Voter turnout: Here's a look at how many voted in Ventura County on Super Tuesday

California voters largely skipped this week's primary, but experts say they still expect a big turnout for the presidential election in November.

In Ventura County, nearly 26% of the county's 510,000 registered voters had cast ballots, according to preliminary results released Thursday afternoon. The number is expected to climb as outstanding ballots continue to be processed.

As of Thursday, the county elections division estimated 69,000 had yet to be counted. Turnout, however, is projected to lag behind some other recent elections.

The U.S. Senate race generated some interest. But the presidential race was a snoozer, said Tim Allison, a political scientist at CSU Channel Islands near Camarillo. A competitive presidential primary on either side would have driven voter turnout, he said.

"At this point, the candidates are all but decided. California wasn't going to prove decisive in any way," Allison said. "It is the opposite of what I would expect in November."

Will turnout increase in November?

The county recorded a record high 85.9% voter turnout in the 2020 presidential election. Allison thought numbers this November could rival that of four years earlier. The presidential election will excite voters in a way the primary did not, he said.

"There's a lot at stake," he said. "Those who are passionate about their candidate are very passionate about their candidate."

Haco Hoang, a political science professor at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, also expects high turnout in November. Part of the surge in 2020 came from young or new voters, she said.

"A trend I have been seeing is that young voters are the ones who didn't come out in this election," Hoang said. "But I think they will come out for the general in November."

Impacts from the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade may pull young voters and particularly young women to the polls, she said.

What happened in past primaries?

Two days after the June 2022 primary, the county's turnout had inched just above 26%. When all ballots were counted, the number had climbed to 40%.

Whether it will reach that mark remains to be seen. In the last presidential primary four years ago, turnout was 52%.

Ondrea Collins voted Tuesday night with her husband at the elections division office in Ventura. A lot of people seem to skip the primaries, but she doesn't, the Ventura resident said.

"I think it is very important to vote in primaries," Collins said, after casting her ballot. "You can't complain about who your two candidates end up as in November, if you didn't vote for anybody in the primaries."

Do primary results point to November winners?

This week's election was like the semifinal game that decides who goes to the Super Bowl, Allison said. But don't read too much into primary results, he said.

"The game has reset," Allison said Wednesday. "So for most of these races, especially when there were more than two candidates, it's tough to read into any kind of prediction as to strength of the candidate for November."

A much different electorate will show up then, he said. Expect to see a lot more voters and a different kind of campaign.

Cheri Carlson covers the environment and county government for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0260.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Here's a look at how many voted in Ventura County on Super Tuesday