The hard-fought race for governor may be keeping political junkies on the edge of our seats, but it didn’t lead to high demand for absentee ballots.

The secretary of state’s office tells me Rhode Island voters requested 10,658 mail ballots ahead of last week’s deadline – down 22% from the 13,686 requested in 2006. Spokesman Chris Barnett said “2006 to 2010 is an apples-to-apples comparison because the general offices [governor, lieutenant governor, etc.] are on the ballot” in both years; in 2008, a presidential election year, 21,598 mail ballots were requested.

Why the drop from 2006 to 2010? Barnett declined to speculate, but I can think of a couple potential explanations.

Rhode Island was a U.S. Senate battleground in 2006 – first when Lincoln Chafee faced Steve Laffey in the Republican primary, then when Chafee took on Sheldon Whitehouse in the general – and that race’s publicity combined with Democrats’ anti-Bush enthusiasm may have boosted the number. A more depressing explanation could be that fewer people will be away on business trips or vacations this year because of the weak economy.

Miss the deadline for a mail ballot but can’t make it on Nov. 2? You can still apply for an emergency mail ballot.