There was a crowd Tuesday outside the Gilbert Linkous Elementary School library, the polling location for precinct G2.
"What's going on in there?" asked a blonde girl in the crowd of grade-schoolers peering into their library.
Not very much, on this Democratic primary election day.
The number of voters at any given time rarely outnumbered the election officers present at any Blacksburg precinct. With donuts and magazines within reach, election officers sat back for a day of historically low turnouts.
"It's unfortunate how low it is," said Drusilla Gotow, the chief election officer at precinct F2 at Blacksburg Middle School.
In 2005, during a dual primary for the gubernatorial candidates, there was a 2.22 percent turnout across Montgomery County for the Democratic election and barely higher for the Republican.
This year, however, the total Montgomery County turnout was 5 percent.
These numbers, though increased, are still one-tenth of what comes to the booths in November.
"We, as election officials, have always encouraged the parties to have conventions," said Randy Wertz of the Montgomery County registrar. With historically low primary turnouts, the June elections end up being very expensive.
"When you consider the amount of money that's going to be spent to put things on, it's going to end up about $3,000 per vote," Wertz said. "It's wasting tax dollar money."
This year, the Virginian Republican Party nominated Bob McDonnell, who officially accepted the nomination May 30.
Tim Murtaugh of the Republican Party of Virginia said that the RPV did not encourage anyone to vote in the primary because "it goes against our view."
Nominating a candidate through a convention "saves the candidates from spending valuable resources on advertising and campaign efforts," Murtaugh said. McDonnell stepped down as Virginia attorney general in February and has since concentrated on his campaign.
The Democratic Party of Virginia sees value in a primary election.
"It makes them battle-tested," said DPV Communications Director Jared Leopold.
Leopold said that Deeds, McAuliffe, and Moran used the primary campaign as a chance to speak and evolve as candidates, as the three candidates took part in a series of debates together around the state.
Despite the low turnouts, Leopold said the DPV sees value in the primary's ability to give the people the opportunity to choose their candidate.
"It's the proper democratic thing to do," he said.
Alan Moore, the assistant precinct chief at Blacksburg Middle School, said that the Democrats were using the democratic model of having the people decide, not the party.
"There may be more costs, but it's true to the principle," Moore said.
Moore is a DJ with WUVT-FM 90.7, which is part of the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech, which owns the Collegiate Times.
Joyce Bowling, a Blacksburg resident who voted at Luther Memorial Church on Price's Fork Road, said that she couldn't think of a fairer way to give everyone the chance to vote, but suggested that maybe the state could run primaries in a cheaper fashion.
Hugh Van Landingham, chief election officer at Gilbert Linkous, said that the Democratic Party should be responsible for some of the costs.
For Murtaugh, the Republican convention builds party unity. With the 8,000 delegates who voted McDonnell in the convention, "everybody moves forward and everyone is singing from the same sheet of music." He pointed to the November election as the time where the people will have the opportunity to elect the best candidate, but the party's candidate should be a decision made by the party.