Only a fourth of San Joaquin County’s registered voters are expected to show up at the polls today.

That’s according to the projections of Registrar of Voters Austin G. Erdman. He is basing his projections on the previous gubernatorial primaries in the past 10 years, or the last two or three such primaries since 2000.

In making his forecast, Erdman said he also looked at the total number of absentee ballots returned by voters.

“We sent out 140,000 absentee ballots and only about 44,000 came in,” Erdman said as of Monday afternoon.

“Usually, we see 60 percent, 70 percent, or even as high as 80 to 90 percent” returns in presidential or general elections at this time, he said.

The number of phone calls received by his office from voters asking to change parties or seeking further information or clarification on ballot issues is usually a gauge that Erdman also uses as a basis for his voter-turnout projections.

“I’m not getting those phone calls, and no people are coming in. It just seems like there’s a very low interest” among the voters, Erdman noted.

From his conversations with voters that “I talk to in the field,” Erdman also said that people have very well concluded that the elections have “pretty well have been decided” with former California governor and current attorney general Jerry Brown winning it for the Democrats and the Republicans going for former e-Bay CEO Meg Whitman. Erdman said people have told him that they are going to sit out this gubernatorial primary elections and wait for the November elections to get to the polls.

Voters who need to know where they are supposed to cast their ballots today can go to the Registrar of Voters web site at www.sjcrov.org to get that information, or simply call Erdman’s office at (209) 468-2890. That’s his direct line.

“Or go to the nearest polling place and ask. They’ll be more than happy to direct you,” he said.

If you still don’t get that information from the above directions, Erdman said, “Regardless of where you live (in San Joaquin County), you can always come to 44 N. San Joaquin Street, Suite 350 and vote here. It doesn’t matter where you live in the county. Your vote will count.”

You don’t even have to worry about paying for parking. Voters can have free parking available at the Ed Coy parking garage at the corner of Hunter and Channel Avenue in downtown Stockton. Just don’t forget to have your parking ticket validated when you go in to vote.

To follow election results in the evening, you can also log in to the Registrar of Voters web site at www.sjcrov.org.