Fewer Early Voters Could Mean Fewer Voters On Election Day

Early voting in four key local elections is over, and the results could be a key indicator in how many people decide to vote on Election Day. 

In the four important mayoral elections–Atlanta, Gainesville, Danielsville, and Commerce–all of them had the lowest early voter turn-outs in years.

In fact, low voter turnout has been getting worse in Gainesville for nearly a decade. 

Charles Alvarez, Danny Dunagan, Debra Harkrider, and Rose Johnson are trying to become Gainesville’s first ever elected mayor. They’ve had mayors before, but not directly elected by the population.

Precincts have remained empty, though. Early voters just aren’t interested. 

“I think it’s kind of fallen by the wayside, and it can’t really be explained because it certainly hasn’t been because of availability and accessibility,” said Charlotte Sosebee, Director of Elections for Gainesville.

They aren’t the only one seeing a decline, either. 

The mayoral race in Danielsville between incumbent Todd Higdon and former mayor Philip Croya has seen a drop too.

Danielsville’s population is only 560, and their early turnout topped out at 43 people.

In Commerce, early voting really didn’t matter. Incumbent Dr. J. Clark Hill is running unopposed.

Down the road in Atlanta, early voting for Kasim Reed (incumbent), Al Bartell, Fraser Duke, and Glenn Wrightson was down nearly 1.7 million. Over 81-thousand people voted early this year, compared to 1.8 million last year. 2012 was a presidential election year, so a decline is expected.

Election day is tomorrow, and voters will have to choose between action and apathy.

 Those votes haven’t been tabulated so far, so we don’t know who’s out in front just yet. We’ll have to wait and see after tomorrow’s results come in.

Be sure to watch Grady Newsource for all your election coverage.

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