Westmoreland County elections officials said Thursday that nearly 26 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the Tuesday primary -- a figure higher than what had been calculated initially.
Based on reports from poll workers, the county initially said turnout came in at just 19 percent.
Revised counts -- still unofficial but based on the actual number of ballots cast -- determined that almost 15,000 more voters went to the polls Tuesday.
"This is a much more accurate vote count," Elections Bureau Director Jim Montini said yesterday.
The revised figures show that 29 percent of registered Democrats and 26 percent of registered Republicans voted in the primary.
The county originally calculated its turnout count on the number of votes cast in the commissioner races. The early-turnout report did not account for almost 29,000 voters, who either voted for just one candidate or did not vote at all in the commissioner races. Voters could have voted for up to two commissioner candidates.
Montini said there were also 1,407 nonpartisan voters who cast ballots, which were not included originally in the first turnout report.
In all, there were 61,524 ballots cast, said the elections bureau. There are 237,902 registered voters in Westmoreland County.
On election night, officials feared turnout might reach historically low levels. The lowest turnout in recent years was during the 1998 primary, when just 15 percent of the county's registered voters cast ballots.
Larger text
Smaller text
Print this article
E-mail this article
