More details and statistics about turnout in the August primary are emerging and stirring up some chatter about the possibility of including “none of the above” in all races. First, the new, party turnout numbers: 54,409 Republicans cast primary ballots, or 18.6 percent of the total turnout; 21,485 Democrats voted, or 31.9 percent, and 12,111 “others” also voted, 10.3 percent. Since Republicans have more and more hotly contested races to vote in, their higher turnout is usual for Lee, even though it’s not even half the almost 170,000 registered Republicans. But in the GOP primary for governor, where Gov. Rick Scott faced virtually nonexistent and unknown competition and all Republicans could vote, he collected 48,284 votes, meaning 5,125 Republicans went to the polls and did not vote for Scott. His two opponents collected about 4,200 votes, but given their lack of campaign activity or name ID, it leads to questions about whether those votes were really for them, or “anybody but” Scott. And there’s still 1,000 or so GOP votes “missing” in that race.
That’s called an “undervote,” the term used when a candidate or race gets notably fewer votes that the number of ballots cast, and it happens regularly. There’s no law or requirement that a voter has to vote in every race; many will vote in only a few races and skip the rest.
The question is whether people meant to skip the premier, ballot-topping governor’s race or whether they overlooked it. It’s hard to imagine a Republican voter who made the effort to vote did not have an opinion in the governor’s race, but who knows?
Full Article: Undervotes in GOP governor race leads to concerns.