Answer: 80,615.

Question: What is roughly the number of people who hit the polls for primary and town votes Tuesday?

Answer: 8.38 percent.

Question: What is the percentage of registered voters that hit the polls?

Of the 960,850 registered voters in the state of Maine, slightly more than 80,600 took their opportunity to vote. That 8.4 percent is about 5 percentage points lower than the anticipated low turnout projections. We suppose that could rise when we have details of the 3 percent of precincts who haven’t reported their results to The Bangor Daily News, but we’re not holding out breath for a dramatic upswing.

A further breakdown of local voters, according to the BDN:

— 7,779 of 73,376 registered voters turned out in Androscoggin County, a 10.6 percent turnout with all precincts reported

— 1,536 of 26,460 registered voters turned out in Lincoln County, a 5.8 percent turnout with 18 of 19 precincts reported

— 1,148 of 27,107 registered voters turned out in Sagadahoc County, a 4.2 percent turnout with 9 of 10 precincts reported

— In Cumberland County, which featured a hotly contested sheriff race, 9,129 of 214,401 registered voters went to the polls, a 4.3 percent turnout with 53 of 54 precincts reported

— And, finally, in Kennebec County — home to the state seat — 6,744 of 87,935 registered voters cast ballots, a 7.7 percent turnout with 32 of 33 precincts reported

As we opined on Tuesday, the apathy of the minority breeds partisan politics, which is good for nobody. Sure, the politicians may get their moment in the sun, but the result is a general public slogged down by the party antics that get nothing accomplished other than bringing action to a standstill.

This, however, is nothing new. In fact, it seems it would be more of a story if turnout increased.

So, what should be done about this situation? Maybe we should force people to go to the polls? Perhaps make them perform community service if they don’t vote? Undertake public works projects? Teach our students?

Or, maybe we shouldn’t do anything about it. Maybe we should stop the hand wringing about what will become of our democracy, stop cajoling registered voters to go to the polls, stop trying to come up with solutions on how to drum up interest in voting.

How much control do we have over federal and state government actions anyway? Those elected officials follow party lines and play the partisan game — no matter what side of the aisle they are on — and little gets accomplished. And what does get done is ineffectual and subject to change in two or four or eight years anyway.

Maybe we should just get down off our soapboxes, stop worrying about what others’ apathy is doing to our country and focus on what we can do to improve the communities in which we live. Perhaps those of us concerned with what voters are not doing should think serene thoughts and accept the things we can’t change and change the things we can.

We’re not saying we shouldn’t watch our government officials — we need to watch what they are doing and call them out when they trample over us — but the reality is that little the common man says makes much of an impact on the larger political stage.

We need to look closer to home for the change we seek, for the impacts we want. We need to look out for one another, because the politicians sure aren’t. Volunteer to lead community programs. Take on tasks that municipalities and schools can’t — or won’t — undertake. Find ways to improve yourself and those around you.

Low voter turnout is troubling, but relying on the government to fix everything is even more so. Let’s not jeopardize our future worrying about politics, let’s get to work in rebuilding our neighborhoods, our schools and our towns — our energy will be much better spent if we do.