Officials project about 50 percent voter turnout in Valley

About half of the registered voters in the Mahoning Valley are expected to cast ballots by the close of voting on Tuesday, elections officials say.

While early voting, both in-person and by mail, was slow but steady since it started Feb. 17, the pace picked up significantly in the final week before Tuesday’s primary, they said.

There should be about 11,000 to 12,000 early voters in Mahoning County before Tuesday’s primary, said elections Director Joyce Kale-Pesta.

Turnout in the heavily-Democratic county should be between 48 percent and 50 percent for the primary, she said.

In comparison, turnout was 56 percent in the county in 2008, the last primary without an incumbent running for president, and was 30 percent in 2012 for a contested Republican primary with President Barack Obama running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

The Republican and Democratic presidential primaries are driving voter turnout this year in the Valley, local election officials say.

As reported March 3 in The Vindicator – and picked up nationally by CNN and numerous political websites and blogs – Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is the key reason registered Democrats and voters without a political party in Mahoning County are voting Republican during early voting.

About 55 percent of 4,000 or so voters who cast ballots early in the Republican primary are either Democrats or independents, said Chris Rakocy, the board’s information technology manager. A majority of them are independents, he said.