Up and down York Road last night, poll workers were asking the same question: Where are the Republicans?

Even in some of the reddest corners of northern Baltimore County, more Democrats seemed to be slogging through the ice to the polls.

"Maybe the Democrats have better snow tires," suggested a woman behind the registration table at Hereford High School.

Tom Hessenauer has worked the polls there for more than 15 years, and he said he had never seen anything quite like it. At 5 p.m., about 25 percent of the precinct's 2,406 voters had showed up, and Democrats outnumbered Republicans.

"Our turnout is usually well above the state average - even 70 or 80 percent sometimes," said Hessenauer, chief Democratic judge at the polling station. "And if the whole rest of the state went Democratic, we'd probably still go Republican."

At American Legion Post 256, the situation wasn't much different. By 5:30 p.m., the turnout was about 27 percent. Republicans had outvoted Democrats, but just barely.

John Lebo, a Black & Decker executive who showed up to cast a vote for Democrat Barack Obama, rushed out afterward into the ice storm and offered a hint at what was going on.

"If I was registered Republican, I probably wouldn't have come out," said Lebo, 47, a recent transplant to Maryland who had never voted in a Democratic primary before. "It's cold and icy, and McCain's going to win."

At precincts around Maryland yesterday, Republicans told a similar story: The scant number of candidates on this year's ballot, and the considerable lead enjoyed by Arizona Sen. John McCain before the state voted, seemed to sap some enthusiasm from the GOP primary.

Laura Plitt, 23, a teacher, cast a vote for McCain at the Ellicott City Senior Center, but said she felt most passionately about a Howard County school board candidate on the ballot.

Howard Brenner, 79, cast a vote for McCain but said he didn't have strong feelings about any one candidate yesterday.

"I think it's the case of choosing the lesser of a few evils," said Brenner, who also voted in Ellicott City. He called McCain "a little more practical than some of the others."

Geri Leffman, a retired medical secretary from Essex, was disappointed that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had dropped out of the race, but voted for him anyway, noting his strong stand against illegal immigration.

"I don't like all these illegals coming in here," Leffman said. "You go into Highlandtown, and they're saturating the area."

The voting started out strong yesterday at Prettyboy Elementary School in northern Baltimore County, said Elinor Steinitz, a Republican elections judge. A late-morning snow shower, on top of an overnight frosting, seemed to have little effect early, she said.

"I think it's gotten a lot of people out earlier to vote, especially the older people," she said.

But later, as the skies grayed and ice started to coat the sidewalks and windshields, more polling places resembled the Western School of Technology in Catonsville, where there was little indication from the outside that an election was being held at all. No campaign signs, no electioneering, just a sign taped to the gymnasium door indicating the polls were inside.

"It's been pretty quiet," said Tracey Jackson, the Republican judge at the polling place.

One voter who seemed especially excited to cast a ballot: a Republican who wanted to vote in the Democratic primary, said election judge Jayne Vanderwaart. The voter was given a provisional ballot, she said.

robert.little@baltsun.com

Sun reporters Laura Barnhardt, Gina Davis, Gadi Dechter, Jennifer McMenamin and Larry Carson contributed to this article.