Leaving a coffee shop off Mosher Street, Abby Byrnes bounded past a polling place at Mount Royal Recreation Center, oblivious to Election Day, until a stranger told her.

“Oh, that’s today?” she asked, laughing with embarrassment.

“I thought it was kind of wrapped up. There was a lot of fuss with the primary, signs everywhere, but now where is everybody?”

So went Tuesday’s general election in Baltimore, where only 8 percent, or 27,181, of the city’s 336,911 registered voters cast ballots by 5:30 p.m., Election Director Armstead B. Crawley Jones said.

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Jones estimated that 12 percent of voters would vote by the end of the night — the worst turnout in decades and possibly ever, he said.

Voters came in “dribs and drabs” at the Waverly library in the 14th District, said Michael Howard, an election judge, and no one stood outside waving signs or handing out brochures.

“Here we are, at 10 of 9 [a.m.], and she’s voter 20,” Howard said of resident Bonnie Besser.

Besser said she knew turnout would be low, and likely the decisions were made during the primary, but voting was her “civic duty.”

“We need to fight that low turnout trend,” she said.

Voters found a similar scene down the street at The Barclay School, also in the 14th District, with only 2 percent of registered voters casting ballots in what are usually the busy morning hours.

“It has been unusually light,” said Republican Tom Boyce, an election judge, who estimated it would be the lowest turnout in 50 years.

Without a controversial ballot question or close council race, the voters couldn’t be lured in, he said.

“When we went in there, there was nobody there, and when we left, there was nobody there,” Phyllis Travis, a school crossing guard, said after voting at the school.

Back at the Mount Royal Recreation Center, fewer than 90 people had voted by early afternoon.

“Sure, it’s slower than the primary,” said Judy Arnold, an election judge. “The primary meant something.”

On her way to classes at Morgan State University, Blair Fleet stopped by Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in West Baltimore to vote.

“I saw on the news that no one was coming out, so I decided to,” she said.

Turnout was much higher in November 2004 because it coincided with congressional elections, said Matthew Crenson, a professor emeritus of political science at Johns Hopkins University.

“If it were held in a year with either a state or a federal election,” he said, “you get a much higher turnout because the elections are more competitive.”

smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com