22-05-2025
Lackawanna County voter turnout in primary election lowest in years
Lackawanna County's voter turnout of 24.12% in Tuesday's primary election was the lowest in at least 16 years, according to unofficial results.
The ballots not having any high-profile federal or state races, or contested county races, as well as an overall lack of competitive municipal races, likely were factors contributing to the low turnout, some observers said.
As voting ensued throughout Tuesday's election, poll workers around the county remarked about how turnout was thin, Lackawanna County Director of Elections Beth Hopkins said Wednesday.
'They were reporting a very, very slow day at the polls,' Hopkins said.
For comparison, the countywide turnout in recent similar municipal primaries included:
2009: 37.09%
2011: 36.71%
2013: 32.77%
2015: 34.13%
2017: 31.41%
2019: 30.47%
2021: 37.16%
2023: 29.71%
2025: 24.12%
Voter turnout tends to be higher in midterm and presidential election years.
'People, for some reason, don't feel it's important to get out in a primary like this. To me, it's kind of disgusting,' county Republican Party Chairman Dan Naylor said. 'I think we should take every election so very seriously. Twenty-four percent of the people are deciding who's going to be our candidate in the fall, and that's not what you like to see.'
While Scranton had contested races in the primary for mayor, city council and school board, the citywide voter turnout was only 24.23%, or only slightly higher than the countywide turnout.
'There wasn't a lot of interest in the ballot, but this (very low turnout) kind of blows my mind,' county Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick said. 'These are the mayor and councils, the school boards. These are the people that raise the taxes in your towns. They make all the decisions.'
With the electorate deeply divided, both nationally and in the state, voters generally just may be exhausted, he said.
'It seems like people don't want to come out and care,' Patrick said.
In Lackawanna County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans, the Democratic voter turnout in Tuesday's primary was 33.36%, while Republican turnout was 19.36%.
'I never see a big Republican turnout when Donald Trump is not on the ballot,' Patrick said.
