Kane's Presidential Primary Voter Turnout Might Be Lowest Since 1980s

Kane County saw 21 percent voter turnout Tuesday, according to County Clerk Jack Cunningham—the lowest turnout for a presidential primary election, he believes, since the 1980s.

Most of those were Republican voters, he said—36,018 of the 44,131 ballots cast were for GOP candidates.

Cunningham believes the problem can be traced to long election seasons full of negative campaigning. People, he said, are “worn out by debates for months and the negative nature of campaigns.” (Cunningham himself was a candidate in this election, running for the Republican nomination in the 11th Congressional District, until he was . He complained of negative campaigning from his opponent, Rep. Judy Biggert.)

Cunningham noted the difference between Tuesday’s election and the March 2008 election, the last time a presidential primary was held. More than twice as many voters turned out for that election, but between the interesting presidential race and the heated 14th Congressional District GOP primary between Jim Oberweis and Chris Lauzen, voters were just more excited then, Cunningham said.

“There were no hard-fought races this time,” he said.

Kendall County fared only slightly better, with about 22 percent turnout, according to County Clerk Debbie Gillette. She said Tuesday’s numbers were even down from the last non-presidential primary, in 2004. That election drew about 27 percent of the voters, she said.

Most of the Kendall voters were Republicans as well. GOP voters cast 11,236 of the 13,930 ballots in Tuesday's election.

When asked what she thought caused such a low turnout, Gillette said, “I wish I knew. You can't say it was the weather."