ROANOKE, Va. – Early voting kicked off for the presidential primaries in Virginia a week ago, but local registrars said few voters are heading to the polls.
Montgomery County, Danville and Lynchburg say less than 100 people have cast their ballots.
Roanoke County and City have both seen less than 100 voters. As far as absentee ballots are concerned, Roanoke City said about 200 ballots were returned and the county said about 100 people already voted by mail.
“It starts off slowly, and then it builds as people hear more about it and do more research. The third or fourth week, voter turnout increases significantly,” said Roanoke City’s Director of Elections and General Registrar Andrew Cochran.
Roanoke County’s Director of Elections and General Registrar Anna Cloeter said she’s noticed the same results.
“Usually the last two or three weeks of absentee in-person voting are our busiest, but for voters who don’t want to be in crowds and don’t want to have to wait in line, this is the perfect time for them to come out and cast their ballots,” said Cloeter.
Meanwhile, 10 News spoke with WSLS Political Analyst Ed Lynch about why voter turnout might be low in the region right now. Lynch said Virginians might be waiting to see if there will actually be a contest in the race on the Republican side.
“What needs to happen is Nikki Haley winning in her home state of South Carolina. Until we know the outcome of that primary in South Carolina, we don’t know if we’re going to have much of a contest here in Virginia. So, there’s not going to be much interest until we know whether or not there’s going to be a real contest for the Republican nomination,” said Lynch.
Lynch also said both Biden and Trump are the front runners in both races. However, many people don’t want to see a rematch of 2020.
“They don’t want to see Biden and Trump running against one another again, and that’s naturally going to depress interest, depress turnout and keep people from going to the registrar’s office to vote early or to register to vote,” said Lynch.
You might be wondering how these numbers compare to 2020. However, Cloeter and both Lynch said you can’t compare these early voting numbers to 2020 because that would be like comparing apples to oranges. In 2020, there was only the Democrat presidential primary. Now, both parties have a primary.
Also, this is the first time in Virginia that someone can vote early absentee without needing a reason.
It is worth noting that Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis’ names are still on the ballots. Their names are still on the ballots because they have not officially dropped out of the race in Virginia. However, they have suspended their campaigns.
To find out how to register to vote and your polling place, visit the Virginia Department of Elections website.