The May 24 Republican primary presidential election will give an indication of local voters’ interests, Clark County elections supervisor Cathie Garber said. It’s also worthwhile, she said, to look at what voters have done historically, particularly in 2008 when the presidency was an open seat, to get an idea of how this could all play out.
Recent visits from Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and former President Bill Clinton on behalf of his wife, and Saturday’s Democratic caucuses have led to increased interest in the elections.
“We’ve seen a lot of excited young people come in,” Garber said.
Clark County represents about 6 percent of Washington’s registered voters. Data from the Secretary of State and Clark County elections office show how voters locally and statewide approached past presidential elections. With that in mind, here are seven takeaways about Clark County voters.
1. Growth in registered voters has outpaced population growth
The number of registered voters increased nearly 18 percent between the 2008 primary election and today. As of Friday morning, there were 256,896 voters in Clark County; that’s compared with 216,508 voters in 2008. During that same time period, the county’s population has increased 8.18 percent, according to the latest Census numbers.
Clark County Voting by the Numbers
• 256,896 current registered voters in Clark County.
• 193,451 residents voted in the 2012 election.
• 79.58 percent of local voters participated in the last presidential election.
• 30.76 percent of local voters participated in the last presidential primary.
2. Clark County voters are less active than the state overall
In the 2012 presidential election, 81.25 percent of registered Washington voters cast ballots. In Clark County, voter turnout was 79.58 percent.
In general, voter participation has declined statewide. Back in 1952, when the voting age was 21, 90.81 percent of Washington’s voting age population was registered to vote, according to the Washington Secretary of State’s office. About 80 percent of registered voters voted, representing about 73 percent of the voting age population. Mirroring the national results, Republican nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower won over Democrat Adlai Stevenson.
Voting participation reached a low in the 1996 race between Clinton and Bob Dole, with just 55.65 percent of adults voting. Voter participation during presidential elections has increased modestly since then, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Which Washington county is the most active? It’s San Juan, where 91.49 percent of voters voted in the 2008 election.
3. Open-seat elections create great voter turnout
When Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain ran against each other in 2008, 85.31 percent of Clark County voters voted. Four years later, when President Obama was running against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Clark County turnout was 79.58 percent.
Also, more Clark County voters turned out for the primary in 2008: 42.98 percent of voters. During the 2012 primary, turnout was 30.76 percent — the lowest of any county in the state.
4. Registrations went up during the last open-seat election
Between Dec. 31, 2007, and Oct. 15, 2008, 22,812 people registered to vote in Clark County, according to the Secretary of State’s office. It’s possible that Clark County could see the same flurry of new voter registrations this year given that’s it’s also an open-seat election. Earlier this week, the county’s elections office reported receiving more voter registrations than usual after the campaign visits of Sanders and Clinton.
Garber said people were prepping for the primary because they had learned about the caucuses and heard other election news.
5. Some local cities voted blue, some voted red in 2008
In the 2008 presidential election, most people in Clark County voted for Obama. While Obama garnered more votes in Vancouver and Camas, Republican McCain was heavily favored by voters in the smaller cities: Battle Ground, Ridgefield, Woodland and Yacolt. La Center and Washougal were more evenly split between the two candidates, though they still tipped in favor of McCain.
6. Many voters are at least 65 years old
The largest chunk of Washington residents who voted in the 2012 general election were age 65 and older; at 790,244 people, they represented about 20 percent of the vote, the Secretary of State’s office said. The youngest voting group, age 18 to 24, represented the smallest group of voters, or 10 percent of the voting population at 390,557 people. Each succeeding age group has more participating voters.
It’s the same thing in Clark County. In 2012, almost 23 percent of voters were 65 and older while those age 18 to 24 represented 7.46 percent of the vote.
Statewide, 91 percent of registered voters age 55 and older voted in the general election in 2008, compared with 68 percent of registered voters who were 18 to 24, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
7. More women turned out to vote in 2012
In 2012, 53.35 percent of participating voters in Clark County, or 103,210 people, were women. And, 46.63 percent were men. (Thirty-five voters were of unknown gender.) The trend is the same statewide, with women accounting for slightly more than half the votes.
