WESTBROOK — Voter turnout was nearly 40% in Westbrook, Gorham and Buxton in Tuesday’s presidential primary.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders took Westbrook and Gorham and former Vice President Joe Biden was the winner in Buxton.

Westbrook had a 39% voter turnout, or about 6,102 voters, exceeding the city’s projection of a 29% turnout based on previous presidential primaries.

“There are no more small elections in Westbrook anymore. Voter participation has been on the rise and we need to plan for that in the future. It did go smoothly, but we had some busy lines during the typical high voter turnout times,” City Clerk Angela Holmes said.

Gorham had a voter turnout of 38% and in Buxton 37.36% of voters cast ballots.

In Westbrook, Sanders out-polled the other Democrats on the ballot with 1,305 votes. Joe Biden came in second with 887 votes, followed by Elizabeth Warren with 537.

The top three Democratic vote getters in Gorham were Sanders with 1,002, Biden, 956, and Warren, 436.

Voters in the three municipalities overwhelmingly rejected a statewide referendum to repeal a law eliminating exemptions from vaccination requirements. In Westbrook, more than 80% voted against the repeal. In Gorham, 79.9% voted against the referendum and in Buxton 73.1% were opposed.