Via the AP: Voter turnout across Alabama light to normal

In Alabama, the voter turnout for gubernatorial primaries since 1986 has averaged 36 percent. Secretary of State Nancy Worley, the state’s top election official, predicted 40 to 45 percent of Alabama’s 2.4 million registered voters would turn out Tuesday. But she added that turnout would vary dramatically between counties, depending on how many contested local races they had.

Of course, the headline doesn’t quite go with the article, as if the estimate is correct, this primary will have slightly higher than normal turnout.

At one point I expected this to be a heavy-turnout election, but after Moore fizzled there isn’t as much excitement.

One wonders the degree to which the anti-gay marriage amendment will drive some to the poll.

At my precinct at 3:00-ish the turnout was quite light.

One interesting side-note, Montgomery County is now using new ballots. Wisely the county replaced the old push-button electronic machines with optical scan ballots (instead of going touchscreen). The old machines had no paper trail, which is at least one of the reasons for the switch. They also looked to be fine 1970s tech.

The optical scan ballots are the best, as I have noted before, as they are easy to use and the ballot boxes themselves are electronic, and will spit the ballot back at you if you vote for more than one candidate per office or make a similar mistake.

Of course, these estimates always have a way of being unreliable.