Pierce County voter turnout less than previous years

Published 4:18 pm Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Voters in Sumner showed a response rate just below 57 percent for the Nov. 3 election.

Pierce County had its lowest turnout in the last five elections days.

There were 2,224 ballots returned of 3,931 absentee ballots. There are 5,005 registered voters in the district.

As of Monday voter turnout in Pierce County overall was 48.93 percent on Monday, which shows the return of 157,882 ballots of 322,673 issued.

The Pierce County total is below the 2007 return of 146,222 ballots of 281,812, or 51.98 percent at the same time then.

In 2005 there was a significantly higher turnout of 57.35 percent, or 158,990 ballots returned of 277,233 issued.

Turnout in 2003 was 50.78 percent and 122,014 ballots were returned out of 240,294 issued. The 2001 turnout was higher at 56.59 percent with 130,995 ballots returned of 229,631 issued.