County reports nearly 60% voter turnout

San Mateo County saw a 59.3 percent turnout for the Feb. 5 presidential primary election, county elections officials announced Tuesday.

That is the county's highest turnout in decades for a presidential primary, elections manager David Tom said. But that figure will be dwarfed by turnout in November's general election if voters participate to the extent Tom predicts.

"We do expect a much higher turnout in November," Tom said. "We're looking at probably close to 80 percent, and I would think that if the trend continues with all the excitement that's been going across the country, that we'll exceed 80 percent."

The turnout on Super Tuesday -- which translates to 211,697 voters -- is higher than the 55 percent to 56 percent turnout estimated by the Elections Office in late February, when ballots were still being counted.

The previous presidential primary, in March 2004, drew a 48.6 percent turnout in San Mateo County.

Elections officials have noted a growing trend of voters mailing in their preferences; on Super Tuesday, 45.3 percent of county residents who voted did so by mail. In the county's last four elections, the percentage of voters using mail-in ballots has hovered around 50 percent, Tom said.

The increased use of mail-in ballots has implications for both elections officials and candidates, Tom said. "I think overall it's going to be impacting everyone quite significantly," he said.

For one, it can slow down the vote-counting process, since elections officials have to verify the signatures on ballots that have been mailed, Tom said. And in elections like February's, when many voters are on the fence about which candidate to support, voters wait until the last minute to submit their ballots, further backing up the count, he said.

Candidates may have to adjust their campaigns to match the trend, Tom said.

"Ballots are now in the hands of voters much earlier than in the past, and there's a longer period in which voters are voting," he said.

E-mail Melissa McRobbie at mmcrobbie@dailynewsgroup.com.

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