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GREENSBORO — For a city that’s supposedly one of the most political in the nation, the ranking surely wasn’t reflected in voter turnout.

The election also costs money for those who stay in: slightly more than $121,000 to open all the city’s polling locations, according the elections director, George Gilbert.

A grand total of 6 percent of registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s primaries. That’s slightly more than $10 per ballot.

“You almost have to have an Obamalike candidate to get people out,” said Ralph Johnson, a member of Guilford County Unity Effort and the Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro. “They don’t seem to understand the importance of the local races.”

Momentum from the 2008 presidential race didn’t appear to carry over to our 2009 municipal primary. Of the 197,847 registered voters, only 11,862 showed up this week.

In the 2007 primary, 6.5 percent voted. In 2005, only 4 percent turned out.

Based on the turnout, Greensboro did not live up to the top 10 ranking bestowed upon it by Men’s Health magazine as one of “America’s Most Political Cities.”

The listing was based on data such as campaign contributions and participation in Senate and presidential elections.

In 2008, the county nearly set a record for turnout when 69 percent of the registered voters hit the polls. Much of that happened through early voting, and there were many new voter registrations.

But with numbers, there’s often more than one way to see things. Deputy Elections Director Charlie Collicutt notes that more voters cast ballots this year than in 2007 — by about 400 votes. There were 11,460 voters in 2007.

Many reasons could exist for voters’ poor showing at the polls Tuesday. It was a rainy day. Maybe general apathy? No big-money issues on the ballot?

“No bond on there to bring voters out,” Collicutt said, “who would have been voting with their wallets.”

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt @news-record.com