New Hampshire Democratic Turnout Surpasses Record 2008 Numbers
Turnout in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary in New Hampshire surpassed that of the record turnout year of 2008.
With 98% reporting as of 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time, the New Hampshire vote tally stood at 295,129 – blowing by the 288,672 votes cast in the record-breaking Democratic primary of 2008, when Hillary Clinton defeated Sens. Barack Obama and John Edwards.
The totals for Tuesday also far surpassed the 254,780 people who voted in the 2016 New Hampshire Democratic primary.
Ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Secretary of State Bill Gardner had predicted that 292,000 Democratic ballots would be cast.
Gardner also predicted that only 128,000 Republican primary ballots would be cast because of President Donald Trump’s lack of serious challengers for his party’s nomination.
With 97% percent of precincts in, about 124,000 had been counted.
Last week, a disappointing turnout for the Iowa caucuses had set alarm bells off for the Democratic party.
Prior to the caucuses the expectation had been that the large Democratic field, close race, and enthusiasm among the party faithful about selecting a candidate to beat Trump, would push turnout numbers to a new record.
The actual turnout number — 176,436 — was higher than the 171,517 who turned out for the 2016 Democratic presidential caucuses, but it was well below the record 239,000 who caucused in 2008.
After two electoral contests, former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg leads the total delegate count with 23 delegates. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has the second most with 21, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has eight, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has seven, and Former Vice President Joe Biden comes in with six. Candidates need 1991 delegates to win the nomination.
