County records show low student turnout at the polls

The last time Monroe County had an non-presidential national election only 17 people from the Bloomington Five precinct showed up to vote.\nThe precinct, which had 1,281 registered voters at the time, is entirely on-campus -- it includes any land between Fee Lane, Jordan Avenue, 17th and 10th streets. The precinct includes Foster Quad and seven greek houses. Only 1.4 percent of Bloomington Five residents actually voted in the 2002 congressional election. \nBut the low turnout numbers that appear every year in student housing precincts in elections are misrepresentative, said Jessica White, elections supervisor for Monroe County. Many of the voters who registered to vote in Monroe County don't actually live in the county anymore -- they moved away after they graduated from IU but never transferred their registration. According to a 2005 report from the U.S. Census Bureau, Monroe County has a population of 87,000 people ages 18 and older, but there are currently more than 102,000 registered voters in the county. \n"Our percentages, they're not even close to being accurate," she said.\nIn order to come up with more accurate numbers, Monroe County will begin eliminating names of "inactive voters" — registered voters who have not voted in the previous two general elections — from the registered voters list.\nVoters become inactive when they do not vote in a general election, meaning a registered Monroe County voter who did not vote in the 2004 election and this year's election will become unregistered this year.\nRight now, about 46,000 of Monroe County's registered voters are inactive, White said.\nThe low turnout rates from 2002 in predominantly student-populated areas are nothing new, White said. White is in the process of planning this year's election, which is of similar caliber to the 2002 election and even includes a race between the same two Congressional candidates. \nWhite said it's important to note that voters who are taken off the registration list can register again whenever they choose. The county attempted to send postcards to inactive voters to warn them they would be taken off the list, but many of the postcards came back because the voters had moved away.\n"This isn't like a permanent you-can-never-vote-again type of thing," White said.\nIn the Bloomington Five district, more than 75 percent of registered voters are inactive. In the Bloomington Nine district, which includes Forest Quad, Read Center and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, 1,400 of the 2,000 registered voters are inactive. This year, the combined polling sites will serve about 900 active registered voters.\nEven though the numbers are skewed, White said, they still give some accurate facts at surface value. Many of the 46,000 registered voters may no longer live in Monroe County, but the numbers still indicate that they're not voting, at least not in Indiana. Indiana law only allows voters to be registered in one county at a time.\nTo avoid overstaffing the polls this year for a low turnout, the county is combining several precincts with high student populations. This year, Bloomington Five will vote at Read Center with Bloomington Nine's precinct, which had a 4.66 percent turnout for the 2002 election.\n"Instead of paying 10 poll workers, we'll pay seven," White said. "There's no point in having five people out there (at each precinct)."\nWhite said combining predominantly student precincts will save the county money. Monroe County spends about $40,000 for each election to pay poll workers.\nElection Day is Nov. 7. Voter registration ended Oct. 10. Registered voters can now vote early in the Monroe County Clerk's Office Annex in the Curry Building, 238 W. Seventh St.