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Light turnout is becoming the theme of today’s election. I just checked in with Ward 1 Councilmember candidate Bryan Weaver, who was running a long-shot challenge against incumbent Jim Graham. He says he’s been to half of the 16 precincts in the ward, and that turnout has been fairly sporadic.
“Most of the places there’s far more volunteers than people voting. Even the lines at 7 a.m. were sort of short,” Weaver says. “Although at Marie Reed, there was a lot of people filing provisional ballots because they were just now registering to vote.”
And even now, a number of those voters are still undecided. Weaver adds: “I’m still talking to people at precincts, and they seem undecided. They’re asking me questions as they walk into vote. I feel like it’s a bit like hand-to-hand combat. People are coming up, and they’re not really making decisions.”
Weaver says that about 3,000 Ward One residents participated in early voting. So what’s to account for the low voter turnout so far?