Fri
Aug 8 2008
08:17 am
Turnout a big factor in yesterday's election
By: R. Neal

Turnout for yesterday's election in Knox County was an anemic 19%. When people don't vote, nothing changes.

Topics:
Jack Lail's picture

turnout

Submitted by Jack Lail (not verified) on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 9:27am.

It would seem it would save the taxpayers some money and increase voter participation if primary and general elections were aligned with the presidential primary and general elections. I don't hold out much hope for that, however.

bizgrrl's picture

Agreed. Agreed.

Submitted by bizgrrl on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 10:00am.

Agreed. Agreed.

rikki's picture

aligned with the

Submitted by rikki on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 11:50am.

aligned with the presidential primary

County primaries are normally held in May, but they were aligned with the presidential primary years ago. Too much consolidation can make it hard for local candidates to get attention. More voters come to the polls, but many of them vote in the high-profile contests and skip the local races, so you wind up with similar participation levels despite more ballots being cast.

If saving money is the goal, we could adopt an instant-runoff voting system and eliminate the need for primaries entirely.

Sandra Clark's picture

Democrats disorganized

Submitted by Sandra Clark on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 10:53am.

The Democrats around here are a sorry bunch.

If ever there was an election when the D's should have prevailed it was yesterday. Instead, the R's got the sweep.

The D's had the issues, but the R's had the organization. On a day of low turnout, that's all that matters. -- s.

rikki's picture

The Democrats around here

Submitted by rikki on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 12:04pm.

The Democrats around here are a sorry bunch.

No one running against Campfield is definitely sorry.

To the extent that "Democrat" and "Republican" mean anything at all, they are defined at the federal level. I'd like to see local parties form that are not tied to either federal party. They could have platforms specific to our region and the powers of the local government, unburdened by issues like abortion and immigration over which local governments have no say.

KC's picture

Media coverage was pathetic.

Submitted by KC on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 3:37pm.

Media coverage was pathetic. They begin covering high school football four weeks before the first snap.

Politics and governance doesn't seem to have such as high of priority.

Anonymous's picture

Knoxville Voice considers

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2008/08/11 - 11:17am.

Knoxville Voice considers itself part of the media, and we devoted two consecutive cover stories to the local elections, profiling county commission candidates, discussing the charter amendments and providing information on the state primaries. Not that it matters now, but just so you know:
(link...)
(link...)

RayCapps's picture

Can so many people be unclear about football in the South?

Submitted by RayCapps on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 4:34pm.

Priorities flow roughly like this:

1. Air
2. Food/Water
3. Basic Shelter
4. Football
5. Family
7. God
8. Cars
9. Guns
10. Other (taxes, government, clothes, shoes, education and other frivolous diversions like these)

For wimmins, it's acceptable, but hardly required, to reverse 4 and 5 in priority.

KC's picture

Thanks for clearing that up

Submitted by KC on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 4:44pm.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Jack Lail's picture

Media coverage was pathetic.

Submitted by Jack Lail (not verified) on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 6:52pm.

@Gary:

Even when we do write about it, football (the college variety) is more popular. (And it wasn't a close race.)

(link...)

Bill Lyons's picture

Return to normal

Submitted by Bill Lyons on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 8:10pm.

This is a return to the normal situation. For what it is worth it appears that turnout this time was almost exactly what it was in the 2006 county general / state primary (20% of registered). It will be while before the voter file is updated, but turnout by age in 2006 broke down as follows:

Percent of Registered Voters in each age group who turned out

2006 August
18-30 (7%)
31-45 (13%)
46-64 (25%)
...65+ (36%)

2004 Presidential
18-30 (48%)
31-45 (58%)
46-64 (70%)
...65+ (72%)

Note that while half as many over 65 voted in the local as opposed to the Presidential election, only about one in seven under 30 did the same. Younger folks just have not engaged in local politics. This is (well, was) one of my areas of research. It is generational and the trends are not hopeful.

rikki's picture

It is generational and the

Submitted by rikki on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 10:46pm.

It is generational and the trends are not hopeful.

My friends who would chain themselves to a bulldozer to save a tree don't vote in local elections, even when I remind them to in the middle of early voting and tell them who to vote for and why and where and when and how. It pisses me off.

bill young's picture

Some Crunching

Submitted by bill young on Sat, 2008/08/09 - 6:26pm.

1.The 13th..A Democratic ward.

In '06,Tyree got 305 votes(77%).

In '08,Tyree got 199 votes(66%).

2.The 73rd..A Republican ward.

In '06,Tyree got 684 votes(41%).

In '08,Tyree got 518 votes(37%).

3.Tyree vote/Democratic U.S.Senate Primary.

In '06,the Tyree vote was 8,714 more than the total vote for the Democratic U.S.Senate primary.

In '08,the Tyree vote was 5,555 more than the total vote for the Democratic U.S.Senate primary.

Democratic U.S.Senate primary total:

'08-13,020
'06-14,420

4.Republican Sheriff vote/Republican U.S.Senate primary.

In '08,the Republican Sheriff's vote was 739 votes less than the total vote for the Republican U.S.Senate primary.

In '06,the Republican Sheriff's vote was 8,722 votes less than the total vote for the Republican U.S.Senate primary.

Republican U.S.Senate primary total:

'08-26,534
'06-34,499

5.Total turn-out

'08-45,979
'06-52,135

What do all these numbers mean?

It don't take much to figure out that in Knox County partisan elections the Democrats must get Republican state primary voters to cross over & vote Democratic in the county general if there is any chance of winning.

In '06 the combination of a higher turn-out & Republicans voting Tyree we came close to pulling the upset.

However,in '08 the combination of a lower turn out & the Republicans sticking with JJ spelled doom.

"Unique"election.

After Super Tuesday the Republicans knew if 60-70K turned out for the county general the whole ticket was in trouble.They got their heads together & decided they didn't want any part in ginning up the 51k that turned out in the Republican super Tuesday primary.That would get out the anti black wednesday voter & get JJ beat.So they came up with a strategy..target the safe 25k Republican vote.Tactically they did two smart things 1.ran real low key tv/radio adds 2.sent a super post card to those folks with ole Duncan featured in the soft sell.They had the money & played the hand they were delt.

OTH,the Democrats wanted to gin up those 38k that voted in the Democratic super Tuesday primary.The long & the short of it..the Democrats were broke.We coudn't ante up & folded with a really strong hand.

I thought Tyree could win but with the democratic wards in the city being soft & the base Republican vote in the county going hard for JJ our goose was cooked.

All along I thought Sam,Amy & Finbarr were running strong because everyone of em really fit their districts & their opponents tho fine folks were flawed.

R. Neal's picture

Turnout was a little higher

Submitted by R. Neal on Mon, 2008/08/11 - 12:12pm.

Turnout was a little higher in Blount Co. (about 25%) but there were some strange results.

tin cup's picture

I have no friends who would

Submitted by tin cup on Mon, 2008/08/11 - 3:18pm.

I have no friends who would chain themselves to a bulldozer to save a tree. I do have plenty of friends who will cut one down for you. I feel guilty about that.

I delayed my departure to Indiana last Thursday to vote so I was one of the few who took part in our civil duty. I chose to vote for all GOP candidates. I got two votes because I convinced my spouse to vote and pull the lever for the same candidates. I was particularly proud to vote for the Register of Deeds and Knox County Sheriff.

StaceyDiamond's picture

can you say baggage

Submitted by StaceyDiamond on Mon, 2008/08/11 - 6:23pm.

I say this as an active Democrat without naming names, many of our candidates were tainted in one way or the other and some were just plain awol at public forums. I expected Amy and Finbarr to win and I thought we had basically good candidates for commission, and had some hopes for Irvine, but basically the candidates I expected to win won. I admire Amy Henley Vandergriff for staying in the race, she did better than one of our candidates who just would not show up at debates!!
You can talk about Black Wed. until you're blue in the face but that still doesn't make you a good candidate. I hate the group think that comes in politics, candidates can have all sorts of baggage but people hang on to pie in the sky dreams because of Black Wed. or a D or R in front of their name, only to wake up the next in disbelief.

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