It may be too early to make any hard conclusions, but voter turnout stands be down substantially in Johnson County this year -- presidential election or not.

Just ran across some intriguing numbers that showed that the number of advance ballots is way off the pace compared to 2008 -- or just about any other year.

As of Tuesday, 43,882 advanced ballots had been issued in Johnson County with Election Day two weeks away. That's going to have to more than triple to beat the 147,674 ballots issued in 2008 and more than double to beat the 105,071 ballots issued in 2004.

Advanced ballots returned are also way off this year.

As of Tuesday, 17,444 advanced ballots had been returned. That's a long way from the 137,323 returned in 2008 or the 101,605 returned in 2004. Heck, at the current pace, it's going to be hard to beat the 61,707 ballots returned in 1996.

JoCo Election Commissioner Brian Newby is reluctant to make any forecast so he doesn't dampen turnout. But he has noticed that about 5,000 Johnson Countians are voting a day compared to about 7,000 four years ago.

At the current pace, he said, voter turnout in Johnson County might not reach 70 percent this presidential election year. He said voting could explode with Saturday being a good indicator how turnout might unfold on Election Day.

Stay tuned.