Local turnout low for primary election

By Jeff Lampe

As far as local action in Tuesday’s primary election, you can sum things up quickly: turnout was low and not much of any great surprise happened.

In Stark County, just 19.78 percent of voters visited an election booth, even though this is a presidential primary. COVID-19 concerns no doubt kept many home. Henry County saw just 18 percent turnout.

Those who voted followed a statewide pattern in the presidential race, favoring current President Donald Trump (96 percent) among Republicans and former Vice President Joseph Biden on the Democrat side (59.1 percent).

Mark C. Curran, Jr., topped a field of five Republicans running for the right to face Sen. Dick Durbin in this November’s general election.

In the 17th Congressional District, Republican Esther Joy King, a 32-year-old East Moline lawyer, earned the right to face Cheri Bustos in the fall.

This year, election authorities urged concerned voters to get vote-by-mail applications or to take advantage of early voting. Statewide, 504,000 early votes were cast, and 294,000 mail ballots were sent to voters, according to Matt Detrich of the Illinois State Board of Elections.