Few Voters Turn Out to TPMS Early

Update 11:30 p.m.:

With 175 of 243 precincts reporting, top four are still Elrich ,Reimer, Floreen and Leventhal.

Update 11:00 p.m.:

With 157 precincts reporting, Elrich still leads, but Reimer has taken sole ownership of second place with Floreen and Leventhal following.

Update 10:40 p.m.:

With 128 precincts reporting, Elrich still leads, Reimer is now tied for second with Floreen and Leventhal is fourth. Hixson, Hucker and Mizeur are still quite a bit ahead.

Update 10:15 p.m.:

Elrich, Floreen, Reimer and Leventhal still lead the At-Large race with 108 precincts reporting. Trachtenberg is falling behind.

Update 9:30 p.m.:

With 55 precincts reporting, Elrich has 17.33 percent, Floreen has 15.07 percent, Reimer has 14.66 percent and Leventhal has 14.50 percent. Trachtenberg is just behind with 13.18 percent.

Hixson, Hucker and Mizeur all have solid leads in the Dist. 20 race so far.

All numbers are from the Montgomery County Board of Elections website.

Update 8:20 p.m.:

With 5 precincts reporting from early voting, which is only 1.33 percent of the total votes, Marc Elrich (D-At Large) has 17 percent, Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) has 15 percent, George Leventhal (D-At Large) has 15 percent and Hans Riemer has 14 percent. Reimer is the only non incumbent in the top 4. Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At Large) follows closely with 13 percent.

Heather Mizeur (D-Dist. 20), Tom Hucker (D-Dist. 20) and Sheila Hixson (D-Dist. 20) are having an easy time in District 20 with 30 percent, 28 percent and 30 percent respectively. 

Results are unofficial and courtesy of the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

Update, 6:30 p.m.:

And the trend continues. Polls around Takoma Park are slow. In fact, according to George Leventhal (D-At Large), who was greeting voters outside of Takoma Park Middle School, they have been "slow, slow, slow."

"Democrats are not coming out today," he said.

And though he is concerned for his own At Large race, that also worries him for the November gubernatorial general election where Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and Robert Ehrlich (R) are in a tight race with the last Real Clear Politics poll showing them in a near dead heat.

Some are positing that the primary isn't sexy enough, with many Democrats running unopposed. Still, there are 10 candidates running for four At Large positions and six candidates running for three delegate spots in District 20, which represents Takoma Park.

As of 3 p.m., the last time numbers were recorded at the middle school, 225 voters had cast their ballots.

At Piney Branch Elementary School, as of 3 p.m., 340 votes had been cast and as of 6 p.m., 447 people had voted, Chief Election Judge Jeff Middents said.

"We thought there were going to be a lot this morning," he said. "And since there wasn't, we have no idea how many there are going to be tonight."

Still, the voters who are turning out are doing so for a few reasons, mostly because they are concerned about education and the budget deficit. 

"I looked at each individual candidate for county council and board of education and tried to find a balance of ideas and thoughtfulness," said Jay Keller, who voted at Piney Branch Elementary.

Keller said he voted mostly for incumbents and that voting was a breeze.

"They apologized for the wait, but it was like 30 seconds," Keller said.

For the rest of the evening, as results are coming in, I'll be camped out at Marc Elrich's party so I'll be updating what's happening there. And we'll be posting stories on both the At Large results and the District 20 results as they come in, so check back often.

Update, 12:30 p.m.:

Polls are still slow from this morning. At Piney Branch Elementary 230 of the more than 2000 registered voters have voted as of 11:30 a.m., Chief Election Judge Anne Sargeant said.

"There was no big rush in the morning, but that might be because we sent out an e-mail saying we were shorthanded," Sargeant said.

Sargeant went as far as deputizing two of her neighbors to come help out at the polls, expecting a large morning rush.

There have been no major problems this morning in Takoma Park. One machine at Piney Branch Elementary was acting up, but Sargeant said they took the machine out of commission immediately.

Takoma Park Middle School is still slow, with only 100 voters as of 10 a.m.

Fun fact from Sargeant: There are more registered Democrats in Takoma Park than any other party and there are more nonaffiliated registered voters than all the other parties combined, save Democrats.

Original post, 9:09 a.m.:

When there aren't many voters out for the primary elections, the ones who do brave the morning get special attention.

Donning a green jacket and a hearty smile, Montgomery County Council President Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) jogged over to the lone voter striding toward Takoma Park Middle School. A gaggle of campaign workers for Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At Large), Heather Mizeur (D-Dist. 20), Chris Stoughton, a Democratic District 20 candidate and George Leventhal (D-At Large) rushed behind, thrusting flyers at the voter.

"There are more campaign workers than voters," Floreen said of her first of many stops throughout the day.

The poll workers were surprised at the low turnout as well.

"I expected a much better turnout," said Buddy Daniels, precinct 13-21 captain. "Back in 2008 at 7 a.m., the line stretched out through the parking lot."

Daniels, who has been manning precincts in Takoma Park since 1992 said Takoma Park Middle School typically gets more traffic early in the morning and after work, since it's a metro precinct where a lot of commuters live.

"It's a beautiful day, and I expect it will be heavy tonight," Daniels said.

But for voters who did come out early, there were no issues to report and voting went smoothly.

The big political issue, though, was the roughly $1 billion budget deficit.

"The biggest race for me was the council race because of the deficit," said Lisa Kosow.

Kosow, who said she voted for incumbents Nancy Floreen and Marc Elrich and challenger Becky Wagner in the At Large election said she liked the incumbents, but doesn't mind change.

"Every so often, there needs to be change on the council, which is why I voted for Wagner," she said.

Check back to Patch.com for updates of election coverage throughout the day.