Freeborn County voter turnout at the Tuesday primary election proved to be an average turnout for a primary, Freeborn County Auditor-Treasurer Dennis Distad said Wednesday.

Across the county, almost 22 percent of registered voters — or 4,194 out of 19,205 registered voters — came out to cast ballots.

Offices up for election at the primary included the Albert Lea mayor, Freeborn County commissioners in Districts 3 and 5, along with other state and national positions.

Distad said though he estimated that the turnout would be either 21 or 22 percent, he still thinks the turnout should have been higher, especially with the races that were up for election.

The general election percentages in November should be much higher, around 70 percent.

He said the numbers from the primary this year were just a few percentage points higher than the 2006 primary election when 20 percent of registered voters came out to vote.

In 2004, the turnout was 23 percent.

Of the almost 4,200 people who voted in the primary, 2,594 were from within city limits.

Two hundred fifty-three people registered the day of the election.

Albert Lea City Clerk Shirley Slater-Schulte said all the votes specifically within the city precincts were in and counted for by 9 p.m. The city judges reported to the Freeborn Room in the government center, and the other townships and cities outside of Albert Lea reported to the Treasurer/Auditor’s Office.

As a whole, Distad said, he thought the election process went smoothly, especially with the light turnout. If it weren’t for good election judges, that may not be the case.

He said he’s looking forward to the general election, which will include several local elections such as the mayoral election, the commissioner elections, the Albert Lea City Council elections, along with several state and national elections, and the presidential election.