By ERIC SCOTT CAMPBELL
Eric.Campbell@newsandtribune.com
November 07, 2007 09:17 pm
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BY THE NUMBERS:
A comparison of the city’s registered-voter turnout in the 2003 and 2007 elections:
• 2003: 10,714 of 30,333 voted (35%)
• 2007: 7,883 of 26,789 voted (29%)
Three of every eight people who voted in Tuesday’s city elections took care of business with one stroke of a pencil.
Twenty-four percent of voters chose the “straight party” option to pick all available Democratic candidates. Thirteen percent did so for Republicans.
The disparity in turnout among party stalwarts helped carry 10 of 11 elected positions for the Democrats, including the mayor’s office for former occupant Doug England.
Overall turnout saw 29 percent of registered voters make the trip, up from 18 percent in May, when every ballot in every district had at least one uncontested race in either major party.
Thirty-five percent of voters cast ballots in the last general municipal election of November 2003.
That election featured incumbent Mayor Regina Overton against challenger James Garner. Garner won the office but lost this year’s primary, leaving Tuesday’s ballot without an incumbent at the top.
STRAIGHT SCOOP
• A majority of voters in four of 34 precincts voted straight-party; all four went strongly Democratic.
Conversely, the three precincts that saw the least straight-party voting were the only three in which Republicans led that category.
• Twenty percent of voters in Precinct 19A chose the Republican straight-party option, the highest such percentage in the city. That precinct is home to Republican mayoral candidate Randy Hubbard.
• Two council races might have turned out differently without the straight-party option.
Republican Brenda Scharlow earned 270 individual votes to incumbent Democrat Steve Price’s 218 in District 3. But Price got 54 percent of his votes by straight-party, Scharlow 21 percent. Those figures were respectively the highest and lowest in the city, and they propelled Price to re-election, 472 to 342.
Republican former councilman Dick Bliss took 413 individual votes in District 5, while Democrat Diane McCartin Benedetti got 409. McCartin Benedetti won, 666 to 619, including straight-party votes.
• Even without incorporating straight-party votes, John Gonder and incumbents Jack Messer and Kevin Zurschmiede would remain the top three vote-getters in the council-at-large race.
TURNOUT
• Central New Albany was worst at voter turnout Tuesday, including 12 percent attendance from Precinct 21, mostly between Bono Road and Graybrook lane.
Voters between Charlestown Road and Silver Creek were most likely to show up. Precinct 15, south of Old Ford Road, turned out at a 48 percent clip.
• England routed Hubbard in the former precinct, and Hubbard returned the favor in the latter. This was emblematic of a city-wide trend. The precincts Hubbard won averaged 33 percent turnout; England’s, 27 percent.
Seven of 34 precincts more than doubled their turnout from May’s primaries. Six of them voted for Hubbard.
England’s home Precinct 1 had 38 percent turnout to 23 percent for Hubbard’s Precinct 19A. Each man won his home turf.
• One glaring turnout disparity seemed inexplicable.
Precinct 12 and Precinct 24 sit on either side of Charlestown Road between Vincennes and Silver Streets. Each is part of District 4, and each has its polling place in the heart of the precinct.
Forty-four percent of Precinct 12’s voters came to the polls. Seventeen percent of Precinct 24’s did.
• Council District 5 had 37 percent voter turnout, leading all districts. Four others ranged from 28 percent to 31 percent, while District 1, where incumbent Councilman Dan Coffey was unopposed, saw 21 percent turnout.
Precincts that are home to council candidates saw 34 percent turnout, to 27 percent for the rest.
• On Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the polls closed, Garner signed a bill moving six precincts into different council districts. Council members advanced the bill amid pressure to better balance the six districts’ populations.
The moves do not change Tuesday’s results, but the council action meant they were publicized before voters went to the polls, prompting concerns among some city leaders that turnout could be hampered in those precincts and possibly others, too.
The combined turnout in the affected precincts — 10, 11, 19A, 19B, 26 and 28 — was 28 percent, just below the whole city’s 29 percent.
Next year, District 3’s Price will represent Precinct 10. District 4’s Pat McLaughlin will be the councilman for Precinct 11. Precincts 19A and 19B will be constituents of District 6’s Jeff Gahan, and District 5’s McCartin Benedetti will represent Precincts 26 and 28.
ET CETERA
• An “under vote” is any ballot spot a voter leaves blank. There were 2,312 under votes in the at-large council race, translating to 29 percent of people choosing two names instead of the maximum three.
Under votes didn’t make the difference in any race, though if Bliss had gotten all the under votes in District 5, his margin of loss would have been cut from 47 to 20.
One hundred twenty-five of 7,883 voters filled out a ballot but didn’t choose a mayor.
• England won the five smallest precincts, while Hubbard won four of the five biggest.
• England’s 21 winning precincts were mostly in central New Albany, downtown and to the west, while Hubbard won 13 precincts, mostly to the north and east.
• Eight of 22 candidates ran in the same ballot positions as in 2003 — City Clerk Marcey Wisman, challenger Ronny Hornung, Coffey, Messer, Price, Gahan, Bliss and District 2 Republican candidate Harry Harbison — and the results were repeated.
Wisman beat Hornung, the unopposed Coffey won and Messer won comfortably. Price and Gahan won, albeit in much closer races than before.
Bliss lost by 47 votes after losing by 53 in 2003. Harbison lost to Bob Caesar by more than in his 2003 challenge to incumbent Bill Schmidt.
• Gonder, a resident of Precinct 22, was the only at-large candidate of the six to win his home precinct.
• Messer won only eight of 34 precincts but still led all at-large vote-getters.
• Caesar, Price and McLaughlin swept the precincts in their districts. McCartin Benedetti won four of five, Gahan four of six.
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