Voter turnout mild throughout West Alabama communities
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 25, 2004
From towns like Livingston and Thomaston, which only have one opposed race, to the very active politics of Marion and Uniontown in which every race has opposition, the voter turnout appears to be about the same.
“(Voter turnout) has been pretty good, it’s been steady,” a Uniontown City Hall employee said.
Thomaston reported about 103 of 302 voters had voted by lunchtime, a number officials felt was pretty good. By late afternoon, the numbers had risen slightly, with about 190 voting by 3 p.m.
“It’s getting pretty good,” a Thomaston official said.
Livingston reported approximately 180 of 500 registered voters by early afternoon, indicating a steady flow of voters at the polling places.
“It’s about what we expected,” poll workers said of the turnout. “It’s going fine, no problems so far.”
Forkland did not seem to fair quite as well, with voters trickling in throughout the day, with only 28 of the 83 registered voters in district 2 race having voted by 4 p.m.
“We’re really expecting people to come out and vote when they get off work, so maybe it will pick up later in the evening,” City Clerk Carolyn Findley said. Boligee poll workers had seen 239, or 35 percent, of their registered voters by noon, and reported the flow of voters was fairly steady.
The biggest problems seemed to be not with voter turnout, but with over-zealous campaigners.
According to one caller who contacted The Demopolis Times, one candidate was standing at the doorway of the National Guard Armory handling out literature, while two other candidates’ supporters were on the sidewalk of the school, well inside the 30-foot perimeter forbidden to candidates.
A poll worker at the Armory said she had not received any complaints and had not noticed any problems with candidates being too close. Nothing was found at the school, either.
Greensboro campaign supporters were even more aggressive, with some people physically stopping cars as potential voters made their way to the polling place, according to another caller.
Despite the forceful attempts by these campaigners, Greensboro had a good turnout with a fairly steady flow throughout the day, as did Demopolis.
Eutaw and York officials said information as to voter turnout was not available, while a Marion official said the one polling place in use was relatively isolated and information could not be obtained.