Turnout light at Detroit polls

Turnout light at Detroit polls
Darren Nichols, Santiago Esparza and Doug Guthrie The Detroit News
November 04, 2009 02:02 AM

Detroit -- Polls are now closed in Detroit and turnout appears lower than past mayoral campaigns.

At 7 p.m., Elections Director Daniel Baxter said turnout was about 21 percent, which was within his 20 to 25 percent prediction. About 85,000 people or about 14.6 percent of voters cast ballots at the polls. About 40,000 absentee voters cast their ballot, he said.

If the turnout figures remain the same, it would be far less than the 39 percent of voters who cast ballots in the 2005 mayoral campaign.

Election fatigue may be the cause. This is the fourth time Detroiters have gone to the polls in 2009. Today, voters weighed in on a mayor for the next four years as well as a new-look City Council.

Mayor Dave Bing, who faces challenger Tom Barrow, arrived with his wife, Yvette, seven minutes after the polls opened at 7 a.m. at St. John's Presbyterian Church on East Jefferson. It took the mayor only four minutes to finish his ballot and affix an "I voted" sticker to his brown leather jacket.

He acknowledged it has been a wearying eight months for Detroit voters, but said today's election was important because it set a slate of officials to help guide the city through what promises to be a tough stretch.

Bing spoke of the "cloud" that continues to hang over the city -- the almost weekly revelations about former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and the opposition he has encountered from unions that oppose his efforts to streamline city operations and handle Detroit's budget crisis.

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(Image: David Coates / The Detroit News)
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