party activists put up primary challengers to nearly a dozen Republican lawmakers who voted for the $1.3 billion tax package and political observers statewide expected the fractious debate to raise turnout significantly.
It didn’t happen.
Interestingly, in Nevada’s rural counties, which have a history of significantly higher turnout in elections than urban Washoe and Clark counties, this primary cycle’s turnout was also depressed below normal percentages, from the mid-high 30s and up to the mid to low 20s.
But, as is normal, populous Clark County had the lowest turnout at 16.17 percent as just 143,780 voters went to the polls out of 889,377 registered. Since more than 70 percent of the state’s voters are in Clark, that controls the overall number every cycle.
Washoe wasn’t much better, reporting just 52,039 of 241,438 casting ballots — 21.5 percent.
The best turnout was in Eureka County this cycle. More than 52 percent of the 868 voters there cast ballots. None of the other 16 counties even reached 40 percent.
That’s a far cry from 2010 when seven counties were over 50 percent turnout and three more in the 40s.
In 2014, the year a Republican wave swept all of Nevada’s constitutional offices and a majority in both legislative houses, heavily Democratic Clark County didn’t show up for the primary vote. Just 15.8 percent went to the polls there. A good share of those Republican victories were driven by solid turnout in the rurals where, despite an overall turnout of 19.3 percent, 10 smaller counties were above 30 percent.