[Voters flocked to the polls in New York and 23 other states Tuesday to cast ballots in presidential primaries. Democracywise reporter Beth Croughan takes an early look at voter turnout. ]
Even before Super Tuesday, voters have been breaking records for turnout across the country. Casting ballots for the presidential election, voters almost doubled their usual numbers in states like New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina. Tuesday, it was New York’s turn.
Official turnout numbers will not be released for at least three weeks. But at about 11 o’clock Tuesday evening, with 95 percent of precincts reporting statewide, MSNBC.com counted a tally of just over 1.5 million Democrats had come out to vote and a half a million Republicans went to the polls as well on Tuesday. There are nearly 5.3 million Democrats and 3 million Republicans registered to vote in New York State.
So how did Onondaga County stack up?
Just under 200,000 registered Democrats and Republicans were eligible to vote in this election. And according to MSNBC.com, with 98 percent of the precincts reporting, just over 35,000 people voted in the Democratic primary and nearly 25,000 in the Republican primary.
[“Old people vote more.” Jeffrey Stonecash, political science professor at Syracuse University. ]
But this time young people are showing up at the polls in record numbers. The reason: it’s a race to the White House.
[“Presidential elections get far more attention than anything else and presidential campaigns and the choice of the president has become seen as incredibly important in America. So young people pay more attention.” Jeffrey Stonecash]
Thomas Raven, another political science professor at Syracuse University, says more people are interested in politics this year because of the tight races.
[“When races are neck and neck and when they’re interesting, and when there are candidates involved that capture people’s attention — people turn out to vote.” Thomas Raven, political science professor, Syracuse University]
At the polls today in Onondaga County, lines were short and voters said the process went smootlyh and quickly. For Democracywise, I’m Beth Croughan.
(Beth Croughan is a junior broadcast journalism and political science major.)
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