Voters will go to the polls today to settle a contentious Republican Party primary and crown a group of Democratic Party candidates in uncontested statewide races.

And despite a host of national and statewide concerns  from terrorism to taxes and the drought  officials are predicting low voter turnout.

“Everybody is looking at this bad stuff and saying, ‘I can’t handle one more thing. I’m going to let someone else take care of this piece for me,'” said Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh, the chief election official and the only Republican statewide office seeker not facing a primary challenge.

Thornburgh predicted 24 percent of Kansas registered voters, or about 381,000 people, would cast ballots. Three of four registered voters probably will not vote.

Douglas County elections clerk Patty Jaimes predicted a similarly low countywide turnout. That means slightly more than 12,000 of the county’s 51,400 registered voters were expected to cast ballots.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

The lack of contested Democratic races, the lack of much interest in the GOP race for governor and the slumping economy have put many voters in a funk, Thornburgh said.

Most of the action is on the Republican side, as Democrats wait to see who they will face in the November general election.

The GOP governor’s race features a three-way struggle among Senate President Dave Kerr of Hutchinson, Wichita Mayor Bob Knight and State Treasurer Tim Shallenburger. A fourth candidate’s name will be on the ballot, former Eudora school superintendent Dan Bloom. But Bloom withdrew Friday, throwing his support behind Knight. Recent opinion polls have said the race is too close to call.

The winner will face Democrat Kathleen Sebelius, currently the state insurance commissioner.

Locally, the only contested Democratic contest for state office is in the eastern portion of Douglas County where State Board of Education member Janet Waugh is challenged by Hershel Martin. Both are from Kansas City. There is no Republican candidate.

There have been about 1,000 advance votes cast by Douglas County voters, which Jaimes said was “pretty close to normal.”

Thornburgh said he was willing to be proven wrong on today’s low voter participation.

“I hope Kansans prove me to be an idiot when it comes to predicting voter turnout,” he said. “At a time when our country has done so much, and we are going through so much. Just a few months ago, Americans waited in line to give blood in response to the terrorist attack. Now, I’m hoping Kansans will get in line to vote.”

A low voter turnout probably will help Republican candidates who are more closely identified with the conservative wing of the party, according to Mel Kahn, a political science professor at Wichita State University.

Kahn said a 1/4-cent sales tax proposal for education in Johnson County might attract more voters to the polls, but he said he was unsure which gubernatorial candidate that would help.

“There are just a lot of different crosscurrents going on here,” Kahn said.

Here are the number of registered voters in other Lawrence-area counties:

 Franklin County  16,871.

 Jefferson County  11,710.

 Leavenworth County  34,843.

 Osage County  10,057.

 Statewide  1.59 million.