Tuesday, July 18, 2006

I've got my pretty peach sticker...

do you have yours?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

What was the turnout like at your precinct?

Anonymous said...

It took me less than five minutes to vote at Timothy Baptist. I overheard the volunteers talking about "crackers and oreos" which was pretty dismaying, but other than that it was a good experience.

I must confess to being contrary and voting for Bolton for governor. Snowball's chance in hell, I know, but I'm considering it a statement of protest against Cox and Taylor who've been terrible IMHO.

hillary said...

I got mine on Friday. There were about 6 to 8 people downtown at the time, a bit before lunch.

Cousin Pat said...

Five minutes to vote on Island City est. 8 am.

Anonymous said...

5 minutes from in the door to out, no one in line front of me, at Oglethorpe Elem at approx. 9am.

Darren

Anonymous said...

For what it is worth, I did the advance voting thing last Tuesday down at the Board's office. I was there about noon; one person was headed out as I entered. Otherwise, I had the place to myself. Has anyone heard what the final advance turnout was?

Jmac said...

Nothing for Athens, but Associated Press says it's around 65,000-plus for the state, which is down from 2004 ... though that's not shocking seeing how that was a presidential year and all.

Flannery O'Clobber said...

2 mins. at Lay Park -- no one else was there at noon. My husband voted at 6 and there were maybe two others voting at the time. The poll workers were giving each other massages!

Flannery O'Clobber said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Al_Davison said...

The turnout for the run-off is predicted to be about half.

Anonymous said...

It is unfortunate how low voter turnout. However, it is true that local politicians are fairly interchangeable.

Cufflink Carl said...

"However, it is true that local politicians are fairly interchangeable."

I'll bet this comment is going to start some fireworks. Here are a few random thoughts on that.

Interestingly enough, a lot of folks I've talked to are blaming the low turnout in Athens on the lack of partisan local races - i.e. we can't turn out to support David Lynn or Heidi Davison. Since turnout was low statewide, that can't be the only explanation, but that compounded with the Taylor/Cox mudfight is a pretty coherent explanation, at least for Athens.

This may be the new paradigm for primaries in Athens. We've always (wrongly, in my opinion) been far more concerned with our mayor and commission candidates than anything else. Now that those offices are nonpartisan, this may be the new thing. Of course, there was one local race on the ballot - the Solicitor-General. Unfortunately, no one really seems to know or care what that particular office does. Too bad, as it's a pretty important one, especially if you're concerned with real quality of life issues (not the silly ones like rental registration or couches on the porch).
With respect to local pols being interchangeable, I disagree. Case in point - the race for District 9 commissioner. You've got Jim Ponsoldt (law professor, very progressive to liberal), versus Kelly Girtz (teacher, more moderate), versus Ed Vaughan (butcher and former city planner, and by far the most amusingly liberal guy in the race). There's also some guy named Jones - but we haven't heard much from him of late.
Or take a look at the mayor's race. I would suggest that Heidi and Tom are hardly interchangeable, and Andy Rusk is a completely different story altogether.

Anonymous said...

Publius, Ponsoldt is running in District 1 - not 9.

Cufflink Carl said...

Gee, I guess they are kind of interchangeable then.

Seriously, this is what happens when I try to wax eloquent on too little sleep.

Anonymous said...

And while I'm talking about district 9 - can someone please tell Ed Vaughan that District 8 is not part of District 9 - he's said multiple times that Super District 9 is comprised of Districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8. 8 is part of District 10. If you are going to run for office at least know who you are going to represent. Not knowing exactly where your boundary is one thing, but Ed's mistake is ridiculous.