35 percent of state turned out in primary

The final official tally of Washington’s presidential primary shows 1.42 million voters, or about 35 percent of those registered, cast ballots in a race where the Republican nomination was settled and the Democratic nomination wouldn’t be affected.

“Obviously many of our voters did not consider this a meaningless election and were happy to have their voices heard,” Secretary of State Kim Wyman said in a news release. It was a record number of ballots cast in a presidential primary in the state.

Donald Trump got more than 75 percent of the Republican votes cast. Hillary Clinton got 52.4 percent of the Democratic votes to Bernie Sanders’ 47.6 percent. About 800,000 ballots were cast for Democrats and about 600,000 for Republicans.

All Washington delegates to the Republican National Convention will vote for Trump, who was the only GOP candidate running by the time ballots arrived. Democrats are using the caucuses to award delegates, ignoring primary results.

Turnout in Spokane County was slightly better, at almost 37 percent, or 108,793. Trump got 73 percent of the Spokane Republican vote, and Sanders came out on top in the Democratic contest, with 50.4 percent to Clinton’s 49 percent.