Cecil County Goes to the Polls: Very Low Turnout as of 3 PM
Cecil County voters went to the polls Tuesday in Democratic and Republican primary elections to select nominees for the county’s first-ever County Executive and two members of the new County Council in Districts 1 and 5. But turnout was described as “very low” by local election officials as of 3 p.m.
Turnout was reported at just 10.8 percent of eligible voters, with 3,142 Republicans and 1,931 Democrats voting at the polls as of 3 p.m. There are 23,537 Democrats and 23,258 Republicans registered in the county, according to elections officials.
The Republican primary was expected all along to have stronger voter turnout, since the GOP presidential nomination is still in play, and there were last minute robocalls and negative mailers– paid for by state Sen. E.J. Pipkin (R-36)– aimed at fellow Republicans in the County Executive, District 5 and judicial contests that stirred emotions on both sides.
Proportionately, Cecilton had the highest turnout by mid-afternoon, posting 15.6 percent turnout. Other precincts with higher than average turnout were Chesapeake City South, with 14.4%; Calvert Elementary in Rising Sun, with 14%; Rising Sun elementary, with 13.8%; and Rising Sun banquet hall, with 12.1%.
Stay with Cecil Times throughout the night as returns come in. We will be posting separate articles on each of the major contests, and will timestamp updates on those reports as the returns are counted.
