University of Virginia Library

Low Voter Turnout

The turnout for the Democratic primary,
with less than 129,000 votes cast, was the
lowest since 1948. And the turnout for the
general election, with more than 946,000 votes
cast, surpassed the totals of all Virginia
elections except the presidential campaigns of
1964 and 1968, Mr. Eisenberg said in the
October issue of the monthly News Letter
published by the University's Institute of
Government.

In numbers of voters, the balloting in the
primary amounted to only 13.6 per cent of the
number of general election votes-a figure lower
than any similar proportion in Virginia at least
as far back as 1925, Mr. Eisenberg stated.

And while the low turnout in the primary
"raised serious questions about how many
consistently loyal Democrats there now are in
Virginia...the poor Republican showing in the
general election posed equally important
questions about the number of solid-core
Republicans," he continued.

Mr. Eisenberg further stated that the major
parties' proportions of the record vote marked
low points for both.