Voter Turnout In Marion County Was Abysmal

If voters were upset at how they're being governed, they didn't express it by casting votes in yesterday's election--at least in Marion County. Less than a quarter of the registered voters in Marion County bothered to show up to vote in yesterday's general election. That number represented more than 55,000 fewer voters than the number who cast ballots in the last off-year election in 2010 when 215,808 voters, or 36.61% of the registered voters, participated in the election compared to the 160,133 who voted yesterday. The turnout in the 2011 municipal election was even better. In that election, 181,220 voters cast ballots, which represented about 30% of the registered voters.

Democrats lost about 22,608 straight-ticket voters between the 2014 and 2010 general elections, while Republicans lost about 18,900 straight-ticket voters between the two off-year elections. Democrats had an 18-point advantage among the 60% of voters who cast straight-ticket ballots in yesterday's election compared to the 15-point advantage they had in the 2010 election. Democrats had only about a 10-point advantage in straight-ticket voting in the 2011 municipal election. In the last presidential election in 2012, Democrats had a 31-point advantage over the Republicans in straight-ticket voting.

Those who bothered to show up favored both the statewide and county-wide Democratic candidates by substantial margins. Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry received the highest percentage of the votes (61%), followed by Marion Co. Sheriff John Layton (59%), Marion Co. Auditor Julie Voorhies (55%), clerk candidate Myla Eldridge (54%) and recorder candidate Kate Sweeney Bell. Secretary of State candidate Beth White led the statewide ticket with 58% of the vote, followed by auditor candidate Mike Claytor (52%) and treasurer candidate Mike Boland (51%). Both incumbent congressional members representing Marion Co. under-performed yesterday. Rep. Andre Carson (D) received under 55% of the vote against his unfunded opponent, Cat Ping (R), while Rep. Susan Brooks (R) garnered less than 54% against her unknown, unfunded Democratic opponent, Shawn Denney.