Voter turnout low in Tuesday election

Despite the shine of the national media spotlight, fewer north country residents cast their ballots for a candidate to fill the void left by now Army Secretary John M. McHugh than voted to re-elect the widely popular U.S. congressman in recent years.

About 48,074, or 34 percent, of the 141,019 registered voters in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties cast ballots for the 23rd Congressional District seat on Election Day. The turnout is lower than the 63 percent of voters who voted in 2008 and 43 percent in 2006.

This year and 2006 are considered "off years" because they lack a surge of interest drawn from the presidential race, which last occurred in 2008.

"Those percentages are certainly not atypical for what you'd expect in an off-year election," said C. Fred Exoo, a professor of government at St. Lawrence University, Canton. "There may have been one or two things depressing turnout."

Among those factors, Mr. Exoo said, was the negative advertising attacking all three congressional candidates.

"There was a lot of negative advertising in this campaign, a lot more than the voters in this district are used to," he said. "The trust in American politics is at pretty low levels right now and trust is correlated with voter turnout."

The decline of voters' trust was fueled by money spent by special interest groups to attack opposing candidates, Mr. Exoo said.

Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative group, announced earlier this week that it spent $1,022,040 on Conservative candidate Douglas L. Hoffman.

The Washington, D.C.-based group spent more than $645,000 on radio and television ads and combined an additional $376,000 in donations from club members and sent them to the candidate.

Republican candidate Dierdre K. Scozzafava dropped out of the congressional race less than a week before the election because of waning poll numbers and personal attacks made against her.

"One of the reasons for declining trust is what people deem as the inappropriate influences of special interest money," he said. "It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Dede (Scozzafava) voters just stayed home," he said. "A lot of fat-cat special interest money was used to beat her up."

Mr. Exoo said that right-wing candidates were buoyed this election by people's dissatisfaction with the Democratic leadership.

"If you look at some of the national exit polling, we're seeing a little bit of Democratic voter concern over the fact that that party was voted in on a platform of change and people haven't seen much of that change yet," he said. "There is some evidence that people who voted for Obama in '08 did not show up in 2009. I think the (Democrats) in general would be better off if they passed a health care bill by now."

While voter turnout is lower than in 2008, local elections officials said a 34 percent turnout for an off-year election is more than they expected.

"A lot of turnout was driven by local issues," said Jerry O. Eaton, Jefferson County Republican elections commissioner. "Areas like the Cape (Vincent), Lyme and Henderson, those have local issues that impact everyone's daily lives. You're looking at 45 to 50 percent turnout in those areas."

"The more localized you get, the more that people have a passionate connection to the issue," said Sean M. Hennessey, Jefferson County Democratic elections commissioner. "Those local issues bump up the overall voter turnout."

Mr. Hennessey added: "There were a lot of candidates out pounding the pavement and making calls. I was impressed that there were so many candidates with a passion to help better their communities."

While it doesn't necessarily affect voter turnout, Mr. Exoo said a focus toward social issues including abortion and gay marriage is becoming a focus of higher-level campaigns.

"It's a part of those interest groups and that they're contributing so heavily," he said. "It's something we'll need to look for in approaching years."

BY THE NUMBERS

Voter turnout for Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence

counties 2009

■ Jefferson County:Registered voters, 59,463

Votes cast: 21,707

Turnout: 36.5%

/ Lewis: Registered voters,17,554

Votes cast: 5,127

Turnout:29.2%

/ St. Lawrence: Registered voters, 64,002

Votes cast: 21,240

Turnout: 33%

2008: Mr. McHugh challenged by Michael P. Oot, D-Munnsville.

■ Jefferson: Registered voters, 63,673

Votes cast: 39,626

Turnout: 62.2%

/ Lewis: Registered voters: 17,530

Votes cast: 11,339

Turnout: 64.7%

/ St. Lawrence: Registered voters:

65,488

Votes cast: 41,787

Turnout: 63.8%

2006: Mr. McHugh challenged by Dr. Robert J. Johnson, D-Sackets Harbor.

■ Jefferson: Registered voters, 65,190

Votes cast: 26,359

Turnout: 40.4

/ Lewis: Registered voters, 17,698

Votes cast: 7,747

Turnout: 43.8%

/ St. Lawrence: Registered voters, 65,808

Votes cast: 29,774

Turnout: 45.2%

STATISTICS PROVIDED BY: STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS.