None of the town's 202 registered voters turned out for the state primary election on Sept. 19, the Secretary of State's Office said Friday.

It was the only one of the state's 351 cities and towns in which nobody voted.

Town Clerk and Secretary Richard DeMyer said he opened the polling place at Town Hall at 6:30 a.m. and waited uninterrupted until 8:30 that night.

"Nobody came," said DeMyer. "So I put the chairs back, turned off the coffee, and went home."

By the close of polls, with no voters in sight, DeMyer, a chef at a local restaurant, said he made his own decision not to vote.

"Why the hell should I? Nobody else did," DeMyer said. "I thought I'd go for zero."

Statewide, turnout was 9.39 percent, the lowest ever recorded in a state primary, according to Secretary of State William F. Galvin's office.

The previous low in a primary election was 11.84 percent in 1996, Galvin said.

Of 360,062 people who voted, 293,005 voted in the Democratic primary, 65,737 voted Republican, and 1,320 voted for Libertarian candidates.

Turnout in Massachusetts primaries has dropped sharply over the past three decades -- from an average of 35 percent between 1970 and 1984 to 24 percent between 1986 and 2000.

Observers have cited a number of factors, including a weakening of traditional parties, a blurring of ideological differences, fewer candidates, voters' sense of the inevitable triumph of big money, and more demands on people's time.

In New Ashford, a town of 230 people about 15 miles north of Pittsfield, the candidates ran uncontested on the local ballot, leaving voters uninterested, DeMyer said. In Massachusetts, even uncontested races are on the primary ballot.

Races for board of selectmen or school committee typically draw a 60 to 70 percent turnout, as do presidential elections, DeMyer said. Past primary elections drew 15 to 20 percent turnouts.

Was DeMyer bothered that none of the town's residents exercised their civic duty to vote?

"It bothered me because I was there the whole time," said DeMyer, who caught up on paperwork during 14 long hours at the poll.

"It was a long time."