Arizona voter turnout in this election fell short of record <>25 comments by Scott Wong and Matt Wynn - Nov. 5, 2008 08:30 PM The Arizona Republic
More than 230,000 ballots remain to be counted, but voter turnout in Tuesday's election fell short of the record participation that had been anticipated in Arizona. As of Wednesday evening, the Secretary of State's Office reported that 64 percent of the state's roughly 3 million registered voters cast ballots in this presidential election. That figure mirrored voter participation in Maricopa County, where 63.7 percent of 1.7 million voters turned out at the polls. Those numbers are expected to creep up in the coming days as election officials process more than 200,000 provisional ballots and early ballots that arrived on Election Day. But statewide turnout in this year's presidential contest - featuring Arizona favorite son John McCain and Barack Obama, the first Black nominee of a major political party - won't top the 80 percent turnout seen in 1980, when Ronald Reagan unseated incumbent Jimmy Carter. In fact, it probably won't even best the participation seen in the previous presidential race in 2004, when George W. Bush defeated John Kerry. Turnout that year was 77 percent. State and county election officials had projected turnout to climb as high as 80 to 85 percent on Tuesday because of the historic nature of the presidential race. But as a percentage, voter turnout appeared to be down from 2004 in all counties except Santa Cruz and Navajo. Election officials in Maricopa County, the state's largest by population, said they still need to process about 230,000 ballots, with tabulation beginning today. Roughly 118,000 early ballots arrived by mail or were dropped off at polling sites on Election Day; 12,000 came in earlier but also need to be counted. Meanwhile, 100,000 provisional ballots - those given to voters who don't show up on precinct voter rolls or fail to produce proper identification - still need to be verified. Yavapai County officials said they were tabulating about 7,000 early ballots and 3,500 provisional ballots. But outstanding ballots from the state's 13 other counties were not immediately known. Early and provisional ballots could mean the difference in state and local races that are too close to call. Democrat Sam George and Republican Bob Stump are still battling for the third open seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission, while Jim Lane was leading longtime incumbent Mary Manross by 592 votes for the Scottsdale mayor's seat. Proposition 101, the statewide initiative on a health-care system, was failing by just 2,288 votes. Nearly 3 million Arizonans were registered for Tuesday's election, up 400,000 from 2004. But by the time all ballots are counted, the number of voters who participated in this year's election could rival the 2.1 million who cast votes four years ago. "It really depends on your point of view," said Deputy Secretary of State Kevin Tyne. "Some would say, 'We are right on the edge of setting a record for the number of Arizonans turning out to vote.' Others would say 'Oh, but there's a lower turnout percentage.' " Wes Gullett, co-chair of McCain's Arizona presidential campaign, said turnout may have been down this year because neither McCain nor Obama engaged in expensive get-out-the-vote efforts in Arizona. But he added that Republicans here benefited from the "McCain effect," bucking the Democratic tide that swept through the country. While the Arizona GOP lost one congressional seat, it appeared to make gains in the Legislature and other offices. "Arizona was in a unique spot in terms of the election," he said. "If John McCain had not been at the top of the ticket, it would have been a worse day for Republicans in Arizona. I do think there was a McCain effect in Arizona that was very positive." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
