Sunday's Internet Edition, September 07, 2008.
|
|
At the Roane County High School after-prom Saturday, Jeremy Hall (left) and John Ellison engage in a friendly joust. |
Publisher - If the number of early voters is any indication, there should be a heavy turnout when polls open for the primary election Tuesday.
“They way things are going right now, I think there will better than a 60 percent turnout,” Roane County Clerk Charlie White said. “That’s pretty good for a primary election.”
The number of early voters, 753 by the end of the day Tuesday, had already surpassed the number in any primary since early voting began in 2002.
In fact, the old mark was broken last Friday, with more than a week of early voting left.
“I think people are really interested this year,” White said.
In 2002, 257 early votes were cast in the primary. In 2004 that number climbed to 423 while in 2006 there were 507 early voters.
The numbers were higher in the general elections, with 1,869 early voters in the last presidential election in 2004.
Early voting at the county clerk’s office is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. This Saturday, the last day for early voting, the office will be open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. There will be no early voting Monday, the day before the election.
For those who like to wait until election day to do their voting, White said the county’s 20 precincts would be in the same locations as they were in the 2006 election. Precincts will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Voters with questions about their precinct or voting procedures may call the county clerk’s office at 927-2860.
White said the biggest change is that this is the first year independent voters can request either a Democrat or Republican ballot in the primary election.
The Republican Party has allowed independent voters to vote in the GOP primary for several years. This year, Democrats opened their primary to independents as well.
But White stressed that poll workers are not permitted to offer a Democrat or Republican ballot to an independent voter who does not make that request. In those cases, they are provided only a board of education ballot.
White said not everybody understands how the law works.
“We’ve had a couple of people get upset after they voted, but we are not allowed to offer a Democrat or Republican ballot,” he said. “The voter has to request it. If they want that to change, they have to talk to their legislators.”
As of Tuesday, White said there had been 459 Democrat ballots and 281 Republican ballots cast and 13 who voted only in the school board race.
A total of 9,293 people are registered to vote in Roane County.
