Early voting ended in the Republican and Democratic Primary Elections on Friday, and officials at the Brown County Elections Office said that the turnout was slower than expected overall.

Assistant Elections Administrator Larry Franks said that after the two week early voting period, 2285 ballots had been cast.  Franks said that 2209 of those were in the Republican primary while 76 were cast as Democrat.

“That is a 10.1% voter turnout on the Republican side,” Franks said.  “In 2008, the last presidential primary, we had a 13% turnout in early voting.”

Franks said that looking at those previous voting numbers, officials expected a larger turnout during early voting.

Although the overall voter turnout was slower than expected, Franks said that almost 500 ballots were cast on Friday alone as voters raced to catch the last of the early voting period.

Polls will be open until 7pm on Tuesday, May 29 on Primary Election Day.