YOUNGSTOWN — In the 2016 presidential primary, almost 6,200 Democrats in both Mahoning and Trumbull counties crossed party lines to vote Republican.

Only 518 Republicans changed party affiliation to vote in the Democratic primary that year in Trumbull and even less, 154, did so in Mahoning County.

The huge crossover of Democrats to Republicans four years ago will not be repeated this year, nor will we see many Republicans switching parties to vote in the Democratic primary, Mahoning Valley election officials said.

“We never expected to see the crossover this year that we did in 2016,” Thomas McCabe, deputy director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections, said. “First, President (Donald) Trump is unopposed (in the Republican primary), and there are only two candidates left on the Democratic side. Also, there are no contested primaries for either party except the 13th Congressional District for Republicans” and the 6th District for the GOP “so there’s nothing driving Democrats to cross over. We’re not seeing much crossover of Republicans voting in the Democratic presidential race.”

Stephanie Penrose, director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, also said the crossover for this primary will be smaller than what it was four years ago.

“We’re not going to match what we did in 2016,” she said.

Back in 2016, then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich won his state’s presidential primary — his lone victory in his failed bid for the office –with 46.95 percent of the vote to 35.87 for Trump.

In a sign of things to come in the general election, however, Trump received 52.77 percent of the vote to 33.93 percent for Kasich in the Republican primary in Trumbull County and 50.67 percent for Trump in Mahoning County to 37.33 percent for Kasich.

“There was a lot of activity in 2016 with people coming out to vote for and against Trump and Kasich,” McCabe said. “We don’t have a lot of activity this year.”

Also, there was a large amount of voters in 2016 who previously weren’t registered Democrats or Republicans — referred to as unaffiliated voters — who chose to cast ballots in the parties’ primaries.

In Trumbull four years ago, 11,889 unaffiliated voters voted in the Republican primary and 13,777 voted in the Democratic primary.

It was much more in Mahoning with 21,801 unaffiliated voters participating in the GOP primary and 20,028 in the Democratic race.

Trumbull’s elections board doesn’t track crossover voters until after the primary election is certified.

In Mahoning County, the early-voting numbers are low.

As of Thursday, 419 previously registered Democrats voted in the Republican primary and 369 Republicans crossed over to vote in the Democratic primary. Among unaffiliated voters, 1,811 voted in the Democratic primary and 781 voted in the Republican primary.

McCabe had expected turnout to be 30 percent to 35 percent in Mahoning County before early voting started Feb. 19.

“If this holds I don’t see us getting too much above that,” he said.

Besides the Democratic presidential race and the two Republican congressional primaries, there are no other contested races and only a few local levies and liquor options in Mahoning County.

Mahoning’s turnout in 2016 was 47.19 percent.

Before early voting started, Penrose predicted turnout for the primary at 45 to 50 percent.

She recently said: “It’s looking more like 45 percent than 50 percent. I thought with an open Democratic (presidential) field, interest would be up. But interest is less than I initially thought. The shrinking of the Democratic presidential field is part of it and the other part is people haven’t made up their minds. Also, some people don’t know the primary is in March. People are conditioned for May primaries.”

Penrose said voters are as interested in the Democratic primary for the Trumbull County engineer’s race between incumbent Randy Smith and David DeChristofaro, a former engineer, as they are in the presidential campaign.

“It’s getting pretty hot and heavy in that race,” she said. “It’s a driving force for people to come out. Engineer and president are about even, which is kind of crazy.”

Turnout in Trumbull in the 2016 primary was 44.87 percent.

Early in-person voting is 1 to 5 p.m. today and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday.

Also, those mailing in ballots must have them postmarked by Monday and they have to arrive at the board of elections no later than 10 days after Tuesday’s primary to be counted.

Polling locations in Ohio are open Tuesday 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com

2016 election crossover votes

Here are the number of Democratic voters who voted in the 2016 Republican primary, and vice versa, as well as voters not previously affiliated with a political party to cast ballots in the Democratic and Republican primaries.

TRUMBULL COUNTY

Democrat to Republican: 6,188

Republican to Democrat: 518

Unaffiliated to Republican: 11,889

Unaffiliated to Democrat: 13,777

MAHONING COUNTY

Democrat to Republican: 6,171

Republican to Democrat: 154

Unaffiliated to Republican: 21,801

Unaffiliated to Democrat: 20,028

Source: Boards of elections of Mahoning and Trumbull counties