SPRINGFIELD — City officials were once again disappointed by the low voter turnout in Tuesday’s preliminary election, which was 7.6% citywide and below 4% in many precincts.

There are 97,484 registered voters in Springfield; 7,431 cast ballots Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the Election Office.

The numbers continued a trend of recent years for Springfield preliminary elections and were particularly low in some of the poorer areas of the city.

The worst turnout was in two North End precincts in Ward 1 — 2.11% at the Bay State Place polling location (1-D), and 2.14% at the North End Youth Center (1-C). Three other precincts in Ward 1 were below 4%.

“Honestly, I was heartbroken by the numbers,” Ward 1 Councilor Adam Gomez said Wednesday. “I really want to bring that number up at the general election.”

In contrast, the highest voter turnout in the city was 17.53% at the Frederick Harris School in Ward 7, precinct B, in East Forest Park, followed by 14.46% at the Bowles School in Ward 2, precinct G, in East Springfield.

Ward 7, which includes East Forest Park and part of Sixteen Acres, had the highest voter turnout of the eight wards, at 12.33%.

Turnout was 9.1% in Ward 4, where there was a five-way race for City Council. Incumbent Ward 4 Councilor E. Henry Twiggs is not seeking reelection. The final election will be a match-up between preliminary winners Malo Brown and Jynai McDonald.

The turnout in Ward 3 was 3.71% and turnout in Ward 1 was 4.09%, giving those wards the lowest turnouts in the city.

The general election, Nov. 5, will result in the election of the mayor and the 13-member City Council. Gomez is among a few councilors who are unopposed for new two-year terms.

Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola predicted Tuesday’s turnout would be less than 10%.

As expected Ward 4 was the big draw in yesterday’s race and as a result we had higher numbers than usual in that ward.

Oyola’s office released the precinct results on Wednesday afternoon, but she was not available for comment.

Five candidates lost Tuesday — one mayoral candidate, one person running in the at-large City Council race, and three people running for the Ward 4 seat on the City Council.

The 14 remaining candidates won enough votes to advance to Nov. 5 ballot, including incumbent Mayor Domenic Sarno and challenger Yolanda Cancel. Sarno came in first with 5,550 votes, while Cancel got 1,108.

The last preliminary election in 2017, which did not involve a mayoral race, drew 5.39% turnout. The preliminary in 2015 drew 7.12%. That year there was a mayoral race on the ballot, which Sarno won with 75% of the vote.

The 2013 preliminary election drew 5.13% of Springfield voters. Only two wards, 1 and 5, went to the polls that year to narrow the field of City Council candidates.

This year city councilors passed a measure to send postcards to voters ahead of elections as “reminders,” but Sarno rejected the idea, saying he would not approve supplemental funds for the effort.

The lead sponsor of the measure, Councilor Jesse Lederman, said sending postcards to the households of all registered voters would have cost approximately $13,000 for the preliminary election and another $13,000 for the general election.

Oyola said one component of the notification system will be done ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

"We are planning on implementing part of the election notification ordinance where signs will be posted at approximately 35 intersections throughout the city,” Oyola said. “We can care for this under our current budget”.

Gomez said he does not think there was a strong effort by many of the candidates and local organizations to get out the vote. He said many people were not even aware there was an election Tuesday, and there was “a bare minimum of canvassing being done.”