May 4th, 2010 Primary: Go?

Started working the Library polling station at 7am, voted 7:45am (voter #21) and left about 10:15am.

Got to meet Senate candidate Ken Lewis and his family. His wife’s energy was contagious – lots of positive vibes coming from her and Ken. Their teen daughter stayed to work the polls and I had an opportunity to discuss her involvement, what she thought of her father’s race, elections in general. She was quite invested and had a good command of the issues – quite encouraging given the level of local involvement in politics.

Besides Ken, I got to see and speak with a number of my neighbors and local political wonks. Jon DeHart, who ran for Council in 2009, was stumping for Joe Phelps. WCHL’s Ben Gellman was there early to get a sense of how the day might go (he was stoked to cover his second local election!). Former Mayoral candidate Lee Pavao and his wife showed up bright and early. Chief Curran and Asst. Chief Blue came by just before 9am. Representative David Price swung by around 9:45am.

What does small-d democracy look like today? As of 9:45am, David was voter 80 – so only 59 voters in 2 hours. Of the other 4 precincts I know of, Binkley looks strongest at over 90 voters by 10am. The Community Center had 61, Ephesus School 34. From what I hear, there was a pretty good morning influx at Fire Station #4 but I have no numbers as of now.

I’ve also heard that turnout in Hillsborough and parts north is running fairly high. I hope the low turnout at the Library is not indicative of the turnout overall.

Next up? Community Center 11:30am until 1pm and then either Binkley or the Library for me. I’ll end the day at the Library.

Please strongly encourage your friends, co-workers, etc. to turnout – we need to reverse the sad downward trend of diminishing participation by Chapel Hill voters.