ST. LOUIS • State election officials predicted turnout for Tuesday's non-binding primary would be close to 23 percent, a respectable participation level for any February election. 

If only the forecast were accurate.

Instead, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's office reported Wednesday that statewide turnout was actually just under 8 percent, roughly a third of the original prognosis.

"It was much, much lower than anticipated," said Carnahan spokesman Ryan Hobart. "I think that can be attributed, in part, to people hearing for weeks that their vote wasn't going to count."

Tuesday's "beauty contest" was the result of an attempt by the state GOP to comply with national party bylaws that permitted only a handful of states to hold primaries before "Super Tuesday" on March 6.

After attempts to move the primary date back failed, the party opted to go to a caucus system to select their preferred nominee — rendering the previously-scheduled election inert.

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was the only GOP candidate to earnestly campaign in Missouri.

Show-Me Republicans — the few who took a ballot at least — rewarded Santorum's effort with 55 percent of the vote, allowing him to lay claim to a momentum bump on a night he also scored victories in Minnesota and Colorado. 

Santorum's chief rival, GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney, was runner-up in Missouri, with about 25 percent of the vote. Ron Paul came in third with 12 percent, while about 4 percent of GOP voters marked their ballot "uncommitted." 

Newt Gingrich did not sign up for the ballot.

While Santorum traveled across Missouri last week to gin up enthusiasm for a contest that had no official import, turnout was paltry across the state.

St. Louis city and county had turnouts of less than 8 percent, as did Jefferson County. Turnout in St. Charles County was about 9 percent.

Southwest Missouri, which contains perhaps the state's greatest concentration of conservative voters, had the strongest turnout.

The highest turnout in the state was in Barry County, on the Arkansas border, where 24 percent of voters showed up. The lowest was in Butler County, which includes Poplar Bluff, where turnout was below 4 percent.

Why were turnout predictions so off?

To estimate turnout, local officials rely partly on requests for absentee ballots, which could have been made before many voters realized the results would have no official meaning.

Election authorities also use previous elections as their guide — but, of course, there hasn't been a primary election in Missouri quite like the one the state had Tuesday.

Missouri Republicans will get a second chance to pick their favorite presidential hopeful with the March 17 caucus.

But the turnout level at that event, which will be held on a Saturday, is likely to be even lower than Tuesday's vote.

In Tuesday's election, over 326,000 votes were cast. The last time the state GOP held a caucus to select their nominee, only about 20,000 Republicans participated, according to Carnahan's office.

She has been among those who have called on the state Republican Party to allow Tuesday's vote to guide the results of the caucus.

"We should respect the vote of the people, and the outcome that comes from it," Hobart said.