Election turnout less than expected
By Shawntaye Hopkins
SHOPKINS@HERALD-LEADER.COM
Voters didn't turn out in droves Tuesday as state officials had expected.
“Turnout is steady, but certainly not heavy," said Les Fugate, deputy assistant secretary of state, at about 3:45 p.m. "We are not confident that we will hit the high end of our turnout prediction, unless we see some increased numbers during the drive home.”
Secretary of State Trey Grayson had been predicting that 25 to 30 percent of eligible voters would cast a ballot in Kentucky. In 2004, Democratic primary turnout was 18 percent.
“It’s a better turnout than we normally have for a presidential primary, but it’s certainly not going to see the levels that other states have seen,” Fugate said.
Meanwhile, the secretary of state’s office has been inundated with telephone calls about election legalities, he said.
A verbal skirmish between supporters of Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton broke out at a precinct in Christian County.
“We were told they were exit pollers,” Fugate said.
Precinct workers told the people to either behave or leave, he said. “They decided to behave themselves.”
The biggest problem of that day has been electioneering within 300 feet of a polling place, which is illegal. But precinct workers have been successful in stopping illegal electioneering, he said.
Electioneering was reported to be particularly heavy during drive time this morning near voting precincts in areas where presidential candidates have campaign offices, such as Fayette and Jefferson counties, Fugate said.
“People are standing at 301 feet and shouting for their candidate,” he said.
Many of the multitude of election-related phone calls coming in to the secretary of state’s office have been from people who tried to vote and found out they couldn’t, Fugate said.
“There are just a lot of people who normally do not vote in primaries who are interested in voting today,” he said. “Many of them went to the polls and tried to vote in the Democratic primary and couldn’t for one reason or another.”
Despite the problems, Election Day has been running smoothly in Kentucky, Fugate said.
Poll worker Elizabeth Taylor started her day Tuesday a little nervous but with few problems.
“I’ve had plenty of coffee, and I’m wide awake and ready to go,” said Taylor, 43, a first-time poll clerk who worked Tuesday at The Rock United Methodist Church on North Limestone.
Taylor said she stayed up until 1 a.m. reading voting guidelines, and she got only about three hours of sleep. But Taylor said working at the polls, which her mother did for about 15 years before she died five years ago, is an important job.
“She had talked to me about doing it,” Taylor said of her mother, Helen Dreux. “I wanted to do my part — my civic duty.”
When the first person arrived at the church after the polls opened at 6 a.m., Taylor was ready.
Her responsibilities as a clerk include checking voter addresses and identifications.
Taylor said the only problems she’d experienced Tuesday morning were voters at the wrong precinct and independent voters who do not have anyone on the ballot in that district.
Shavon Herring, 22, voted at The Rock church Tuesday morning to beat the crowds she anticipated would be there later in the day. Herring said she voted for Barack Obama for president because she thinks he understands issues facing blacks.
Herring said she planned to encourage others to vote throughout the day.
“We need more young, black people to vote,” she said.
At Porter Memorial Baptist Church on Nicholasville Road, about 44 people, mostly registered Democrats, had voted at Hidden Woods precinct by about 9:30 a.m., precinct judge Kathy Sink said.
“I just expected it to be crazy,” Sink said. “I thought there’d be a line out the door.”
Election coordinator Kitty Ware in the Fayette County Clerk’s Office said few problems were reported to the office but many people were calling with questions about precinct locations and for other voting information.
A deputy sheriff had to visit Meadowthorpe Elementary School on North Forbes Road where construction crews were working at the precinct entrance, Ware said. She said the problem was resolved and voters have been able to access the school.
Another caller said road pavement on Third Street was preventing voters from getting to the fire station at 219 East Third Street, but voters can still access the precinct using Martin Luther King Boulevard, Ware said.
“We’ve been very busy – much busier than any primary I can remember,” said Ware, who has worked in the Fayette County Clerk’s Office for about 18 years.
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