Primary turnout less than 30 percent

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Maybe they just don't care.

That's what Max Golladay is starting to suspect.

"They've made voting as easy as possible, I don't understand the apathy," said the Yakima County Republican Party chairman. "If we knew what was causing it, we'd go out and fix it."

Some Democrats are at an equal loss to explain the poor turnout for Tuesday's primary election, where only a fraction of Yakima County's voters bothered to cast a ballot.

Yakima County Democratic Central Committee chair-woman Mary Stephenson could only speculate that perhaps last year's new voters surfaced primarily for the presidential election.

"I don't think they're in the habit of voting in primaries," she said.

Because it was a mail-in election, ballots will continue to trickle in for several days. But as of late Thursday, only 29 percent of Yakima County's possible 98,088 ballots had been turned in. And that number isn't expected to grow significantly.

That's well below the 36 percent cast in 2007 -- the last off-year primary -- in Yakima County.

County Auditor Corky Mattingly guesses the primary just didn't attract much attention after a blockbuster presidential election.

"A lot of people just had one race on their ballot," she said.

Sadly, Yakima County isn't alone. In fact, it's better than some places in the state.

Klickitat County had a similar turnout of 29 percent. Benton County was worse at 22 percent. Both were lower than the 2007 election.

Even King County, which featured a proposed 20-cent charge on grocery bags, attracted only 25 percent.

Statewide turnout was 27 percent. Only 436,000 of the 1.6 million ballots had been returned as of noon Thursday.

A pre-election survey of counties by the Secretary of State's office predicted turnout at 30 percent statewide, said spokesman David Ammons. Yakima County officials called for 40 percent.

Ammons called this year's election an "off, off-year election" that featured no statewide races and only a few special elections for legislative seats.

There was "very little other than local races to call people out to vote," Ammons said.

Golladay said that's only part of the story.

The Terrace Heights resident voted only in the Yakima County coroner's race. But Yakima City Council had hotly contested races, while the 15th District legislative election should have attracted attention, he said.

"What are we doing wrong?" he asked.

Stephenson, meanwhile, noted that local races featured political newcomers who may not have put much strategy into campaigning.

For example, she saw few signs for West Valley School District candidates in her neighborhood.

Also, the Democratic Party held few, if any, rallies or activities, she said.

"We did not organize to get out the vote," Stephenson said.

West Valley is proof that every vote counts.

After counting addi-tional ballots Thursday, a mere 23 votes separate the second and third finishers for a seat on the West Valley School Board.

Since two candidates move forward to the November general election, the second-place race is important.

Incumbent Michael Carey leads all vote-getters with 1,706 votes.

Larry Osburn is in second with 1,103, and fellow challenger Steve Smith has 1,080.

Osburn's lead was 22 votes Wednesday night.

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 509-930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.