Guilford County held its Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, primary municipal elections – and the results are a stark reminder that, when it comes to only local politics, the vast majority of people simply don’t show up.

When 111 of the 113 precincts in the county finished reporting late Tuesday night , the tally was 22,208 ballots cast out of 210,515 registered voters – a turnout of right at 10.5 percent.

There were 15,328 people who showed up on Election Day; 6,717 voted early, 144 absentee ballots were cast, 19 were in the supplemental category and 5 provisional ballots joined the fray.

While votes were being tallied Tuesday night, the Guilford County Board of Elections was in session in the Carolyn Q. Coleman Conference Room of the Old Guilford County Court House. Board of Elections Director Charlie Collicutt said the board, that night, was able to address some of the provisional votes cast. That is, the board decided whether some votes should count or not when those ballots were cast with questions hanging over them.

The turnout was low, even for a primary.

Over the past two decades, primary turnout in Guilford County and across North Carolina has tended to hover at embarrassingly low levels – popping a little in presidential year primaries but sputtering in midterms, with most off years falling below double digits.

Taking the statewide view makes the trend clear: In the May 2022 statewide primary, the turnout was 31 percent of eligible voters.

In 2018’s midterm primary, turnout was around 14 percent.

In 2014, it was about 16 percent.

In other words, only in rare circumstances does turnout crack the 20 percent mark in midterm primaries in the state.

So, the 10.5 percent in Guilford in 2025 is grim – though not totally out of character for low‐interest contests.

Here are a few more points for reference:

In 2020, the statewide primary drew 31 percent of eligible voters.

In 2016, with presidential contests bringing more people in, the primary turnout statewide was 37 percent.

In midterm primaries – like 2018 and 2014 – the turnout languished in the low to mid-teens.

On the general election side, turnout is usually a whole lot better – though it’s still volatile.

 In North Carolina, general election turnout has ranged from roughly 40 percent to 50 percent in nonpresidential years and been in the high 60 percent to 70 percent range in presidential years.

However, primaries, like Guilford County’s October 7 one, are clearly mostly for the political diehards.

The pattern suggests that, for most voters, the primary isn’t worth showing up to unless there’s a big, hotly contested race or some major bond referendum – like a school bond – on the ballot.

That means that many of the local contests in Guilford County are being decided by a small fraction of the electorate – as was the case Tuesday night. The people who did vote in this primary tended to be the ones who are heavily engaged — party loyalists, activists or those who are plugged into political networks.

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