Voter turnout in Tuesday's election swung wildly throughout the Treasure Valley Tuesday, hitting a high of 34 percent in Caldwell mayoral and City Council races and a low of 5 percent in Meridian, where only one City Council seat was at stake.

The Boise City Clerk's Office reported Wednesday that just 18 percent of registered voters participated in Tuesday's City Council election. That was noticeably light for a community where 47 percent of voters went to the polls during the hotly contested mayoral race in 2003, and 36 percent voted to both re-elect former Mayor Brent Coles and approve the $10 million Foothills-space levy in 2001.

It also was well below the 30 percent of voters that participated in the City Council's only race in 2005.

Even so, Boise Chief Deputy City Clerk John Eichmann said this year's City Council-only election lacked the kind of "hot-button issue" that existed in 2005 when candidate Brandi Swindell lost overwhelmingly to incumbent Maryanne Jordan after waging a campaign against the council's decision to move a Ten Commandments monument from a city park.

Caldwell's voter turnout this year more than doubled the 16 percent that voted in the mayoral and City Council races four years ago.

Elsewhere, voter turnout in most Treasure Valley communities was consistent with previous elections, according to city officials.

Brad Jackson, chief deputy with the Canyon County Clerk's Office, said the huge increase in the number of Caldwell ballots cast showed there was a lot of interest in this year's race.

The interest appeared to be split, however, between those who were content with City Hall and overwhelmingly re-elected Mayor Garret Nancolas, and restless voters who made close races out of two of the three City Council seats being contested.

In Eagle, City Clerk Sharon Bergman saw no significance in the fact that voter turnout for the City Council race was up 20 percent from the council races four years ago. She said that could be attributed to the fact that the number of registered voters had increased by more than 1,500 since 2005.

In Nampa, where both the mayor's job and two City Council seats were contested Tuesday, there was a 27 percent turnout among voters, compared with 26 percent in 2005 when the same dynamic existed, said Chief City Clerk Diana Lambing.

Lambing said more voters have begun streaming to the polls as Nampa's population has grown.

"I can remember when we only had turnouts of 13 percent. But we're about 82,000 people now," Lambing said.

Joe Estrella: 377-6465