Unaffiliated voters favor Democratic primary

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:43:06 -0400

Unaffiliated early voters are asking for Democratic ballots by a 5-to-1 ratio over Republican ballots.

According to results posted Sunday by the State Board of Elections, voters requesting absentee ballots by mail, members of the U.S. military voting elsewhere, overseas voters and one-stop voters are far more interested in the Democratic primary.

So far, 36,011 registered Democrats have voted early, 11,741 registered Republicans and 9,794 unaffiliated voters.

To put those numbers in context: Nearly 63 percent of the ballots requested so far were by Democrats, although they make up only about 45 percent of the electorate.

Among the unaffiliated voters, 7,054 asked for Democratic ballots, 1,433 asked for Republican ballots and 1,297 asked for unaffiliated ballots.

The unaffiliated ballot only has judgeships and local nonpartisan races.

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Unaffiliated voters favor Democratic primary