Don’t expect long lines at polls

YOUNGSTOWN — Less than half of registered voters in the Mahoning and the Shenango valleys are going to vote during Tuesday’s election, elections officials predict.

For those who are voting, don’t worry about long lines.

“There’s not a lot driving people to the polls,” said Rokey Suleman, deputy director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections. “There’s not a lot of excitement there.”

There are no contested municipal races in Trumbull’s biggest cities — Warren, Niles, Girard, Hubbard and Cortland except a write-in campaign for Niles council’s 1st Ward seat.

That leaves races for school boards, township trustees, mayoral and council races in the smaller cities and villages, and tax levies on the ballot.

Suleman predicts turnout Tuesday to be 40 percent, driven primarily by school board races. He pointed in particular to Girard, a city that typically has strong turnout.

But Suleman admitted, “Quite honestly, 40 percent might be optimistic.”

Turnout in Lawrence County is expected to be 40 percent, according to Marlene Gabriel, director of that county’s Bureau of Registration and Elections.

“That’s what I’m thinking if the weather is nice, and that’s kind of high,” she said. “If [the weather] isn’t nice, it will be less.”

Lawrence has countywide races for commissioner [three seats], treasurer and controller as well as New Castle mayor and a countywide referendum to establish a commission look at possibly changing the county’s form of government.

Even so, turnout will be low, Gabriel said.

“I don’t know what it takes to get people out there,” she said. “It’s sad.”