Pinellas voting chief: Bad turnout, clean election
LARGO -- Turnout was 26.4 percent for today's elections in St. Petersburg, Largo and St. Pete Beach
In St. Petersburg, 41,050 46,360 of the 156,478 registered voters cast ballots. UPDATE: That's a 29.6 percent turnout. Low but comparable to recent history.
It didn't make for a great turnout, not that heavy lines were expected. The Sept. 1 primary only had 23 percent show up.
But Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark says voting went off without a hitch.
"We had a great election," Clark said shortly after 8 p.m. as the canvassing board reviewed final returns. "I wish we had more voters, but administratively, we had a great election."
David DeCamp, Times staff writer
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I think Deborah is hot!
Posted by: ~ | November 03, 2009 at 08:38 PM
Turnout was actually 29.4% much higher than I expected but still dismal. 14.4% actually voted at the polling places, 15% was by mail.
Posted by: John | November 03, 2009 at 09:15 PM
update:
Turnout was actually 29.6%.
Around 14.4% actually voted at the polling places, 15% was by mail.
Posted by: John | November 03, 2009 at 09:19 PM
Deborah Clark has no idea how many people voted for Ford, nor how many people voted for Foster. For her to claim everything is perfect is misleading. All she really knows is that the tabulator spit out some numbers. There is no possible way to determine if those numbers are correct unless we count the vote.
Anyone else out there think we should actually count the vote?
Posted by: One, Two, Three..... | November 04, 2009 at 01:04 AM
Deborah Clark needs a reality check. She must be replaced when the time comes around. That position is now and always has been a stain on the election process and suspect to numerous improprieties. Look for a "oops" moment in a few days. Like a box of ballots under her desk or left behind at the Sunshine Center.
Posted by: Stain | November 04, 2009 at 04:00 AM
Everything was perfect for the Republicans; Deborah is right, that is if you are a republican. Not many poling places where open, so poor and seniors "our walking people" could not get to a poling place. Great system Clark, only in Pinellas County can we get away with that. O WELL.
"Alex Haak will tell it like it is"
Posted by: Alex Haak | November 04, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Alex- you ever heard of a mail-in ballot? Stop crying.
Posted by: Deb | November 04, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Alex,
Maybe we should implement all the great elections they have in New Jersey. Oh wait, one party rigged the govenor's race up there also, right?
The same polling places were open just as they are every election. Clark is far above these claims. Pinellas has enjoyed problem-free elections under her watch. Go ask Hillsborough how they have had it? Even Ford isn't claiming any conspiracy theories.
Let me add to your list of "knowledge" - knows how to pick 'em in general elections
The Trend lives, long live the Trend
Posted by: Voting Trend | November 04, 2009 at 12:14 PM
St. Pete's stimulus plan? Combined, the candidates for elected office ended up raising more than $1,139,173.
http://bit.ly/3xVGJM
Posted by: St. Pete's stimulus plan? Combined, the candidates for elected office ended up raising more than $1,139,173 | November 04, 2009 at 12:17 PM
It's a sad day for St. Pete. Foster voted yes for every tax increase that ever came his way.
Expect substantial increases in taxes and city services over the next couple of years.
The cost of living is going to get a lot higher in this city.
Posted by: Keith | November 04, 2009 at 02:26 PM
yes...count the votes. but remember...little debbie has a ballot printer in the bldg...just in case she runs out of ballots on busy elections and to print out their own for small elections. The problem is ....that printer is never audited. And when they pull the precincts (only 2) on friday to audit..they will not count those ballots until Saturday. That's not good. Who audits the bowl with all the precincts in there to randomly pick from? Will there be 116 or 100 precincts in the bowl? If you don't audit the bowl, it's like guessing how many jelly beans are in a jar! So we just trust little debbie? Lets count the votes, and get the ballot printer removed for an audit by an independent computer scientist. See the Hursti hack in Leon County,FL on an optiscan voting machine; a demostration allowed by hero Ion Sancho, Indenpenent SOE, right here
http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=PiiaBqwqkXs
All polls had Ford up, the lowest was 5%, the Times own push poll. What happened? Watch the 9 min film.
Posted by: 4...5...6 | November 04, 2009 at 08:43 PM
All those mail ballots and all that postage wasted in both the primary and the general election. No assurance that ballots were actually counted accurately. Our system is a mess.
Posted by: SOE wastes taxpayers' money | November 05, 2009 at 01:59 AM
Pinellas Housing Auth. declares war on SP Housing Auth., requests SA , AG 2 investigate violations of pblc record law.
http://bit.ly/4o6SCq
Posted by: Pinellas Housing Auth. declares war on SP Housing Auth., requests SA , AG 2 investigate violations of pblc record law | November 09, 2009 at 02:03 PM
Images from Election Day 2009.
http://bit.ly/1RX8F8
Posted by: Images from Election Day 2009. | November 15, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Images from Election Day 2009.
http://bit.ly/1RX8F8
Posted by: Images from Election Day 2009. | November 15, 2009 at 11:08 AM