In Caribou, as of 2 p.m., 377 total registered voters from Caribou and Connor Township had cast their ballots at the city’s Wellness & Recreation Center, said Caribou City Clerk Danielle Brissette.
Caribou has a total of 5,587 registered voters while Connor has 325.
While leading her second presidential primary election, Brissette said that Tuesday’s turnout was lower than in 2020 when 1,100 total voters came out.
“When we first opened, we had a little line, then again at lunch. I expect we’ll get a good amount once most people leave work,” Brissette said.
Low numbers of voters turned out in Presque Isle Tuesday to cast their votes in the primaries.
As of 2:30 p.m., 359 city residents had voted, including 74 absentee ballots, Election Warden Jayne Farrin said.
“We didn’t process absentee ballots before today because there were so few,” Farrin said.
Turnout so far has been lower than in November, when the off-year election drew 1,518 participants, including 270 absentee voters.
Fort Kent saw a lower than average voter turnout as well.
In 2020, the town moved their presidential primary election to March instead of June, a change which Town Manager Suzie Paradis said has resulted in lower turnouts.
“We’re a little earlier than normal and it just seems like the turnout is not there,” she said. “We have about 117 votes so far.”
Back when the primary was held in June, Paradis said they would see between 300 and 400 votes by lunch time. She said at noon that there will be a few more periods of time in which more voters will usually come in.
“We’ll get some teachers between 3:30 and 4:30, and then we also see an influx of people after work between 4 and 6 p.m.,” Paradis said.
Super Tuesday did not draw many Houlton voters to the polls.
Just around dinner time, voting at the Houlton Recreation Center was minimal with one or two registered voters casting ballots in the controversial presidential primary race.
At one point, the only people at the town voting location were the election workers.
Town Clerk Kylee Wampler said that the day started out slow and picked up a bit in the afternoon, but four voters at one time was a crowd.
Wampler said she did notice an increase in unenrolled voters – no party affiliation– for the first year of Maine’s semi-open primary.
By about 5 p.m. 313 registered voters had cast ballots and there were 97 absentee ballots cast.
Wampler said election workers will stay when the polls close at 8 p.m. to tally the votes.
Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli contributed to this report.
