Voter turnout, 1991-1999

[Kenton Bird <kbird@uidaho.edu>]

Visionaries:
In light of the discussion this week about citizen interest in local
issues and voter turnout, subscribers to this list might be interested
in these figures from the last five city elections.

The first figure is number of votes cast, the second figure is number of
registered voters and the third figure is the percentage of voter
turnout.  (Sorry that I can't present these in tabular format.)

1991:     3,086    10,944    28.2%
1993:     3,737    12,500    29.9%
1995:     2,245    15,102    16.2%
1997:     769       13,161    6%
1999:     2,291    10,840    21.1%

As several writers have noted, the number of registered voters is
inflated by UI students who may register and vote in only one or two
elections while they live in Moscow.  However, the total for this year
is the lowest in a decade, which may mean that the city and county
clerk's offices are doing a better job of purging people from the voter
rolls who no longer live in Moscow.

The 1993 turnout was the highest in Moscow's history, owing largely to
the spirited mayor's race between Paul Agidius and Pam Palmer, and the
presence of 9 candidates for council on the ballot.  Conversely, the
turnout was low in 1997 because Marshall Comstock was unopposed for
mayor and there were only three candidates for three council seats.

Thanks to Susan Palmer, I have city election results dating back to 1981
that I'd be glad to share with anyone interested in this topic.  I also
welcome continued discussion of the reasons why more Moscow residents
chose not to vote in this election.  In particular, I'm interested in
learning how people obtain information about candidates (newspaper,
website, candidate forums, word of mouth, etc.).

--Kenton