Republican early voting turnout twice as high as Democratic

July 30, 2012 By John Huotari 22 Comments

More than twice as many Republicans as Democrats cast ballots during early voting in Anderson County this year, election officials said Monday.

Early voting ended Saturday, and as of Monday afternoon, the Anderson County Election Commission had counted a total of 6,599 votes.

Republicans cast 4,371 of those votes and Democrats 1,904, said Stephanie Gamble, Anderson County Election Commission deputy administrator.

Early voting in Anderson County was down this year, compared to two years ago. In the early voting period before the August 2010 election, 7,097 votes were cast, Gamble said.

Early voting was down despite three special elections this year, one for Anderson County mayor, a second for Anderson County Commission District 8, and a third for Oak Ridge City Council.

Election officials said they don’t know why fewer people voted this year.

Gamble said there still about 75 absentee ballots that could be mailed in before the Aug. 2 election this year, meaning the final early voting total could be slightly higher that what was reported Monday.

Absentee ballots are available to anyone who is out of the county on election day or during early voting, is 60 years old or older, is a truck driver with a commercial driver’s license, is a member of the military or overseas, or is sick, hospitalized, or handicapped.

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Filed Under: 2012 Election, Government Tagged With: Anderson County, Aug. 2 election, Democrats, early voting, Republicans

John Q Publius

Just doing the math, but by these numbers, in order to win, it looks like Mr. Gooch will have to convince 1 out of 3 of registered GOP voters that he has conservative chops in spite of his past support of decidedly liberal candidates, assuming no Dem crossover and a 50/50 independent split. That’s a heckuva hill to climb. No wonder he has spent over $200k on his campaign. Thursday night should be interesting. I’m curious to see if that kind of spending really can make a difference in local elections where, unlike national elections, voters can get actual 1 on 1 time. 3 more days and we’ll know, I guess.
- BFD12
  
  This might be true if Mr. Gooch only had the support of Democrats in Anderson County. However, since many of Mr. Gooch’s supporters are Republicans, that hill may just be a cake walk. I also think it is important to point out that just because someone is listed as R or D on the early voting roster doesn’t mean they are registered to a particular party. It just means that is how they voted in the last election. Good ol’ Tennessee doesn’t require you to register with one party or another, but I’m sure you already knew that John Q.
  - John Q Publius
    
    Many, as in more than two? Lets see: Steve Jones, Angi Agle, and April Meldrum . . . yeah, I can’t argue with you, that is technically “many.”
    
    And “assuming no Dem crossover” was aimed right at the primary issue, BFD. Crossover is a term some use to describe those who vote in the opposing party’s primary.
    
    Here is a link to wiki to explain it to you, since clearly you didn’t understand the reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossover_voting
    - BFD12
      
      No John, “many” is defined as a large number, numerous or a large but indefinite number. Obviously, Mr. Gooch does have the support of the people you named since they have worked closely on his campaign but judging from his fundraisers, forums and financial disclosures there are “many” more Republican supporters than those that you listed. Furthermore, since you were so kind to include such a reputable source as Wikipedia…. I would like to point out that Mr. Gooch does certainly fall into the category of having an appeal to voters in another party.
      
      Clearly, you didn’t understand my reference that your own bias is clouding your view of reality. It seems that Mrs. Frank may have a little too much tea party and not quite enough experience in her for some of the Republicans in Anderson County.
      
      Wouldn’t want to take up anymore of the taxpayers dime to keep going back and forth with you during your working hours, so I think I will just leave it at that.
      - John Q Publius
        
        Rumor has it, BFD, that April Melrum’s fundraiser by all measures was a blockbuster. Rumor was that she quickly ran out of room for guests to park in her two-car garage and some guests were required to park out in the driveway.
        
        As for the link, are you seriously disputing that “crossover” is not defined in those terms? Maybe if I quoted Elections Chief Mark Stephens from today’s New Sentinel you’d feel better? “He said while both Anderson County and the state are now trending Republican in voting, the sheer size of the Republican vote was likely due to “a lot of crossover voting” by Democrats.” See, he used it appropriately in a sentence as well. I think the issue here is less that you dispute the meaning of the term and more that your condescension backfired. Maybe if Warren wins he can create Department of Redundancy Department which you can head. Then you can go around and explain to people concepts that they just addressed using a single term you failed to understand.
        
        I’m sure that “bias” is a one-way street, as well.
Eileen Slater

I think maybe an intensity of concern among Republicans accounts for their higher turnout during early voting. It may even out somewhat on election day, but the stagnant (at best) economy has everybody looking for changes at every level, and that is trending conservative. I guess that’s why a liberal democrat like Mr. Gooch claims he’s a fiscal conservative, and even a liberal Republican like Sen. Corker falsely labeled himself the “most conservative” candidate during his first election. Looking forward to Thursday, and then November.
B Smith

Choosing to vote on the Republican side of the ballot does not necessarily make one a Republican. In many instances it means that the voter was more interested in the Republican primary elections than he or she was in the Democrat primary elections. Thus the 2-to-1 margin of those choosing to vote on the Republican side of the ballot is an indication that a large majority of voters were more interested in the Republican races this election. Whether these same voters will vote Republican in November remains to be seen.
- John Q Publius
  
  Well, John, I’m not sure how this is even news after the stunning revelation that not everyone who voted in the previous GOP primary is a Republican.
  - http://johnhuotari.com John Huotari
    
    Are you responding to the article or B Smith’s comment?
    - John Q Publius
      
      It was just meant to poke Mr./Mrs. Smith a bit. We had a fun exchange in another thread. In retrospect it might read as a wee bit acerbic. It was meant in good fun.
      - http://johnhuotari.com John Huotari
        
        It’s fine. No problem. But since you said John, I wasn’t if sure you were talking to me, another John, or B Smith.
Mare Martell

A week before voting opened I got the letter with my new voting place that is farther from where I live. I imagine other people just aren’t sure where to go to vote and if they do know, they may have difficulties getting to the polling places. Why they didn’t change this after the LAST election instead of right before…oh yeah, politics.
Tj

Ellen Smith was in charge of finding a new place for the city.
- http://ellensmith.org/blog/ Ellen Smith
  
  Clarification is needed. Last winter I did suggest contacting Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association about using Midtown Community Center for early voting (a suggestion that the election commission apparently liked, since they are using Midtown), but I’m definitely not in charge of finding polling places. The election commission runs that process.
  
  I think that all the regular precinct voting locations in the Anderson County part of Oak Ridge are the same as they have been in the past.
BFD12

How about we take that quote completely out of context, John? You and I are discussing the Anderson County Mayor’s race not the Aug. 2 primary that Stephens was referring to in his statement to KNS. Voters may vote for whomever they would like for mayor while still voting in the Republican primary. The two are not indicative of one another. I am not disputing the definition of crossover and clearly understand the meaning of the word despite your efforts to imply otherwise. My point is that there are two ways to incur crossover votes and Republicans can and have crossed over to vote for Warren, just as Democrats can and have crossed over in the primary.

As for the April Meldrum fundraiser….Where did that come from? Sounds like someone has some bitterness in regards to that topic. Not sure what that had to do with this conversation.
- John Q Publius
  
  I qualified my statement that Warren had an uphill fight by laying out my assumptions for that conclusion. I based my conclusion on “assuming no Dem crossover and a 50/50 independent split.” That is it. I made no ultimate conclusion on the ultimate outcome of the race. In fact, I believe I stated I’m curious to see how spending $200k would affect voters in a time with a serious Republican tailwind. Now, you can SPECULATE on the % of the crossover. But I have no evidence to form a conclusion on that point. But instead of debating that issue, you smarmily explained to me there was this type of voting behavior wherein a voter will vote in the other party’s primary. Yes, addressed. We could speculate all day long on how much is voter crossover and how much is voter excitement or lack thereof from party to party. But I didn’t speculate. I simply stated my bases for my numerical opinion if there were no other factors involved.
  
  You, on the other hand, proclaimed with no evidence whatsoever of the “many” Republican supporters of Gooch. I named the three most visible who were, from what I gather, big into the Republicans for Gooch campaign. Again, just going on evidence before us, I have seen very few Republicans for Gooch signs and the one fundraiser I am aware of by one of his big Republicans for Gooch fundraisers was, by rumor, rather sparsely attended. Now, if one were going on visible evidence rather than speculation, one might assess that folks are trying to outwardly present the idea that Mr. Gooch has more conservative support than he actually does. I don’t think that is going out too far out on a limb considering he has spent upwards of a quarter of a million dollars selling that message across all mediums.
  
  As for what April does her spare time, it is means little to me. As far as I can tell, this is a free country and if she feels that Mr. Gooch is the best person for the position, I wholeheartedly support her right to express that opinion and rally others to her cause. In fact, I respect Mr. Gooch greatly in many ways for taking on such a Herculean task. Entering into the political arena takes serious guts and I tip my hat to the man. That said, I have serious misgivings about the way he has presented himself and his opponent to the voting public.
  
  To sum up, as I stated in my original post, I am eager to see how all these issues play out in the public eye. For better or worse, the voters decide how we shall be governed and I respect the process.
Tj

Just seeing if you watching this site ,Ellen.
Not dissing you.
http://johnhuotari.com John Huotari

We haven’t posted a comments policy yet, but since political debate can sometimes get heated, there are a few guidelines we would like people to follow. One: Please keep your comments respectful. Two: Don’t post rumors here. We do appreciate the debate, but we would like it to remain civil and we ask people to stick to the facts. Thank you for your participation and understanding.
- John Q Publius
  
  I will happily oblige, John. You do an outstanding job here and run a first rate site. Thanks for your efforts.
  - http://johnhuotari.com John Huotari
    
    Thank you. I appreciate your participation and understanding.
    - BFD12
      
      Thanks John. My family and I enjoy your site and are happy to have good reporting online for our community. Really appreciate your new article on the subject as well.
      - http://johnhuotari.com John Huotari
        
        Thank you. I appreciate your participation and understanding. I’m interested to see what happens tomorrow. The primary vote was lopsided, but I wonder if that margin, or part of it, will show up in the general election results.