A look at local Super Tuesday data shows the Tri-City area voted how it was anticipated would be
PETERSBURG – Democratic ballots outnumbered their Republican counterparts by a margin of more than five times in Tuesday’s presidential primary here, which should not be surprising given the city’s tendency to be true blue.
According to data from the city registrar’s office, Democratic ballots accounted for 2,511 of the total 2,972 votes cast in person, through the mail or during the 45-day early voting period that concluded March 2. Across Petersburg’s seven precincts, only 70 more people showed up on Election Day (1,082) than mailed in their ballots (1,012).
Across the aisle, Republican-leaning voters submitted a total of 461 ballots, 322 of which came in person on Tuesday.
Petersburg’s Ward 3 had the largest number of Election Day voters with 322. The lowest was 130 in Ward 1.
Petersburg registrar Dawn Wilmoth said she expected turnout to be somewhat dismal based on early returns, but nothing as low as what transpired on Tuesday.
“It appeared extremely slow and low voter turnout in early voting,” Wilmoth said. “I had hoped Election Day would be larger so not such a waste of taxpayer dollars. Yet, one just never knows, so I have to prepare for 105% turnout.”
By 9 a.m. Tuesday, three hours after the polls opened, Wilmoth’s office calculated the in-person turnout at .7%. By noon, it had climbed 1.67% and doubled to 3.4% by 3 p.m.
The official turnout for Petersburg, including early voting and absentee ballots, was 10.4% for Democrats and 1.92% for Republicans.
Related: 2024 Super Tuesday results for Virginia, Petersburg, Hopewell, Colonial Heights
Related: Super Tuesday 2024 Blog: Live updates from Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Hopewell
Both across the area and Virginia, turnout was low overall.
Locally, voter numbers mirrored the political leanings of the locality.
In Colonial Heights, for example, 15.1% of the turnout voted for Republican candidates compared to 2.36% for Democratic candidates. Colonial Heights traditionally votes Republican in general elections.
The other localities were Prince George County with 13% GOP and 5.5% Democratic, Dinwiddie County with 12% GOP and 5.48% Democratic, and Hopewell with 7.2% GOP and 5.2% Democratic. Prince George and Dinwiddie also tend to swing red, while Hopewell is the most purple – a mix of blue and red – of all the Tri-City localities.
Statewide turnout was way down among the previous seven presidential primaries, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. The 2024 primary drew just 11% turnout among Republican voters and 6% among Democrats – the lowest for the latter since 1988.
In 2012, only 5% of Republican voters turned out for that primary.
Related: Trump, Biden win Virginia: Protest votes remain, some Dems vote for Haley
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Low voter turnout across the Tri-City area on Super Tuesday
