Good weather equaled bad turnout on primary Tuesday in Butler County. Go figure.

A tad less than 20 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

“I was pleased with the weather, not with the turnout,” said Shari Brewer, director of the county Elections Bureau

“But I’m not surprised,” she added, referring to the turnout, not the weather.

The voters’ collective cold shoulder to a few hot races was not lost on Ed Natali, chairman of the Butler County Republican Committee.

“Disappointing,” he said, pausing to come up with another word: “Sad.”

GOP turnout in the Republican dominated county was not much better than Democrats’ showing at the polls, 20.4 percent to 19.2 percent.

But Natali managed to seize onto some consolation. Turnout in Cranberry Township, which normally lags badly behind the county average, was better than expected.

He and Brewer both chalked that up to the unusual GOP contest in the 12th District pitting eight-term state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe against write-in Gordon Marburger.

“That was a pretty heated race,” Brewer acknowledged, and the main driver of turnout in the district that covers Adams, Clinton Cranberry, Forward, Middlesex and Penn townships and Callery, Mars, Seven Fields and Valencia.

“Gordon ran a strong write-in campaign, and Daryl’s supporters were out in force,” Natali said. “That created a lot of talk and caused a lot interest leading up to the primary.”

In a race much closer than some would have predicted, Metcalfe, the only Republican on the ballot, defeated Marburger, 3,271 to 2,731, or a 9 percent margin, according to unofficial votes.

The GOP turnout of 25.6 percent in the 12th District was 5 percent higher than the countywide average. Typically, the district’s showing at the polls is 5 percent lower than the county’s average

Tuesday’s 19.9 percent turnout countywide was drastically lower than the last gubernatorial primary in 2010, when turnout was 32.5 percent.

In the 2012 primary, turnout in Butler County was 23 percent.

The latest showing, dismal as it was, came even though Democrats had hotly contested state races for governor and lieutenant governor, and the Republicans had another competitive contest for state representative in the 8th District.

In that matchup, three Republicans were vying for their party’s nomination to replace retiring state Rep. Dick Stevenson in the 8th District.

In Butler County, the district covers Brady, Center, Cherry, Clay, Franklin, Marion, Mercer, Muddy Creek and Worth townships and Harrisville, Portersville, West Liberty and West Sunbury. It also covers southeastern Mercer County, including Grove City.

Five of the eight precincts, including the top two with the best turnout, were in the 12th District.

Callery had the best showing with 36.8 percent, followed by Valencia with 35.5 percent.

Four of Butler’s six precincts had among the worst turnouts of the county’s 89 precincts. The lowest poll numbers, 9.1 percent, were in the city’s 3rd Precinct.

Slightly better than that was the 10.3 turnout in Slippery Rock Township.

Just 11.6 percent of all voters, and 8 percent of Republicans, cast ballots in Buffalo Township 3.

Brewer reported no major glitches at the county polling places.