There was a slight improvement in voting turnout in Greene County during this year’s primary election compared to the previous midterm primary.

According to the Greene County Auditor’s Office, Tuesday’s primary saw 1,173 ballots cast for a 17.99-percent voter turnout. In the 2018 primary election, only 967 ballots were cast for a 14.66-percent voter turnout. However, there was a larger difference between the two major political parties in terms of votes. The Republicans overwhelmingly outvoted Democrats Tuesday with 369 more votes. In 2018, it was more evenly split with Democrats edging Republicans out with 477 to 472.

There were no contested primaries on the local level in 2018, but there was one this year with Supervisor District Three Republican primary between three candidates. Dan Benitz edged out second place finisher James Hedges by six votes. County Deputy Auditor Billie Hoskins says a new state law doesn’t allow any mail-in ballots that are collected after the primary election day to be counted toward the final tally, with exception to any Safe at Home or overseas and military ballots, which the county has none. The results from Tuesday’s primary remain unofficial until the Greene County Supervisors canvas the votes at their next regular meeting on Monday.