Voter turnout

Voter turnout for the special election in the 23rd Congressional District was barely one-third of those eligible to vote in the north country.

Off-year elections typically have low turnouts, but the three-way race to succeed now- Army Secretary John M. McHugh was anything but typical.

There was the Republican Party split over its chosen candidate, Dierdre K. Scozzavfava, and Conservative Douglas L. Hoffman, leading to the withdrawal of Ms. Scozzafava and her endorsement of the Democratic candidate, William L. Owens. There was the vigorous Democratic campaign for the traditional GOP seat, and the intense national attention unlike any north country congressional race before it.

The last may have contributed to the lackluster turnout by turning voters off with attack ads. That may help explain why only 34 percent of the eligible voters in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties cast ballots.

As states look for ways to improve voter turnout, though, the election holds a lesson for those campaigning to expand early voting beyond the customary absentee ballots for people who might be away from home at election time.

Several states allow any voter to cast their ballot days or weeks ahead of time to address complaints about long lines and inconvenient hours that reportedly keep voters away from the polls on Election Day.

In this election, absentee voters who had already cast their ballots could not respond to the sudden decision of Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava to withdraw just three days before the election.

That is one of the pitfalls to be considered as early voting gains popularity.