MEMPHIS, TN - Pathetic. That's how Shelby County Election Commissioner Bill Giannini describes early voting turnout for the special election.
So far, 3800 people have cast ballots in the state legislative races. That's out of 151,000 registered voters.
There was no line at the downtown polling station on Poplar Avenue Tuesday. Workers say only a handful of people came in to vote.
“It's disappointing. We just came out of a special election for mayor where we had about 23% of the people vote and here we are again and it’s worse” says Giannini.
The TN State Senate seat in District 31 is up for grabs. Republican Brian Kelsey is running against Democrat Adrienne Pakis-Gillon. The seat opened after Paul Stanley resigned earlier this year amid a scandal. It got a lot of attention, but the race to replace Stanley has not.
“There just seems to be an apathy out there about politics and government and the economy, and somehow that plays over into it.”
Election Commissioner Bill Giannini believes people are busy, getting ready for the holidays. He also thinks the commission's efforts to purge inactive voters from the rolls may have an effect. 70,000 names have been taken off registration lists this year.
“As we clean those rolls up, the percentages of turnout will go higher because we've had inaccurate voter rolls so it's been hard to determine truly what turnout in Memphis and Shelby County has been” says Giannini.
This special election is expensive-- with a $200,000 price tag. Giannini says taxpayers may not be getting enough bang for their buck.
“It doesn't cost us any more to have an election with 100% turnout or 5% turnout and that's what's disappointing. We're going to spend the same amount of money.”
Early voting ends Wednesday, November 25th. The special election is December 1st.
Also on the ballot, the Republican primary for Tennessee State House District 83. That's Brian Kelsey's old seat. The Democratic candidate is running unopposed.
