Turnout tops 25 percent boroughwide

October 4, 2006

By LEILA KHEIRY/Frontiersman

Tuesday's boroughwide election drew a little more than a quarter of registered voters to the polls, with the borough reporting a turnout of 25.23 percent in its unofficial election results.

With about 50,000 voters in the Mat-Su Borough, that means less than 13,000 participated. That's slightly less than the last borough mayor election, which drew about 28 percent, and significantly less than the nearly 40 percent that turned out for the August primary election.

At about noon Tuesday, Janice Gittlein, chairwoman of the Schrock voting precinct, said only 180 of the precinct's approximately 2,900 registered voters had come by to cast a vote.

That low turnout is typical, said Gittlein.

&#8220Generally, for a borough election, it's pretty slow,” she said. Although, &#8220we figured with the mayor race, we'd have a better turnout.”

The lower numbers are a marked difference from the August primary election that drew crowds with its hotly contested Republican gubernatorial race and several controversial ballot measures. According to the state Division of Elections Web site, that election brought about 38 percent of Valley voters to the polls.

Gittlein said she thought the usual borough turnout was less than 20 percent.

Borough Clerk Michelle McGehee disagreed. She said the last mayoral election drew 28.5 percent of borough voters, and the last special election on school bonds drew about 28 percent.

&#8220We've increased over the course of the last few years,” she said, adding that the turnout differs from year to year depending on who is running and the what the issues are.

New people moving into the Valley can affect turnout as well, McGehee said, as can the advertising.

Schrock precinct election workers certainly hoped to attract a higher percentage of voters on Tuesday, and Gittlein anticipated things would pick up a little after people left work at the end of the day.

She was correct. In a telephone interview at about 5:30 p.m., Gittlein said the previous couple of hours had been a lot busier, and close to 500 voters had cast their ballots.

&#8220There's a steady stream coming in,” she said. &#8220We hope it will continue to get better.”

That precinct ended up with a 20.74 percent turnout, or 613 of its 2,955 registered voters, according to the unofficial results.

The Houston precinct had the highest turnout Tuesday, with 54.3 percent, or 530 of its 976 registered voters, participating. Trapper Creek had the lowest participation, with 16.67 percent, or 98 of 588 registered voters, casting ballots Tuesday.

For more details, go to the Mat-Su Borough Web site at www.matsugov.us. Click on the election results icon.

Contact Leila Kheiry at 352-2270 or at leila.kheiry@frontiersman.com