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ELECTION 2016 Jackson County officials predict 50 percent voter turnout in Tuesday's primary Record registration numbers might not translate to record turnout Comment By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Follow @@reporterdm MailTribune.com By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Follow @@reporterdm Posted May. 16, 2016 at 5:27 PM Updated May 16, 2016 at 6:11 PM By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Follow @@reporterdm Posted May. 16, 2016 at 5:27 PM Updated May 16, 2016 at 6:11 PM » Social News Record voter registration numbers in Jackson County for this primary election may not mean a record voter turnout. “It’s going to be a little lower than I thought at first,” said Jackson County Clerk Chris Walker. Out of the 128,619 registered voters — more than any previous election — Walker predicts that about 50 percent will actually vote by the time ballots are due at 8 p.m. Tuesday, which is better than the 40 percent turnout typically seen in non-presidential election years. As of noon Monday, 34 percent of registered voters had cast ballots, though a lot of last-minute voters were expected to drop off ballots at drop sites throughout the valley. Republicans had a relatively low turnout rate of 36.9 percent as of noon Monday compared to 45 percent for Democrats, an 8-point difference that Walker attributes to the Republican presidential nomination being over for the most part, while Democratic challengers Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders continue to campaign in various states. Non-affiliated voters who aren’t registered with any political party had only a 13.3 percent turnout rate as of Monday, while all other parties showed 23.8 percent. Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins said she thinks interest in this election could push the number of voters statewide who actually cast ballots to over one million, hitting a record last seen in the 2008 primary when President Barack Obama was running for president the first time. Statewide, about 100,000 new voters have registered, partially because of the new motor-voter law that automatically registers people to vote when they get their driver’s license. Walker said a few thousand voters in Jackson County changed party registration at the last minute, which required printing additional ballots. As a result, some voters received two sets of ballots in the mail, but they should send only one of the ballots in — for the party with which they registered. Voter interest should remain high locally, Walker said, because of two money measures on the ballot — Rogue Community College is seeking a $20 million bond that would be paid out of property taxes, and Rogue Valley Transportation District is asking for a five-year property tax levy. Walker said the county spent roughly $50,000 to print all the ballots for this election, not counting envelopes and other fees. “We had to order more because we thought we’d run out,” Walker said. To improve the tabulation of ballots, the county purchased two new machines from Elections Systems and Software last year for $195,000, which includes on-site support during the first year. Walker said the machines performed well in a small election last November, but Tuesday's primary will test the capabilities of the machines further in anticipation of the big election this November. While a number of local citizens help with the local election process, the Jackson County Elections Office has many automated machines that check for duplicate ballots and other irregularities. Signatures are scanned automatically, and about five people compare the signatures to those in county records to make sure they match. In the 2012 primary, Democrats had 38,889 registered voters, and Republicans had 43,746. All other voters numbered 30,483. The number of registered voters in the 2012 primary was 113,118. In 2008, which had record turnout across the country, there were 119,664 registered voters on Election Day in Jackson County. —Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/reporterdm . By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Follow @@reporterdm MailTribune.com By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Follow @@reporterdm Posted May. 16, 2016 at 5:27 PM Updated May 16, 2016 at 6:11 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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