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published: Friday, November 06, 2009
Low turnout leads to quick results
Low turnout leads to quick results
LARRY ELL
Staff Writer
Counting all of Lake County's votes took little more than an hour Tuesday night after the polls closed at 7 p.m. because of low voter turnout.
Lake County Supervisor of Elections Emogene Stegall noticed the trend early in the afternoon. At 2 p.m. she reported 2,537 votes had been cast in the seven cities holding elections. Combined with 1,823 absentee votes, the total represented only 8.9 percent of the 48,843 eligible voters. That number improved as the day wore on, but just 6,304 residents voted in the municipal elections -- an overall turnout of 13 percent.
The only other contested race was for Seat 3 on the Howey-in-the-Hills Town Council. This was a special election to decide who would serve the remainder of Fred Johnson's term. When Johnson resigned four months ago, Clay Ormsbee was appointed to temporarily fill the vacancy. Tuesday, voters got to choose between Ormsbee and his opponent Barry Crowder to permanently take the seat. After getting 51 percent of the vote, Crowder will join the council until his term expires in 2010. He received 135 votes to Ormsbee's 128.
According to the supervisor of elections, all results are unofficial until decisions are made about the validity of provisional ballots.
