Maybe it was because of the rain. Maybe it was because there were so few big-ticket items on the ballot. Maybe it was apathy.
Voter turnout for this year’s midterm election was at an all-time low.
In total, 25,657 voters in Monroe County cast ballots on Election Day and during early voting. That is 25 percent of total registered voters.
It is also the lowest number of voters in a midterm election since 1990, according to data from the Indiana Secretary of State’s ?office.
When more than 23,000 voters cast ballots in 1990, that comprised 50 percent of registered voters.
Nationally, voter turnout during midterm elections has been stagnant at about 40 percent for the past 66 years, according to data from the Untied States Census ?Bureau.
Midterm election turnout in Monroe County has ranged from 23,462 in 1990 to 36,333 in 2010, according to data from the Indiana Secretary of State’s website.
Every 12 years, such as this one, elections in Indiana will not have races that typically draw large voter turnout, such as elections for presidential and gubernatorial ?offices.
In 2002, the last time an election without big-ticket races took place in Indiana, 27,422 people voted in Monroe County, which is 30 percent of registered voters.
Indiana voter turnout in midterm elections has been between 39 and 56 percent in the last three decades.
Bloomington had a reported 5,057 voters in its 23 precincts.
Those encompassing parts of the IU campus had among the lowest percentage of turnout.
Bloomington 1, which includes the downtown area between Ninth and Third streets down to Walnut Avenue, had a collective 9.7 ?percent results rate.
Bloomington 7, made up of the northern part of IU’s campus from 10th Street to the 45/46 bypass and between Jordan Avenue and Fee Lane, had a 2.4 percent turnout rate.
Bloomington 18, made up of the southern edge of campus from Indiana Avenue to Union Street, had a 2.4 percent turnout rate.
Bloomington 23, from Fee Lane to College Avenue between 17th street, had a 4 percent turnout rate.
In total, 246 people living in student-populated areas and parts of campus voted Tuesday, where 2,430 people are registered to vote.
