Republicans outnumber Democrats in Linn, Johnson primaries

Republicans cast more ballots than Democrats in Tuesday's primary election  in Johnson and Linn counties.

That is a first in the Democratic stronghold of Johnson County when both parties had contested races on the ballot, Auditor Tom Slockett said.

“There were just more hotly contested races on the Republican ticket than on the Democratic ticket,” he explained.

Probably the two highest-profile races, for governor and the 2, were uncontested for Democrats, whereas Republicans had multiple choices in each race.

^nd

congressional district

A total of 4,832 ballots were cast in the Republican primary, compared with 4,115 for Democrats. Results are not official until the votes are canvassed.

In Linn County, 12,135 Republicans voted in the primary, versus 4,063 Democrats. Those results also are unofficial.

Both counties have more registered Democrats than Republicans. The difference in Johnson County is especially pronounced, with 40,579 Democrats and 16,645 Republicans.

Linn County has 54,853 registered Democrats and 37,461 Republicans.

In a primary election, people can only vote for the party they are registered with. It was not immediately clear how many people switched parties for Tuesday's primary.

It will take a couple of weeks to compile that information in Linn County, said Tim Box, deputy commissioner of elections.

Johnson County has those numbers for early votes only at this time. There were 95 people who switched from no party to Republican, and 110 who went from no party to Democrat, Slockett said.

Ninety-one Democrats switched to Republican, and 15 Republicans changed to Democrat.