More voters went to polls and voted early for Tuesday’s primary than the last similiar primary.

Tuesday’s primary turnout was 17.83 percent or 2,623 ballots cast.

In 2006, the last non-presidential election, there were 1,687 votes cast, according to the Polk County Board of Elections Office.

Polk County Board of Election Director Dale Edwards says her office did see a higher than average turnout for a primary of this type.

The 2008 primary was for a presidential election, which saw a 36.77 percent turnout.

Unaffiliated voters also are able to participate in the primary election. They can chose to vote in the Republican or Democratic primary, but not both. They can also chose to vote only on the non-partisan races.

It’s unclear which primary elections Polk County’s Unaffiliated voters chose to participate in this year. That information will not be available until next week, following the official count by the board of elections.

The board plans to conclude the county on Tuesday.

Many of the voters in Tuesday’s primary election chose to vote early rather than wait until election day. In many races, nearly half of the votes were cast during the early voting period from

At least one primary race was not decided on Tuesday. Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Elaine Marshall and Call Cunningham will face each other in a runoff. Marshall finished with 154,890 votes to 116,316 for Cunningham, but failed to gain enough to avoid the runoff, which will be held on June 22.