Voter turnout across central Maine Tuesday was slow in most places, but towns with school budgets, selectmen races and two Republican legislative primaries saw fairly brisk activity.

In communities with contested local races, clerks said they were being kept busy, but in Waterville, where the only contested race was the 1st District Republican congressional contest between Ande Smith and Mark Holbrook, a tiny fraction of the city’s 11,000-plus voters turned out.

About 230 people had cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary elections by around noon in Oakland, according to town officials, who said that turnout was on track to be higher than normal.

“I thought it would be a little heavier because we have a contested race,” said Town Clerk Jan Porter. “It might be busier a little later when people get out of work.”

Town Republican voters were choosing between Kelly Couture of Sidney and Michael Perkins of Oakland in the House District 77 Republican primary. The district includes Sidney and part of Oakland. Couture is a Sidney selectwoman and Perkins is chairman of the Oakland Town Council.

Voting was also steady in Clinton all day, according to Town Clerk Melody Fitzpatrick mid-afternoon. Voters were choosing between Brian Bickford and Randy Clark for one selectman seat.

About 175 ballots had been cast by about 3:30 p.m., and Fitzpatrick processed about 65 absentee ballots before Tuesday.

Clinton had four ballots for voters to cast, so the tabulator can’t easily calculate how many people have voted, she said.

In Sidney, about 290 people, including those who cast absentee ballots, had voted around 4:15 p.m. Town Clerk Shawna Foie said the turnout is “about normal” for a primary election. Besides the District 77 race, voters were also helping decide the race for the District 1 Kennebec County Commission seat between Patsy Crockett, Patrick Paradis and Carl Pease.

In Skowhegan, where four people are running for two seats on the Board of Selectmen and a Republican primary is underway with two candidates for House District 107, 519 people had voted by 4:30 p.m., but a ballot clerk said lines were beginning to form at the ballot booths. There are 6,116 registered voters in Skowhegan.

Newell Graf and Anne Amadon were competing to be the Republican candidate for the House seat being vacated by House Majority Leader Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan. For selectmen, incumbents Betty Austin and Paul York were being challenged by Donn Chamberlain and Paul Natale for two seats on the board.

In Waterville, the American Legion hall was empty at about 5:30 p.m. and an official said there had only been about 200 voters since the polls opened at 8 a.m.

“We may finish with 250,” said Arlene Strahan, a former city clerk who was working at the polls.

The city’s voters only had one contested race to decide — the 1st District Republican primary race between Smith and Holbrook, one of whom will compete against Democrat incumbent Chellie Pingree. Of the city’s 11,000-plus registered voters, only about 17.6 percent are registered Republicans, according to the Maine secretrary of state’s office.

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