June 13, 2006
VA SEN: Confirming Our Suspicions
Reading the various turnout numbers proffered by the blogs and campaigns, we thought it might be worthwhile to contact actual registrars to get actual confirmed numbers.
Reaching such individuals in the major localities at around 5 o'clock on an election day is all but impossible, so we called four smaller county registrars instead. Each of the four represent Dem Co's that typically support Dems in all general elections.
None had on hand (or at least was willing to provide) their totals, but each of the four could barely contain their laugh when we asked how turnout had been running.
Buchanan and Dickenson Co's are in the far SW region of VA. Both are Dem strongholds that were islands of blue in a sea of red for Sen. John Kerry in '04. This is coal country, where UMW and ancestral Dem ties still often trump all.
The election officials we talked to in these locales said turnout was dismal, and running below past primaries.
Greensville and Brunswick are in Southside VA, just north of the NC border. Each is a majority-black county.
The registrar in Greensville told us that as of late afternoon they had seen just 30 out of 1,000 voters at their biggest precinct.
It was even worse in Brunswick. There we were told that out of over 10K total registered voters in the county, they had seen only 75 show up at the polls.
Bottom line: This primary never really got beyond the so-called urban crescent (Northern VA, metro Richmond, Tidewater) of VA, and it is there where it will be decided in a few hours.
Posted at 05:34 PM
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