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| September 10, 2008 |
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Ignoring Clint
Eastwood's advice in "Dirty Harry" that opinions,
like certain body parts, are best kept to yourself.
Low Turn-Out on Primary Day
 Yesterday
was Primary Day, the second Tuesday of September, so I drove
down to the town hall, expecting to stand in line, but
walked right in, the only voter in the building. I was out
in 5 minutes. After 9 O'Clock last night, the election
returns were coming in on our local station, and the
announcer mentioned that only about 10% of eligible voters
in our State turned-out.
I realized that I really
hadn't heard or seen much about the election. I might have
missed them, but there weren't any big announcements on the
radio or tv, and there were no signs posted downtown or
along the highway.
Considering there were several
candidates running for the U.S. Senate seat here in
Minnesota presently occupied by Norm Coleman (R), one would
think it important to be sure your candidate had a chance to
compete. Evidently not. That particular race has been
interesting, with the incumbent calling challenger Al
Franken a carpetbagger, and another candidate is the
daughter of Miles Lord, a long-time Minnesota political
legend. Coleman grew-up out East and moved to Minnesota to
get involved politics. Franken grew-up in Minnesota, and
moved East to pursue a career in entertainment, coming back
to Minnesota a couple of years ago. Who would be the "carpetbagger",
I wondered, Franken was born and raised here, Coleman was
not.
It struck me that a poor turn-out for the
Primary could be beneficial to those running. Think about
it, if you were the incumbent and weren't in any serious
trouble, wouldn't you assume the majority of those
showing-up would vote for you? You might think that way.
Similarly, a new challenger, especially one with a
single-issue interest, like Pro-Life or Pro-Choice, knowing
that voter turnout will be light, might be able to rally
loyal followers to come in droves and out-vote the lethargic
supporters of other candidates. It could, and has, happened.
A Google search for "primary election low turnout"
produced a 2006 article in
USA
Today supporting my theory.
So, about 10% of
eligible voters in our State narrowed the list of potential
State Senators from 16 to 3 last night. In November, 40-50%
of eligible voters will say who will go to Washington to
pull us out of the hole somebody dug last time around.
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