Observers of Hamilton County’s political scene can be forgiven if they believe voters in the community have little interest in the outcome of Tuesday’s Democratic and Republican primary elections. One need not look hard to find a reason for that belief. The disturbingly low number of voters who turned out for early voting for the primaries certainly seems to affirm that view.
Only 4,411 voters cast ballots in the 14-day early voting period that concluded last Thursday. And even that total is a bit deceiving. Included in the number are absentee voters and ballots cast by those serving in the military and by nursing home residents. The total of early voters, as one long-time observer of county politics succinctly put it, is “pathetic.”
That description is, if anything, an understatement. The turnout is, in fact, among the worst since early voting began here. It represents only a bit more than 2 percent of the county’s nearly 208,000 registered voters. By comparison, 6,157 voters cast a ballot in early primary voting in May 2006, the last comparable election, according to Hamilton County Elections Chief Deputy Charlotte Mullis-Morgan.
There are, to be fair, historical reasons for the low early-voter turnout. Primary elections generally attract fewer voters than general elections. The low number of county-wide races and the absence of many competitive district races probably contributes to voter disinterest as well. It is possible, too, that some individuals who vote regularly have yet to make up their minds on which candidates they favor. Hopefully, they will do so by Tuesday.
There are a few indications that interest in the primary election is growing. The number of voters who cast ballot on each of the last few days of early balloting was more than the number who did so early in the period. In commission districts where there are contested races, the number of campaign signs in yards and along roadsides seems to have multiplied almost overnight.
The same is true of endorsement letters to the editor of this newspaper. Even so, it is still easy to make the case that a majority of the county’s voters have little more than a passing interest in Tuesday’s election — even though some of the races are tantamount to election since primary winners have no opposition in the August general election.
That’s a sad commentary in a place where individuals still place, publicly at least, great importance on the expression “the majority rules.” Unless there is a significant change in voting patterns on Tuesday or in August, it appears almost certain, that a minority of voters will determine the political, economic and civic fortunes of the county for a four-year period that promises to be among the most important in Hamilton County’s history. That’s not the way a democracy is supposed to function.