Rose Fellow Doug Johnson on low turnout in primaries

A recent article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, titled “Record low voter turnout,” quoted Rose Institute Research Fellow Douglas Johnson discussing why the low turnout in the recent California primaries was not unexpected. The article explores why turnout for the June 8th primary in Los Angeles County and statewide were low.

According to Johnson, the low-turnout was “the result of a lack of a significant statewide Democratic Party primary battle… Although there were hotly contested races for the Republican nominees for senator and governor, since there are far more registered Democrats in California, a primary without a marquee Democratic race was bound to have a lower turnout.” Johnson quipped that “there are not a lot of people telling their neighbors to go out and vote for that exciting lieutenant governor race.”

Johnson also noted that “the [June] statewide propositions also have been relatively without controversy, with no real hot-button measure to attract voter interest.”

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