Clerk: Student voter turnout ‘typically very, very low’

Voting inspectors said districts that primarily consist of students had low voter turn-out in Tuesday’s \nmunicipal election.\nAt the Teter Quad polling facility, voting inspector Tom Duffy said the turnout was “very light.”\nDuffy said by 3:30 p.m. the voter turnout was “so light we can count ‘em on two hands.”\nThere are 886 registered voters in District 15 – where the Teter Quad polling place was located – but the poll only saw 12 voters. Eleven were presumably students, \nDuffy said.\nMonroe County Clerk Jim Fielder said the voter turnout for the entire county was 25.63 percent, with 10,125 out of 40,676 registered voters going to the polls. He said this percentage is “just about right for a city election year.”\nAlthough official numbers regarding individual precincts have not yet been released, Fielder said the student residential districts have had extremely low voter turnouts. The turnouts are so low that the county is planning to rework the precincts.\n“We typically have very, very, very low turnout in all student precincts,” Fielder said.\nIn the “eight or nine” student-heavy precincts, Fielder said the polls “might be lucky to get 20 or 25 votes.”\nThese extra, unused polling facilities are an unnecessary and costly expense, he said.\nBecause of this low turnout, the county clerk’s office is “reworking the precincts for the entire county.”\nVoting inspector Leslie Scott, who worked at the polling place at the East Third Street fire station, said she estimated students made up about one-third of voters.\nBut, Scott said, the low percentages may be skewed.\nAlthough there were officially 456 people registered to vote in that district, Scott said students who used to reside in the area and have graduated or moved might not have changed their registered precinct.\nThough students often don’t update their voter registration information, Fielder said inactive voters were removed in the summer of 2006, so the number of registered voters should be more accurate. \nAn inactive registered voter has the opportunity to vote in two general elections before they are purged from the system, Fielder said.\n“Knowing they’re not going to be here after three or four years gives (students) a lack of concern,” Fielder said.\nOther elections officials agreed.\n“I think the students don’t have a vested interest,” Scott said. “Working with the city government doesn’t really affect them that much.”\nDuffy disagreed. He said students should vote in city elections because “the nature of Bloomington” does affect student life, including transportation and entertainment.\nIU sophomore Michael Cooper said he voted in Bloomington’s election Tuesday. But he supported a party, not a particular candidate. He didn’t know the candidates’ different platforms and said he wasn’t enthused by the diversity of the candidates.\n“There aren’t really a lot of options,” Cooper said.