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Democracy in the Mahoning Valley didn't die during the primary election, but it sustained a nasty wound.
Election officials in Trumbull and Mahoning counties predicted typically poor turnout for an odd-numbered primary. That was expected for a few reasons.
First, among the candidates, there were only contested Democratic primaries so there was no reason for Republicans to vote, though there are very few registered in Youngstown, Warren, Girard, Struthers and Niles -- where primaries were held in the two counties.
Second, there were very few tax levies on the ballot, and you have to question why some school districts put them in front of voters who aren't used to going to the polls in May.
I'm looking at the Liberty school district, which got its 2.5-mill additional levy rejected by the few voters who came out.
But the biggest reason for low turnout is many people simply don't care about local government elections.
There can be no better explanation for the pathetic turnout Tuesday.
Stephanie Penrose, director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, had initially projected turnout before early voting at 15 to 16 percent. She then changed it it 13 to 15 percent.
It ended up being 8.8 percent. It was the lowest turnout for a primary in the county in over a decade.
That's compared to 16.7 percent in 2015, 15.9 percent in 2017 and 14.7 percent in 2019.
Those were very low bars to overcome, but Tuesday barely exceeded 50 percent of the turnout in the previous three odd-numbered primary elections.
Thomas McCabe had first predicted turnout at 20 percent before the start of early voting. A few days before the election, he lowered it to 13 to 15 percent.
He nailed it as turnout was 13.8 percent.
But it shouldn't be a source of pride for Mahoning County voters who were eligible to cast ballots Tuesday.
Turnout in previous odd-numbered primaries were 18.4 percent in 2015, 19.3 percent in 2017 and 10.7 percent in 2019.
That 2019 election comes with a huge caveat with Mahoning County commissioners putting a sales tax on the ballot forcing the entire county to be eligible to vote when a large number of them don't normally vote in odd-numbered primaries. Back then, commissioners successfully slipped the tax past voters without a campaign in support of it. It was also a failure on the part of voters to at least know this game was being played and to vote.
Of course, turnout wasn't low only in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Turnout for Summit County was 7 percent. It was 10.5 percent in Stark County and 11.5 percent in Portage County.
In the Valley, some of the vote total numbers from Tuesday's primary were disturbingly low.
In the Warren council 7th Ward Democratic primary, for example, incumbent Ronald E. White Sr. beat Susan Hartman 122 to 69 for a total of 191 votes cast. Just two years earlier, White got 221 votes and didn't have a Democratic primary opponent.
For the open 5th Ward seat on Warren council, Ashley Miner beat Pierson Butcher 135 to 78 for a total of 213 votes in the Democratic primary. When Ken MacPherson ran unopposed in the Democratic primary two years ago for that seat, he got 494 votes.
The lack of interest we've seen over the years for local elections that impact our lives far more than who serves as president can leave us with inept, inexperienced and clueless officials making major decisions. Some would say we get that on the national level with much higher level of interest.
I don't have high hopes for turnout in the November general election. It's often about twice the number for the primary. This year in particular, that's not saying too much.