ELECTION 2009: Voter Turnout Can’t Compare To A Year Ago

Election Day came and went very quietly across North Carolina on Tuesday.
   
If you voted, you were among the few.
   
There was a massive dropoff in voter turnout from last year’s record showing for the presidential election.
     
The big reason is there were no big national or state races to motivate people.
   
Turnout was low across the board: 16-percent in Pitt County, 11-percent in Onslow County and 19-percent in Craven County.
   
That’s despite tactics involving new media to get people to the polls.
 
Six o’clock election night was more like silent night at this polling station.
   
Not a voter to be found.
   
Races for mayor and city council fill the ballot, but the turnout pales in comparison to the excitement generated by the presidential election of Barack Obama.
   
“Love or hate President Obama, he gets strong feelings from people,“ said E.C.U. Political Science Department Chair Brad Lockerbie.  “It’s gonna happen across the board, in medium to small cities, these candidates don’t garner much attention.“
   
Yet, it’s these smaller races that are more likely to have a direct impact on people where they live.
   
The idea that all politics is local doesn’t seem to inspire voters to pay attention.
   
“There is very little knowledge of them and there’s very little controversy surrounding the candidates.“
   
Lockerbie says minimum news coverage and even less campaign advertising is a big reason why.
   
A year ago, President Obama used social networking tools to his advantage.
   
Bar owners in Downtown Greenville launched their own Facebook campaign to unseat incumbent Mayor Pat Dunn and two other incumbents on city council.
   
Those efforts came up short.
   
“I can get a message out to millions of people with a single keystroke and we felt like we had a message that needed to get out and we were hoping that young people would turn out to vote,“ said Catch 22 owner Kevin Howard.

“Social networking sites have the potential to teach us about politics because they give us another venue in which to get information,” Lockerbie said.  “But, if people don’t get the information, I’m not surprised that they don’t show up and vote.“
   
Lockerbie says social networking sites still don’t seem to be enough to motivate younger voters.
   
At this point in their lives, they don’t feel a connection to the system and how it affects them.
   
In fact, we ran into one college student today who told us he didn’t vote.
   
He was too busy getting ready to play a game on campus called “Zombie Invasion.”
   
That was more important to him than the ballot box.