KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — Election officials say voters in the Michigan primary turned out in larger-than-normal numbers.
Clerks said the nice weather helped, and so did the fact that the candidates were all in the state campaigning. There were two debates between presidential candidates in Michigan in the run-up to Tuesday’s election, and there were television ads to at least remind everyone to come out and vote.
But exit polling also revealed many voters weren’t voting for one candidate, but against another, and many of them were voting angry.
Kalamazoo County Clerk Tim Snow said about 35 percent of the county’s electorate turned out Tuesday.
That is far above what they usually expect.
Counties all over Michigan report similar results, with some precincts running short of ballots. Some precincts also ran out of ballots.
Snow said some precincts had more than 50 percent turnout, which is unheard of for a presidential primary. He said it would have been even higher if students hadn’t been on spring break.
Snow said he would like to see this kind of turnout in May and in August, but doubts that’ll happen.
In the presidential candidate races, Sen. Bernie Sanders won 2-1 in Kalamazoo County over Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Ohio Gov. John Kasich was neck-and-neck with billionaire Donald Trump.
