News Photo by Michael Gonzalez The Alpena County Board of Canvassers convene Wednesday in Alpena to review and sign off on vote totals from Tuesday’s election.

ALPENA — Voter turnout for Tuesday’s primary election was lower than the 2018 midterms in Northeast Michigan. Presque Isle County and Alcona County saw a modest 7 to 8% decrease in the unofficial results, while Montmorency County saw a nearly 3% decrease.

Presque Isle County Clerk Ann Marie Main said that every year voter turnout seems to be different.

“Millages, candidates, talking points, all of those things are factors in what can create an increase,” she said. “Every year it seems to surprise us. We expected 40% this time around, but it can vary.”

Alpena County was the only Northeast Michigan county to see an increase in voter turnout with a nearly 1% increase. Alpena County Clerk Keri Bertrand said that voting totals were expected.

“Thirty percent is a pretty average turnout for the last two years,” she said. “It might be slightly up, but it’s pretty average for turnout.”

With an average voter turnout of about 30% for Alpena County, less than 10% of the votes cast were absentee ballots with 20% as same-day votes.

While Alpena County had a near 1% increase in voter turnout, comparisons between 2022 to 2018’s primary elections show that there was an inflation in registered voters by 6.8%. Votes increased by 10% as well.

The reason for the lower percentages in voter turnout in other counties may be due to an increase in registration and a lower show-up rate for voters. Alcona County saw a near 10% in registration, but a 14% drop in votes compared to 2018’s elections.

These comparisons could show that voter turnout may be down, but increased voter registration can widen the gap in percentages.

Voter Turnout

The percent of registered voters in each Northeast Michigan county that cast ballots on Tuesday,

Alpena: 29.94%

Presque Isle: 29.92%

Montmorency: 31%

Alcona: 29%

Source: Unofficial results from the county clerks’ offices