Tuesday afternoon, election officials across the area reported low voter turnout for Tuesday's primary election. The low turnout surprised some officials in Benton County, which has a hotly contested race for sheriff and many Republican candidates on the ballot.

Voter Turnout Low For Tuesday's Primary Election

Late Tuesday afternoon, poll workers said a few voters had trickled in throughout the day, but many places had seen fewer than 50 voters so far.

They hoped traffic would pick up about 5 p.m., when people are getting off work.

Benton County Clerk Mary Lou Slinkard said she could see the low turnout coming after early voting numbers were tabulated. Early voting in Benton County was down. Only about 3,800 people cast votes before Tuesday's primary.

The county clerk said the main reason is because the presidential primary already happened back in February. She said she expected a slow day, but not this slow.

"Usually our phones have six lines here. Usually they are ringing off the hook [with] people finding out their polling place or doing an address change at the last minute, things of that nature, but we're just not having the calls today," Slinkard said.

It was the same story all across the area Tuesday afternoon. In Washington County and in the River Valley, turnout was very low.

Polls were to be open until 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.