With little interest shown by voters in Tuesday’s primary, election officials in Trumbull and Mahoning counties have lowered their projected turnout percentages.

“I hate to backpedal, but I’m not encouraged at this point,” Stephanie Penrose, director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, said.

Right before the start of early voting, which began Feb. 21, Penrose said she expected Trumbull’s turnout percentage to be in the upper 30s.

Based on slow early voting, Penrose said she now expects turnout around 30%.

“I might be being generous,” she said. “I’m hoping for the best in people.”

Tom McCabe, director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections, had said before early voting that turnout in his county would be close to 30%.

He revised it to 25% to 30%.

“The presidential race is over on both sides and that’s the determining factor in this primary,” he said. “That’s what drives turnout in presidential election years. There’s not a lot of enthusiasm among voters because of no presidential race.”

Also, McCabe said: “Most people aren’t Democrats or Republicans, so we don’t get a high turnout. They don’t vote in primaries.”

If Mahoning County gets close to 30%, McCabe said it will be because of the Republican primaries for U.S. Senate and the open 6th Congressional District seats.

“A lot of money is being spent on both races,” he said. “But it’s just on one side, the Republicans.”

There is a contested Democratic primary for the 6th District seat, but both candidates have spent a very small amount of money. Also, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Cleveland is the only Democratic candidate seeking the elected position he holds.

Penrose said she initially believed the contested county commissioner primaries for both political parties in Trumbull — along with a number of other races among Democrats and Republicans — would drive turnout.

But early voting hasn’t shown that to be the case, she said.

“We have so many local races that are so important,” Penrose said. “The local races affect people’s everyday lives. But there doesn’t seem to be the interest for the local races. It’s like we usually see in odd year elections with the local races not drawing interest.”

She agreed with McCabe that with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump as the only candidates left in the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively, that will hurt turnout.

Turnout in the 2012 presidential primary was 29.62% in Mahoning and 24.74% in Trumbull.

It jumped in the 2016 primary to 44.87% in Mahoning and 47.19% in Trumbull. That was because of the contested Republican presidential primary that pitted Trump against John Kasich, then the governor of Ohio, and to a lesser extent, the Democratic primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, McCabe and Penrose said.

Turnout in 2020 was 23.36% in Mahoning and 27.94% in Trumbull.

The political parties had settled on Biden and Trump in 2020 by the time of Ohio’s primary and the state postponed that primary from March 16 to April 28 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic also led to the only time the state closed all voting precincts and had an election conducted by mail.

VOTING

Today from 1 to 5 p.m. is the last day of early in-person voting.

The Trumbull office is at 2947 Youngstown Road SE, Warren.

The Mahoning office is at Oakhill Renaissance Place, 345 Oak Hill Ave., Youngstown.

A photo identification is needed to vote early in-person and at polling locations.

To vote, a person needs one of the following: a driver’s license, a state ID card, a passport, a passport card or a military ID.

Forms of ID that were acceptable in past elections that are no longer valid include bank statements, utility bills, pay stubs, government checks or the last four digits of a person’s Social Security number.

Those who requested absentee ballots by mail could use either their driver’s license ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security number to vote.

Absentee ballots must arrive at boards of elections no later than March 23 by mail and have to be postmarked no later than Monday, the day before the election.

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

Have an interesting story? Contact David Skolnick by email at dskolnick@vindy.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @dskolnick