BRUNSWICK

Town Clerk Fran Smith said voter turnout was exceptionally high for a primary election Tuesday.

There were 4,420 people casting ballots at the polls and another 896 absentee ballots making for a total voter turnout of 5,316.

Smith said there are approximately 17,000 registered voters in town, though likely a high number, which would make for an approximately 26 percent voter turnout.

Last June’s election drew around 3,500 voters and the year before, there was a local referendum that drew only 1,300 voters.

“That’s unheard of,” Smith said.

People don’t tell election workers why they’re voting, so Smith couldn’t say exactly what drew them to the polls Tuesday. There were people interested in the school budget, ranked-choice voting and in voting for their candidate in the primary.

“I always say, ‘There’s a little bit of something for everyone,’” she said.

In the Democratic governor primary, Brunswick voters supported Janet Mills, with the leading 955 votes, according to unofficial results. Adam Cote received 823 votes and Mark Eves won 720.

Other Democratic candidates included:

Elizabeth Sweet — 481 votes;

Mark Dion — 103;

Diane Russell — 41;

Donna Dion — 22.

Fewer ballots were cast in the GOP primary. Shawn Moody led with 550, followed by Garrett Mason, a state senator from Lisbon, with 277 votes.

Other GOP candidates included:

Mary Mayhew — 160;

Ken Fredette — 73.

In the race for the Democratic Cumberland County District Attorney primary, Brunswick voters picked Seth Levy by a large margin, 1,663 votes compared to Frayla Tarpinian’s 692 votes and Jon Gale’s 453 votes.

A state ballot question, which asked voters to block the Legislature from delaying implementation of ranked-choice voting, passed in Brunswick 3,531-1,709.

Freeport

Freeport voters participating in the Democratic gubernatorial primary supported Cote with 529 votes ahead of Mills at 421. Trailing were:

Sweet — 214 ;

Eves — 203;

Mark Dion — 51;

Donna Dion — 6 votes.

There were 312 blanks.

In the Democratic Cumberland County District Attorney primary, Freeport Democrats favored Gale (485) over Levy (386) and Tarpinian (289). There were 325 blanks that race.

Freeport Republicans favored Shawn Moody in the gubernatorial primary with 293 votes. Followed by:

Mason — 127;

Mayhew — 83;

Fredette — 28.

There were 48 blanks.

Freeport voters also voted 1,567 to 806 to continue with ranked-choice voting.

dmoore@timesrecord.com