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News
Low voter turnout disappoints election officials : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisLow voter turnout disappoints election officials
| Voters don't consider cost, sacrifices made by others, officials say
| by Tony Scott
| 2/11/2010
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Although more than 60,000 Kendall County residents were registered to vote for last Tuesday's primary election, fewer than a quarter of them actually voted, according to Kendall County Clerk Debbie Gillette.
Vote totals from Gillette's office show that the county has 60,295 voters. The total number of ballots cast in last Tuesday's primary was 13,086, for a voter turnout of 21.7 percent.
In a primary, voters must declare their political party; the winners of the primary then compete in the general election. In last week's primary, 75.32 percent of ballots cast - a total of 9,857 - were cast for Republican candidates, while 24.12 percent were for Democratic candidates - or 3,156 - and one-half of one percent cast ballots for Green Party candidates.
Gillette said the County Clerk's office has to ensure that enough ballots are available for every registered voter, which means that the election costs the same to taxpayers no matter how high, or low, the voter turnout.
"We would always like to see more; the more voters, the better," Gillette said. "Because of all the work that goes into it. We have to prepare for every registered voter to be able to vote. The amount of work or the time that we put in does not change."
While Gillette has not yet determined the cost of last week's election, she said that, for example, each election judge is paid $150 for a day of work, plus a mileage reimbursement. There are five election judges in each of the 76 voting precincts in Kendall County, she said.
Budd Bieber of Oswego has helped tabulate ballots in the County Clerk's office since 1990, with the exception of the years he ran for Oswego village president. Bieber was elected as village president in 1995 and ran unsuccessful bids for that office in 1999 and 2003.
Bieber said he was disappointed in last week's voter turnout, although he said it was typical for a primary. He said the early date for the primary probably didn't help; the primary was moved from late March to early February in 2008 by the General Assembly.
"(Turnouts in) primaries have been historically terrible, and now that Illinois has moved them to the first part of February it makes it even worse," he said.
Bieber said the primary should be moved to later in the year.
Gov. Pat Quinn has previously voiced support for moving the primary to September, but some elected officials have argued against moving it too close to the general election because they say such a move would make it more difficult for those running against incumbents.
"It's an awful long period now from the first of February until we run it again in November, so that's just a whole bunch more commercials we have to listen to," Bieber said. "Get it back into warm weather, shorten the period between the primary and the (general) election."
Taxpayers foot the bill
no matter the turnout
Bieber also said officials should "try to reduce the cost of these elections."
"I bet it's going to be pretty expensive per vote," Bieber said of the cost of last week's primary.
Marianne Wilkinson of Yorkville said she doesn't think people take into consideration the cost of an election. She and her husband, Ted, have been election judges for at least 10 years.
"It gets frustrating," she said. "You see the money that is spent to get ready for an election, and then to have such a poor turnout, it's like throwing money down the drain. And we're paid the same amount of money whether 10 people show up or 100 people show up."
Wilkinson said her precinct saw a low voter turnout with 182 ballots cast, but that it was better than the turnout last April during the consolidated city election, when 89 voters cast their ballots.
Wilkinson outlined her long day as an election judge. She and the other judges get to the polling place at 5 a.m. and set it up so they can open the doors at 6 a.m. After the polls close at 7 p.m., they must print out a receipt from the electronic voting machine that shows the number of ballots cast.
They then have to ensure that the number of paper ballots cast matches the number shown on the tape before they leave the polling place. They take the paper ballots and a disk from the electronic voting machine to the county office. The disk helps the County Clerk's office get the voting results out quickly to the public.
Frank Carreno of Plano is an election judge at the Little Rock 7 voting precinct. He also helps set up polling places throughout Little Rock Township, and takes down the voting booths the day after Election Day.
Carreno said his precinct has 848 total registered voters, and 170 people voted in that precinct last week - exactly 20 percent.
Didn't vote?
Then don't complain
Carreno said some people don't want to vote in the primary because they have to declare a party. He said he understands their frustration, because he typically votes for the candidate rather than the party.
"When we ask them to declare, a lot of them get upset," he said. "One lady wanted a ballot from each party, and we can't do that. I know exactly how they feel, because I feel the same way. But we have to vote legally."
Carreno said he understands their frustration, because he typically votes for the candidate rather than the party.
"If you're a Democrat, and I think the Republican nominee is better suited for the job, I'll go that way," he said. "I think that's the main reason that we have a low turnout in the primary."
But unlike Bieber, Carreno said he doesn't think the early primary "has a lot to do with" the low turnout.
Bieber said people who don't vote shouldn't complain about elected officials.
"I ran into two guys - I won't mention names - but one person didn't know it was Election Day, and another guy I talked to said, 'Yeah, I'm registered, but I didn't see a need to go vote,'" he said. "Well, come November, you don't like how that comes out, then don't say a word to me."
Carreno agreed.
"You have no right to complain; that's the way I feel," he said.
On a positive note, Wilkinson said she observed younger voters and has seen high school students acting as election judges. The high school students must have permission from their teacher and principal, and carry a minimum grade point average, she said.
"That was encouraging to see," she said. "Hopefully they will encourage people when they are of voting age to get involved with the voting process."
Carreno recalled a conversation he had with a young person of voting age who was giving him excuses on why he didn't vote in last week's primary.
"I said, you know how many people died to give us this right to vote?" he said. "He says, 'I know, my granddad tells me the same thing.' I told him, well, you need to get your butt out there and vote next time. You got no excuse."
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