Voter Turnout Low on Beacon Hill

Although the primary elections are today, you'd be hard-pressed to see any signs of an election on Beacon Hill other than the "Vote Here" posters outside of polling stations.

Around noontime today, there was nobody campaigning or holding political signs outside any of the three polling locations on the Hill – the Hill House, the State House and the West End Library.

And as of 11:30 a.m. to noon, turnout was remarkably low. The Hill House had seen 83 voters, the library had 52 and the State House had 70. Inside each station, poll workers sat quietly, waiting for voters to come in.

One poll worker, who did not wish to be named, said that turnout has been "very low" compared with previous elections and that some people have told her they didn't feel it was important because it was "just a primary."

Perhaps it's not surprising the today's turnout is low considering that there is no race in the Democratic primary for president and Romney – the former governor of this state – is expected to win the Republican presidential primary.

According to the city clerk's office, Beacon Hill has 1,363 registered Republicans. For Suffolk County as a whole, Republicans make up 6.82 percent of registered voters, a figure that's dropped very slightly from 6.91 percent in September 2010.

As of Feb. 24, after voter registration for this election had closed, Boston had 352,112 voters, comprised of 218,024 Democrats, 23,722 Republicans, 536 Green-Rainbow party members and 131,726 unaffiliated voters.

Although the presidential race is the big ticket in today's election, there are other active races for each party, including State Committee Man, State Committee Woman and Ward Committee.

Polls close at 8 p.m. For information on where to vote, . To see who is on the ballot, .