Provo voter turnout is minuscule — 7%

PROVO — Where were all the voters Tuesday night?

Provo's primary election drew 7.1 percent of registered voters, a historic new low in the city — at least in the 21st century.

Conventional wisdom says interest bottomed out because there was no primary in the city's headline race for mayor, with Dave Bailey again trying to unseat Lewis K. Billings.

The Bailey-Billings rematch finally begins in earnest tonight, when the two men meet in a televised candidate forum. Without a primary, there are few public clues as to who is ahead because the only independent poll taken so far is private.

Some with knowledge of the polling say it shows a large percentage of undecided voters — likely a reflection of how little campaign work the candidates have done so far.

Without a primary, the two men didn't have to put out much effort — or money — to gain name recognition.

Bailey just launched his Web site — www.davebailey2005.com. Billings is expected to launch his — www.lewisbillings.com — sometime this week. So far, Bailey has sent one mailer; Billings hasn't sent any.

It remains to be seen whether the forum, mailers and three additional forums or debates will stir up interest to match the other city elections since 2000.

When Billings and Bailey squared off for the first time in 2001 more than 14 percent of voters turned out for the primary.

But even without a mayoral primary in 2003, 17.2 percent of registered voters went to the polls. (There were no city races in '02 and '04.)

Now 2005 will go down as the year it was left to a meager 2,989 Provoans to select who advanced to the general election in what previously was thought to be a high-profile and certainly expensive race for a citywide seat on the City Council.

The city has 42,001 registered voters.

Former Mayor George Stewart, who got 44.8 percent, and investment adviser Mark Sumsion, with 43.4 percent, easily moved on in the council race, but the tight finish holds the promise of an exciting five-week struggle up to the general election on Nov. 8.

Howard Stone drew 8.5 percent and Charles "Pat" Cochran pulled 3.3 percent.

The other City Council race on the primary ballot drew more interest, with a 13.3 percent turnout in the eight northeast Provo precincts voting in council district 2.