Indiana primary 2018: Voter turnout less than 16% in Marion County

Voter turnout was low in Central Indiana Tuesday, despite the headline-grabbing Senate Republican candidates on the ballot.

In Marion County less than 16 percent of registered voters cast a ballot, and in Hamilton County, less than 19 percent did so. Those numbers are still higher than in 2014, which recorded an unusually low voting rate for what turned out to be a very dull election with few contested races.

Voter turnout in metro area counties were:

Hamilton: 18.68%

Madison: 30.46%

Hancock: 23.9%

Shelby: 22.53%

Johnson: 18.21%

Morgan: 24.03%

Boone: 21.51%

Hendricks: 22.28%

The Secretary of State's office doesn't have official numbers for the entire state yet, but political scientists from various regions in Indiana said they were seeing low turnout rates.

In recent years, Indiana has been among the states with the lowest turnout. In the 2016 general election, Indiana fell in the bottom 15 states for voter turnout and in 2014 had one of the lowest turnout rates in the country.

"It was surprising that statewide there was not better turnout than there was, given the number of contested races," said Andy Downs, a political scientist at the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Among the most contested was the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, where wealthy businessman Mike Braun defeated sitting congressmen Luke Messer and Todd Rokita. Also drawing attention was Greg Pence, the older brother of Vice President Mike Pence, who won the Republican nomination for 6th District congressman.

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Results: See the full Indiana Primary Election results for Marion, Hamilton counties and more

"This election included the most expensive and one of the most competitive Senate primary races across the country for Republicans, so their voters should have been more motivated," said Laura Merrifield Wilson, a political science professor at the University of Indianapolis.

Political scientists said the especially heated and negative campaigning in the Senate Republican race may have been a turnoff for some voters. The three candidates routinely bashed each other in debates and in TV advertisements in the attempt to win a shot at beating Democrat Senator Joe Donnelly in the general election.

"People across the state really didn’t know those three candidates all that well and what they learned about them was not flattering," said Robert Dion a political scientist at the University of Evansville. "Sometimes when you ratchet up the rhetoric, you actually push down the turnout."

The turnout was higher this year than it was during the mid-term election four years ago, when only 12 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in Hamilton County and less than eight percent did so in Marion County.

Across the state the voter turnout was only 13 percent in the 2014 primaries.

Russell Hollis, the deputy director of the Marion County Clerks Office, said that year was uncharacteristically low. In the 2014 primaries, there weren't any U.S. Senate races on the ballot, and several counties had fewer contested local races.

Hollis said turnout was low this year, but not surprising.

"As a whole people are not as engaged in elections during non-presidential years, and yesterday's turnout was consistent with non presidential elections in terms of turnout," Hollis said.

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Marcia Moore, the Hancock County Clerk of Court, said that looking at percentages when it comes to voter turnout might not provide the most accurate picture of what has changed since 2014, due to a clean up of the state's voter rolls..

After the 2016 election, nearly half a million names were erased from the rolls in a massive voter cleanup attempt.

That contributed to a lower number of registered voters, which could make voter turnout appear artificially higher.

"It's depressing to see such low voter turnout," Dion said. "You would always hope to have more people engaged. I try to look at the bright side and say, 'At least we did better than last time.'"

Call IndyStar reporter Kaitlin Lange at (317) 432-9270. Follow her on Twitter: @kaitlin_lange.