We’ll be covering the ballot returns now through the primary election on Tuesday, June 24.  The Secretary of State’s office will release the next batch of numbers on Friday.  While county clerks are counting the number of ballots are returned, the ballots will not be tallied until Tuesday.

Here are the statewide numbers:

Republicans: 198,213

Democrats: 142,570

Total: 343,933

To put this in context, the total ballots cast for the 2010 primary election numbered 774,071.  With less than a week to go until the primary, just under half of the number of ballots cast in 2010 have been returned.  But, of course, procrastination is an issue that plagues voters, so we expect a mad dash at the end.

Here is the county-by-county break down: