Voter turnout was light in primary election races across the Philadelphia region this morning despite blue skies and a U.S. Senate contest that could shift the balance of power in Washington.
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Lanham, judge of elections at the 2d precinct, said four hours after polls opened only 107 voters - 100 Republicans, 7 Democrats and one Independent - had shown up out of 2,098 registered voters, 1,314 registered as Republicans and 392 as Democrats.
Voter turnout was "very light" in Delaware County, a Republican stronghold, county Assistant Solicitor Frank Catania said.
The county's GOP Chairman, Tom Judge, said only 149 out of about 1,600 residents had cast their vote in Darby Township by midafternoon.
"It's a little slow, but I think we'll do better tonight," Judge said.
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Low voter turnout could benefit for Toomey's campaign.
"I think that our voters are enthusiastic and are going to turn out no matter what," said Mark Dion, his campaign manager. "I would assume that those showing up are there to vote for Toomey."
Some GOP leaders worry that a Specter loss would put the Republicans' 51-seat majority in the Senate at risk and could hurt President Bush's chances of winning needed moderate voters in the swing state this fall.
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At the Lower Bucks Seniors Activity Center on Wood Street at Mulberry Street in Bristol Borough, the mid-morning turnout was not encouraging, only 49 votes.
"Pathetic," said Doris Ennis, the Republican majority inspector at one of three polling places in the center.
"Nothing's being contested, really," said Ennis.
The turnout was no better at two polling places at Neil A. Armstrong Middle School, on Street Road near Hulmeville Road in Bensalem.
Shortly after 10 a.m., Patty Ann Klein, judge of elections, said the recording of 48 voters meant the turnout was slow.
At Jarrettown Elementary School in Upper Dublin, 73 of 711 voters had shown up by mid-afternoon. Officials were expecting about a third of voters to go to the polls. The Limekiln Simmons School, in Horsham Township, was seeing an even lighter turnout, with 57 of 1,889 voters' casting their ballot by noon.
John Biasio, of Horsham, was at the polls with his mother, Sharon, to pick up voter-registration material. The teenager, who turns 18 in May, is eager to vote.
"I think it's really important with everything going on in Iraq," he said. "I'm going to register as a Democrat."
His mother, a staunch Republican, said she accepted her son's decision.
"It's O.K. I raised them to be independent thinkers and to go with their heart," she said. "So, you'll register Democrat, but that doesn't mean you can't vote Republican."
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