Unlucky %13

Thursday, May 4th, 2006

Early primary day I read online reports of low turnout in Hillsborough, Efland, Carrboro and Chapel Hill.

Having done a bit of research on local elections, I realized that my vote, 222, that late in the day, at the Chapel Hill Library, home of Estes Hills precinct, a precinct which traditionally turns out heavily, was a harbinger of worse to come.

I speculated we’d end up with turnout somewhere between %12-14.

Actual turnout? %13.2.

Only 11,738 of 88944 registered voters, 9,450 Democrats (%20 of D’s), 1202 Republicans (%6 of R’s) and 1234 Independents (%5.5 of I’s) showed up.

Carol Woods, once again, led the pack: %81 of Democrats (262/323), %48 of Independents (29/60) and %0 (!!!) of Republicans (0/67) or %65 of all registered voters. My neighborhood at least, based on my count, did well by their civic duty.

Even the most pessimistic estimates put the last Iraqii election turnout at over %55.

Maybe the tide will turn in November.

May 2nd: Don’t fear the reaper, get out and vote!

Monday, May 1st, 2006

Several months ago I went to Hillsborough for a demonstration of the ESS voting equipment. I saw the tried and true, paper ballot optical scan code machine and the fancy, complex and, I think, easy-to-tamper-with, touch screen unit. Wisely, the Board of Elections recommended the optical scan over the touch screen.

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