Just 5% of Michigan primary votes cast on Election Day
By Elyse Apel
The Center Square
As the dust settles from Tuesday's Michigan primary election, turnout data shows that just 5% of ballots were cast on Election Day, with Democrats far outpacing Republicans in voter participation.
More than 2 million Michiganders voted in the election, with a significant difference in turnout between the two parties.
On the Republican side, a little more than 792,000 ballots were cast in the gubernatorial primary. Democrats, by comparison, cast nearly 1.5 million ballots in their gubernatorial primary, a difference of more than 700,000 votes.
The disparity was driven in part by a less competitive Republican ballot. Democrats, meanwhile, had a closely contested U.S. Senate primary that helped drive turnout. This also comes as polling shows GOP voters are less enthusiastic than Democrats this election cycle.
Of the state’s 7.36 million voters, only 1.6 million voted – or 22%. Of those that did vote, 1.38 million voted via absentee ballots, 140,000 via early voting, and 83,000 on Tuesday. That means just 5% of votes actually cast their ballots on Election Day.
This is according to Michigan’s election results dashboard, which was last updated at 7:07 a.m. EST Wednesday.
Throughout Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump was already highlighting his concerns with Michigan’s elections.
“Wayne County (Detroit) in Michigan is one of the most corrupt voting areas in the United States, if not the World. It is strictly Third World! Miracles happen in Wayne County, including more votes being cast than there are voters, by a lot,” Trump said in a post on social media. “The Radical Left Socialist has a real shot, and don’t discount all of those fake mail-in ballots that will ‘surprisingly’ show up at the last moment. Get ready for another Rigged Election. In November we must VOTE FOR MIKE ROGERS, and make Michigan TOO BIG TO RIG.”
The president was referring to Michigan's U.S. Senate race, where progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed will face Republican and former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers in the general election, now just 90 days away.
El-Sayed narrowly defeated establishment-backed U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in Tuesday's Democratic primary. Stevens has since endorsed him. Rogers ran unopposed in the Republican primary.
Trump took another shot at El-Sayed in a post on Wednesday morning.
“Great news for the Republican Party. El-Sayed, a Communist loser who hates Jews and Israel, is the projected winner in his race with the Socialist,” Trump said. “Now, the Dumocrats crazy policies will only get worse!”