A slow trickle of voters made its way to the polls Tuesday in a rain-soaked Democratic gubernatorial primary that lived up to its modest turnout predictions.
Some polling places around Northern Virginia were virtually empty even after the thunderstorms abated, with elections workers outnumbering the sparse voters who strolled in to cast their ballot.
Still, the Washington suburbs registered the highest turnout in the state, with about 10 percent, state elections officials said Tuesday afternoon. Turnout statewide was expected to run close to 5 percent of Virginia’s 5 million voters.
That the primary would be decided by a relatively small number of voters statewide grew increasingly clear as the day wore on.
Even at Greenspring Retirement Community in Springfield, a voter precinct that boasts some of the highest turnout in the state, only 487 residents, or about 26 percent, had cast their ballots by midafternoon. Residents were split among the three candidates.
In the reliably Democratic Clarendon neighborhood in Arlington County, early turnout was languid. Only about 85 people had showed up to the Clarendon Education Center by midmorning. One woman, who would only identify herself as Jean, said she walked in undecided, but ultimately voted for Terry McAuliffe, who she felt was the “middle ground” between Brian Moran and Creigh Deeds.
Her heart was for Moran, she said, but she felt he would have trouble in the general election. She was soured on Deeds by his pro-gun stance.
Elections officials reported sporadic problems across the state. Some precincts were forced to turn to battery power after the storms knocked out electricity for a few morning hours. Two Virginia Beach precincts were briefly locked down after a report of a gunman nearby.
Mostly, though, short lines meant easy access to the ballot box.
Jesus Maldonando, voting at Lane Elementary School in the Kingstowne area of Fairfax County, pulled the lever for McAuliffe.
“Bill Clinton supported him,” he said. “Yes, that was a big factor for me.”
In Moran’s home turf of Alexandria, signs for the candidate peppered Duke Street from Jordan Street to his law office in Alexandria.
Doug and Meredith Wade of Alexandria were supporting Moran.
“I think he’s going to do very well here because it’s his base,” Doug Wade said. “He knows Northern Virginia — he’ll represent Northern Virginia.”
David Sherfinski, Michael Neibauer and Chris Stirewalt contributed to this report.
