No surprises in a primary election with ‘ridiculously low’ turnout

With 97.8 percent of the precincts reporting in Vermont’s primary held Tuesday, Politico.com is reporting that Democratic incumbent Gov. Peter Shumlin easily defeated H. Brooke Paige with 82.5 percent of vote from those picking up Democratic ballots. He garnered 15,164 votes to Paige’s 3,225. Republican Scott Milne also came out on top against two other contenders, with 84.6 percent (10,410) of that vote. Steve Berry received 1,065 votes while Emily Peyton got 993.

Milne and Shumlin will face Peter Diamond of the Liberty Union Party in the November general election.

The voter turnout could easily be characterized as poor. As of 2012, Vermont was logging 342,221 registered voters. But, going by this year’s gubernatorial primaries, only about 36,000 of them bothered to vote. You can find more elections results, with a breakdown by county and precinct, at the Secretary of State’s website.

Chester mirrored the rest of the state, said Town Clerk Deb Aldrich, with only 136 stopping in at 556 Elm St. to fill out a ballot on Tuesday. (Chester has more than 1,500 registered voters.) In Chester, Shumlin got 59 votes, Paige received 5; Milne got 46, Berry 6 and Peyton 1.

Aldrich called the voter turnout “ridiculously low,” adding, “I don’t think people pay attention to what is going on. … People need to pay more attention.”

In the only contested federal race – this one to face incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter Welch and Liberty Union Party candidate Matthew Andrews in November – Mark Donka beat out Donald Nolte and Donald Russell. Donka received 3,831 votes (42 in Chester) to Russell’s 3,737 (6 in Chester) and Nolte’s 3,422 (7 in Chester).

The only other contested statewide race was for Attorney General, where incumbent William Sorrell easily defeated H. Brooke Paige.

He’ll face Rosemarie Jackowski of the Liberty Union Party in the November election.
— Cynthia Prairie