Much was made of the excitement surrounding the recently concluded midterm elections and how both Republicans and Democrats were beating the bushes to convince voters to get off their duffs and get to the polls on Nov. 6. Some called it the most important midterms ever.

The prediction was for a much higher than normal surge in voters, especially among the young, women and minorities.

Yes, the turnout was higher than for typical midterm elections, especially if compared to 2014, but now that the official statistics are in for the county-by-county vote throughout the state, the sad truth is that nearly 50 percent of registered voters in the Times News’ five-county area stayed home.

In addition, the five counties averaged 54.7, nearly 4 percentage points less than the statewide average (58.4 percent) and more than 13 points lower than Montgomery County, which led the way with 67.6 percent of its registered voters casting ballots.

Locally, Schuylkill County led the pack with 57.3 percent participation among registered voters. Northampton was second best locally with 55.8 percent voting, followed by Lehigh at 54.5 percent and Carbon and Monroe tied at 52.9 percent.

Of course, all state voters had a say in whether Gov. Tom Wolf and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, both Democrats, would keep their jobs. Each did handily, defeating Republicans Scott Wagner and Lou Barletta, respectively.

Each county had congressional contests, but none of the outcomes was even close. State Senate and House races were, for the most part, either one-sided or the incumbents had no competition. The closest outcome occurred in the 16th Senatorial District, which includes part of Lehigh County, where incumbent Republican Pat Browne, chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, defeated Democrat Mark Pinsley, a South Whitehall Township commissioner, 51-49 percent.

Along with Montgomery County’s turnout, other suburban Philadelphia counties had solid turnouts, too. Chester County recorded 65.2 percent, while Bucks had 64.4 percent and Delaware County, 60 percent. The turnout in Philadelphia, conversely was 52.2 percent, lower than any of our local counties.

There were hotly contested congressional races in the Philly suburbs, three of them with women leading in the polls. This generated higher turnout, especially among women who were determined to add females to the all-male state congressional delegation.

After the dust settled, three Democratic women in the Philly suburbs won. The anomaly is that there was also a female front-runner in the 7th District (Lehigh, Northampton and several municipalities in Monroe counties), but turnout in this district just about matched the state average, a much lower showing than in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Allentown attorney Susan Wild, who won the 7th Congressional District seat, was sworn in Tuesday (Nov. 27) to fill the remaining 36 days of the term of Republican Charlie Dent, who did not seek re-election and resigned from his 15th Congressional District seat in May. Wild joins the other three women who will be sworn in to their full two-year terms on Jan. 3.

There were just two counties in the state where turnout failed to reach 50 percent. Warren, in western Pennsylvania, was lowest with 48.5 percent, while Pike County came in at 49.5 percent.

I don’t know about you: While I am happy that turnout was higher than four years ago, I am still amazed that nearly 45 percent of the registered voters in the state did not bother to exercise their democratic prerogative to cast a ballot for the candidates of their choice.

We can do better. Given the critical issues facing our state, nation and world, we must do better. We must get into the game to determine our representation, and the only way we can do that is to register to vote, then VOTE. Otherwise, we are merely sideline spectators.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com