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March 10, 2009
Voter turnout critical in City Council runoffs
Chattarati editor David Morton has put together a good analysis of the April 14 runoff election in the 1st District, with a look at how the Lookout Valley community could play a deciding role:
The importance of Lookout Valley on this District should not be understated. The quiet suburb exists outside of the downtown milieu, primarily accessible via I-24, located across the river from the remainder of District 1. [...]What sets Lookout Valley apart, however, is high voter turnout.
Deborah Scott, the challenger attempting to unseat Councilwoman Linda Bennett, isn't content to rest on Lookout Valley resident and former rival Joe Graham's endorsement alone. At Tuesday's Chattanooga City Council meeting, Ms. Scott addressed the Council during the time reserved for public comment, and questioned the decision to hold early voting at only the Election Commission office just off Amnicola Highway, when a number of voters in the March 3 general election early-voted at the Northgate Mall location. (Typically, early voting is held at three locations: the Election Commission office, Northgate Mall, and the Brainerd Recreation Center on North Moore Rd.)
Ms. Scott and her husband, Dr. Wayne Scott, were armed with specific election results to support their opposition to the move (which several members of the City Council defended by saying that it would keep costs down), and stopped just short of insinuating that the decision to use only the Amnicola location was designed to protect the incumbent. (Or, maybe they did insinuate it. You'd have had to have been there in order to decide for yourself.) A twist on the situation is that Deborah Scott has campaigned on the need for more fiscal responsibility from the Council, yet election accessibility concerns cause her to reverse positions with them.
Whether or not having only one site open for early voting will affect the outcome is, I suppose, a matter for post-election analysis at this point. As outgoing Councilman Dan Page pointed out, all precincts in the district will be open on Election Day. The larger point is that, in these three runoff elections, getting voters to the polls is what will decide the outcome, even more than usual.
Peter Murphy, who captured a plurality in District 9 on March 3, has a built-in advantage in that the Missionary Ridge precinct, which is his home turf, had among the highest turnout in the city. J.T. McDaniel, the second-place finisher, could still pull off a win by uniting the non-Ridge sections, but half-gentrified Highland Park is the wild card. Regardless, turnout is key.
In District 8, Andrae McGary is buoyed somewhat by an endorsement from Dennis Clark, but he will have to rally supporters in order to beat incumbent Councilman Leamon Pierce. Like District 1, an upset is possible here.
I really hope that these three districts see a voter response that's respectably higher than the appalling 18% found in the general election.
Chattanooga City Elections | By joe lance | 11:09 PM
Comments
I can certainly understand why somebody would be suspicious of the motives behind the decision to close all but one of the early voting locations. It would seem quite logical (as either Ms. Scott or her husband pointed out) that one could vote at the same early voting location that they had voted at for the original election.
Of course, Jack Benson also pointed out that keeping all the locations open for this particular election would cost approximately $70/vote ... which is quite expensive.
Hopefully the candidates (and the city) will be able to get the word out about the changes in early voting locations.
Posted by: Jeremy Clifton at March 10, 2009 11:32 PM