Early voting is a bust in Hillsborough, off by a half
August 14, 2008 at 2:12 pm by Wayne GarciaI was just looking at the daily stats on early voting from the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office and it appears that the shine has worn off of early voting.
In t
he first three days of early balloting in 2006, 5,491 people voted in Hillsborough. This year, the figure is 2,818. That is a drop of precisely 51.3 percent.
I’ve got a call in to the Supervisor’s office to see if they know why — beyond the fact that there aren’t many exciting races or fantastic candidates to vote for on this primary ballot.
UPDATE: Pinellas is low, as well. Just 386 early votes there so far.
FRIDAY UPDATE: Jennifer Marks at the Supervisor of Elections Office left me a voice mail just now, and she said a more accurate comparison would be the 2004 election, and that early voting totals are up over that year.
August 14th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I don’t think it’s a trend so much as the fact that it’s an August 26th primary. No one’s home, most of the candidates are judges (i.e. no strong political motivation to vote) and people are on vacation before the start of the school year.
August 14th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
All those same things were true in 2006, with one exception: a blistering Democratic primary for governor that drove some vote
August 15th, 2008 at 11:46 am
well it sure doesnt help that the folks trying to run the early elections come across as rude and inept. i am speaking in particular to the Jan Platt Library site. The people with the elections office have taken over the library with a smugness and sense of entitlement that is nausiating.
Thank goodness that the library employees have been patient and accomodating to the patrons during this disruption.