Before last Tuesday, many people were expecting the turnout for Vermont's 2018 primary elections to be low. Primaries during non-presidential election years are often lethargic. But when Secretary of State Jim Condos officially certified the primary election results, 22.5 percent of the state's registered voters made their voices heard. That might sound dismally low, but it's actually the second-highest primary vote total ever.
Start to separate the turnout by town, though, and you see that some communities had single-digit turnout while others were close to 50 percent.
Vermont Edition spoke with Lincoln Town Clerk Sally Ober, and while Lincoln didn't quite match the town of Victory (which had the state's highest turnout at 49 percent), both Lincoln and Brunswick were next highest with 41 percent.
And we heard from Stratton Town Clerk Kent Young, where just nine percent of registered voters turned out.
Broadcast live on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
