Turnout likely to be low on Tuesday

(AP) One of the memories that sticks with Jerry Janezich from his failed U.S. Senate bid six years ago is of a heart-sinking conversation a few days after the November election.

A locksmith Janezich had called to fish some keys from his locked car took one look at his driver's license before recognizing him.

"I was going to vote for you and your name wasn't on the ballot," he told Janezich.

That's because Janezich's run had ended two months earlier, when Mark Dayton topped him and two other Democrats in September's primary. The 2000 campaign was Minnesota's last truly competitive statewide primary. Even then, fewer than one in five voters weighed in.

This year's candidates have spent months trying to connect with a similarly small universe of voters who can be expected to show up for this Tuesday's primary. Those voters will set the November ballot in races for Senate, governor, Congress and the Legislature. In some places, sheriff's offices, county commissioner slots and city council posts are also in play.

St. Paul retiree Marjorie Sayers is geared up to vote.

"We have to decide who we want at the beginning so we can have the real election," she said. "A lot of people gripe a lot. This is the way to help do something about it."

But far more voters are likely to stay home than follow Sayers to the polls.

Minnesota primary turnout has dropped steadily since 1998. It hasn't cracked 20 percent in a dozen years, and fell to single digits two years ago.

It seems strange in a state where November turnout routinely leads the nation and sometimes climbs above 70 percent. But Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer said there are logical explanations, including the fact there have been few close races.

"We've got to look at a primary with different expectations than a general election," Kiffmeyer said. "People who belong to a political party are interested in participating. Those who don't belong to a political party don't bother."

Across the country, primary elections are drawing light crowds.

Just 3.5 percent of Virginia voters cast a ballot in the state's June primary. Texas had 10 percent turnout in March. Michigan's primary drew 18 percent of voters in August.

At the high end was last month in Connecticut, where 44 percent turned out in a hard-fought Democratic primary that put businessman Ned Lamont past U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Curtis Gans, who studies voting trends as director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate, said the national decline in primary turnout reflects a lost impulse for civic participation and a shrinking regard for the major political parties.

"Increasingly our primaries are for a diminishing band of the active and interested," Gans said.

Charlene Biondich considers herself "very interested, but not very active" when it comes to politics. But voting is a must for her, whether the election is expected to be a barnburner or a blowout.

"I don't ever remember missing one," said the retired bookkeeper from Virginia, Minn. "It's important to just get out there and put in your vote."

This year, only a small number of primary races are deemed competitive. They include:

-A congressional race in the Minneapolis area, where Keith Ellison, Mike Erlandson, Ember Reichgott Junge and Paul Ostrow are after the Democratic nomination for the seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Martin Sabo.

-A three-way contest for the DFL attorney general nomination. Steve Kelley, Bill Luther and Lori Swanson are in the running; current Attorney General Mike Hatch is running for governor, but he must first get past state Sen. Becky Lourey in the DFL primary.

-A smattering of legislative races, some testing incumbents. Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, is being challenged by conservative Democrat Michael Cruze. Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, faces Brainerd city councilman Kevin Goedker. Rep. Neil Peterson, R-Bloomington, is up against Mark Chamberlain, who has seized on the incumbent's vote for the new Twins ballpark.