Three Rivers election turnout and voter method analysis

Last Tuesday, voters across St. Joseph County made decisions on mayors, commissioners, and millages.

Some races were decided by fewer than 20 votes while others were separated by more than 20 percentage points. Watershed Voice has compiled a comparative overview of Three Rivers voter turnout using official election data.

To start, the Three Rivers mayoral race saw a 36% increase in total ballots cast compared with the last contested mayoral election. In 2023, then-Mayor Tom Lowry faced challenger Vernon Mims Jr. in a tight race Lowry won by 51 votes, 52% to 47%. A total of 907 voters cast ballots in that election.

By comparison, last Tuesday’s mayoral race drew 1,229 voters, with challenger Angel Johnston defeating Lowry by 357 votes, or about 21 percentage points. Johnston received 389 Election Day votes and 395 absentee ballots, while Lowry received 188 Election Day votes and 239 absentee ballots. Both candidates received more votes via absentee ballots than in-person voting.

This trend continued in the city’s commissioner elections. Incumbents Torrey Brown and Pat Dane, as well as adjudicated write-in candidate Anthony Stanfill, all ran unopposed.

Brown received 903 total votes, including 486 absentee and 417 Election Day ballots. Dane received 921 votes, 460 absentee and 416 Election Day. Stanfill received 23 total votes – 12 on Election Day and 11 absentee – and, as the sole qualified write-in candidate, needed only one vote to secure the seat.

Turnout for the commissioner races increased modestly compared with 2023. Brown saw a 14% increase in total votes cast in his race, while Dane saw a 5% increase. Both 2023 commissioner races were contested, however, and contested races typically draw more voters than uncontested ones.

Why 2021 is not included

Although Lowry, Brown, and Dane all appeared on the ballot in 2021, that year’s turnout patterns were significantly affected by pandemic-era conditions and do not reflect typical local voting behavior. Those numbers were excluded from this comparison to avoid skewing year-over-year trends.

Turnout by precinct, age, and gender

Demographic data from the city’s precinct reports provides additional insight into voter participation.

Citywide, 6,292 registered voters reside in Three Rivers, and 1,231 cast ballots, for an overall turnout of 19.56%. Turnout was slightly higher in Precinct 1 (24.17%) than in Precinct 2 (15.97%).

Across both precincts, voters 60 and older had the highest participation rate at 37.19%, continuing a trend of strong turnout among older residents. In contrast, representing the lower end, voters ages 22–30 had a participation rate of 7.32%, while voters ages 18–21 participated at a similarly low rate of 6.74%. Voting data was gathered and organized by Three Rivers city staff into the following age groups: 18-21, 22-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-59, and 60-plus.

Gender differences were also notable: Females voted at a rate of 21.92%, compared with 17.06% for males. The distribution is consistent with past local and statewide elections, where women typically turn out at slightly higher rates than men, particularly in municipal and off-cycle contests.

Maxwell Knauer is a staff writer for Watershed Voice.