Pitifully low turnout for special August primary

Just nine of the 952 voters registered to a slivered voting precinct near Canal Winchester made the trip to Gender Road Christian Church Tuesday to cast a ballot.

• That 1% turnout still beats the seven total voters in a precinct off High Street.

• And it's more than the turnout at a University of Cincinnati precinct: 0.

Why it matters: Tuesday's pitiful public participation was the predictable result of a second primary for Statehouse elections held because of repeated redistricting failures.

• If summertime plans didn't keep voters away, the lack of competitive races did.
• More than 80% of the races featured a candidate running unopposed — or no candidate at all.

Eye-popping stat: Ohio taxpayers footed the $20 million bill to hold this extra election, amounting to nearly $32 spent per ballot cast.

The big picture: The statewide voter turnout was 7.9%, per unofficial results from the Ohio Secretary of State office.

• No county has reached a 20% turnout and only 14 have cracked double digits.
• Those figures may increase slightly as late arriving mail-in ballots are tabulated and provisional votes are resolved.

Zoom in: Franklin County's turnout was 6.8%, the lowest in any election since 2013.

💭 Tyler's thought bubble: I cast one of just 48 ballots at my precinct. For reference, I saw way more people in line to see the state fair's butter cow last weekend.

• "It's been busier than we thought," a cheerful poll worker told me.
• They must not have expected much, since the precinct turnout was a paltry 5%.

The bottom line: Tuesday's election followed a year of political pingpong, missed deadlines and defiance of judicial oversight.

• It's easy to have gotten lost in the drumbeat of redistricting coverage. But this is how we got here:

Sept. 16: The Ohio Redistricting Commission, made up of five Republicans and two Democrats, passes the first set of maps, without bipartisan support.

• The Ohio Supreme Court later rejects these maps as unconstitutional.

Jan. 22: Commission passes a second set of maps without bipartisan support.

• Judges later reject these maps as unconstitutional.

Feb. 24: Commission passes a third set of maps without bipartisan support.

• Judges later reject these maps as unconstitutional.

March 28: Commission passes a fourth set of maps without bipartisan support.

• Judges later reject these maps as unconstitutional.

May 3: Ohio's first primary election is held without state legislative races.

May 5: Commission resubmits the third set of maps again without bipartisan support.

• Judges again reject these maps as unconstitutional.

May 27: Federal judges order Ohio to hold a second primary, for state legislative races, using the unconstitutional third set of maps.

Aug. 2: Just 6.93% of Ohioans cast ballots in that taxpayer funded, $20 million election.