REGION Election officials predict low turnout

Only one official expects turnout of at least 50 percent.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- If you go to vote Tuesday, you're probably not going to have to wait in a long line to cast your ballot.
In fact, election officials in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys expect most registered voters to stay home rather than go to the polls on Election Day.
"With many major races, I thought turnout would be better, but it doesn't appear to be that way," said Norma Williams, Trumbull County Board of Elections director.
A countywide sales tax and the Warren mayoral races are the major issues in Trumbull County.
Absentee voting, a leading indicator of voter turnout, is about one-third less than the average in Trumbull County this year, Williams said.
Williams predicts turnout for Tuesday to be 38 percent.
It would have been even worse if the county hadn't removed about 5,000 inactive voters.
In Ohio, county boards of elections send letters to registered voters who failed to vote in two consecutive even-numbered years. If the letter goes unreturned, the person is taken off the voter roll.
Columbiana and Mahoning counties also removed inactive voters from their rolls, but those losses were offset by new registered voters. Both added about 1,000 voters to their rolls since last year.
Not optimistic
But that doesn't mean officials in either of those counties are terribly optimistic about voter turnout for Tuesday.
John Payne, director of the Columbiana County Board of Elections, is predicting turnout in his county at only 33 percent, the lowest in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys.
"We have a lot of unopposed candidates, especially trustee races," he said.
Also, state Issue 1, the governor's Third Frontier initiative to raise $500 million to promote high-technology business, is attracting no interest from voters, Payne said.
"People have no idea about Issue 1," he said. "I have yet to get one phone call or anyone asking me about it. It's not drawing any interest."
Mahoning County
Michael Sciortino, Mahoning County Board of Elections director, is predicting 38 percent turnout. It would be even lower if it wasn't for a few races such as Youngstown Board of Education and Austintown Township trustees, he said.
"Outside of that, there is only little stuff" on the ballot that is attracting interest, Sciortino said.
He's also agrees with Payne about no local interest in Issue 1, saying he doubts if most people even know it's on the Tuesday ballot.
Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell is expecting turnout statewide to be about 36 percent.
Marlene Gabriel, director of Lawrence County's Bureau of Registration and Elections, is the most optimistic election official in the area, predicting turnout in her county at 50 percent. She said turnout will be decent because of races involving two county commissioners and the New Castle mayor.
But turnout hinges on the weather, she said.
"We're hoping to get 50 percent if it doesn't rain," she said. "When it rains, look out, no one goes" to vote.
James Bennington, Gabriel's counterpart in Mercer County, also said rain would keep voters at home. His good-weather prediction is 35 percent.
skolnick@vindy.com