Morning Primary Voter Turnout Low in Wheaton

Election judges at polling centers in Wheaton reported low turnout this morning for primary elections in a year when only the county’s Republican minority faces a choice for the GOP presidential ticket.

Arthur Glover, who has acted as an election judge since 2004, said that the morning turnout at Holiday Senior Center on Ferrara Drive had been fairly light, with no one waiting in line outside when the polls opened at 7 a.m. “The general election though, that’s something different,” he said.

“We had a steady trickle this morning, but it’s going to be a low turnout,” said Guinnevere Roberts, an election judge at . “There’s nothing on the ballot except for the Republican presidential candidates and the Board of Education.” Roberts, 41, has worked as an election judge ever since she moved to Maryland about 10 years ago.

Michael Thomas-Kaonohi, working as an election judge for Precinct 13-63 at this morning, blamed the low turnout on bad timing--during the Montgomery County Public Schools spring break. “They thought that this would be an ideal time to vote,” he said. “It kind of went the reverse.”

Some voters said that they were casting their ballot more from a sense of duty than from a belief that their vote will make a difference.

“It’s not one of those elections that I feel there is a great need to do it,” Dorothy Hunt, 68, said. Hunt, a registered Democrat and a “great fan” of Chris Van Hollen, cast her vote at Kennedy High School. With no children in school, she said that she relied on recommendations from friends when choosing candidates for the Board of Education.

But Derek Parker, a 62-year-old substitute teacher, came to the polls knowing that there were some people he wanted to see in office and others he didn’t. “The only way I’m going to make that happen is as a voter,” he said.