Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Voter turnout in Kosciusko County Tuesday did not quite reach 60 percent.
Of the 48,475 registered voters here, only 28,828 voted (59.47 percent).
That percentage is down compared to the 2000 and 1996 presidential election turnout in this county. In the 2000 presidential general election, 25,754 of the 41,295 registered Kosciusko County voters took to the polls (62.36 percent). When President Bill Clinton ran for re-election in 1996, three out of every four registered voters in the county cast their ballots, according to a previous Times-Union story.
However, the voter turnout in the general election was almost three times that of this year's primary turnout of 21.06 percent.
And with the increase of the number of registered voters and number of actual voters in the county, Kosciusko County Clerk Sharon Christner found Tuesday's turnout to be a favorable one.
"I thought it was very heavy yesterday. While the figures don't show it, I think we had as many voters as we had four years ago because our absentee votes were up," said Christner.
In 1996, Kosciusko County had approximately 1,996 absentee votes compared to an estimated 2,600 this year.
The number voting straight party Tuesday was 8,706 for Republicans, 2,291 for Democrats and 121 for Libertarians.
