Washington County's unofficial voter turnout last week was a whopping 17 percent of the 109,428 registered voters.
Comparatively low turnouts aren't all that newsworthy. They are unfortunately the norm.
The newsworthy element in this number relates to who these voters were -- or weren't.
Something short of two out of three of the 18,662 recorded in a preliminary report voted somewhere other than the Democratic primary.
Far and away, most voted in the Republican primary, although some cast nonpartisan ballots to vote only in judicial elections.
Based on the votes cast for governor in each of the partisan primaries, almost twice as many voters chose Republican ballots as voted in the Democratic primary in Washington County.
The Republican trend had long been established among county voters. It is the comparative numbers that were usual.
The Republican face-off between Asa Hutchinson, the former 3rd District congressman, and Curtis Coleman, a Little Rock businessman, attracted just shy of 11,500 Washington County voters.
The number voting in the Democratic primary between Mike Ross, the former 4th District congressman, and Lynette "Doc" Bryant of Little Rock fell a few votes short of 6,000.
The Ross-Bryant matchup was quite literally the only partisan contest on the local Democratic primary ballot. There was no other reason whatsoever for anyone to vote in the Washington County Democratic primary. Not a single other state, district or county bid for party nomination was contested.
This year, while the gubernatorial primary was clearly the top draw on the Republican ballot, there were also statewide contests for party nominations for lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer and auditor as well as for two state legislative seats, county assessor, a couple of Washington County Quorum Court seats and one constable position.
Obviously, voters had a lot more reasons to choose the Republican ballot than the Democratic one.
What we don't know is whether those who did were all Republicans or whether the number included independent or Democratic crossover voters.
There probably was some crossover but the more likely explanation behind the almost 2-to-1 Republican over Democratic turnout is that it continues a trend begun many years ago.
The shift has been gradual, although the numbers in the 2012 primaries were greater than this year's.
More than 12,700 votes were cast in the Republican primary in Washington County in 2012 while just more than 7,100 voted in the Democratic primary.
Two years before that, in 2010, the numbers were more balanced between the parties. Just shy of 13,000 chose to vote in the Republican primary and more than 11,500 in the Democratic primary. (A hot U.S. Senate primary was the big draw for Democrats while an open 3rd District congressional seat pulled out Republican voters that year.)
In the 2008 presidential primary elections, which were held in February before the rest of the state primaries in May, almost 37 percent of the county's voters turned out.
It was also the only primary election in the past decade in which more voters cast Democratic ballots than Republican ballots, or roughly 17,500 Democratic ballots compared to 15,800 Republican ballots.
The 2008 state and local primaries saw a particularly dismal turnout of just more than 6.5 percent with barely more than 6,000 voters participating in both primaries. The most significant partisan race on either ballot was for state representative and few people apparently cared enough to vote.
The numbers in 2006 weren't all that much better. The total county turnout was 11.5 percent, as roughly 4,700 and 5,200 cast ballots in the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively.
The point is, the trend is well established. With the exception of the 2008 presidential primaries, Republicans voters have owned Washington County in more recent years.
What has happened in Washington County is not unlike what happened in Benton County much sooner. There, the numbers of people voting in Republican primaries has long been greater than in Democratic primaries.
This doesn't mean Democrats will ignore the region in the general election contests.
Even if Benton and Washington counties may both lean decidedly Republican, there are many votes for Democrats available in these populous counties, votes that may tip the scale in a close statewide or district race.
BRENDA BLAGG IS A FREELANCE COLUMNIST AND LONGTIME JOURNALIST IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS.
Commentary on 05/24/2014