Low Election Voter Turnout Doesn’t Dampen Spirits

Throughout the November 5 election day, clerks and judges at the various precincts around town anticipated a lower voter-turnout rate this year as opposed to two years ago, given only one challenger, along with the seven incumbents, was running. Voter turnout at the five Greenbelt precincts was low but morale remained high as the day wore on. Precinct 3 Election Clerk Sandra Hamlin said that there are currently over 13,000 registered voters in Greenbelt, including nearly 3,000 registered voters in Precinct 3, historically the heaviest voting precinct in Greenbelt. Though there were nearly 700 voters (excluding early voters) in this precinct who voted on election day two years ago, she anticipated a lower turnout this year. Adding early and absentee votes, 870 Precinct 3 voters voted in the last election. In Precinct 6, which has almost 2300 registered voters, voting was held at the Police Station. By around 11 a.m., 140 people had voted and Election Judge Keith Chernikoff said that about 400 votes were expected by the end of the day. In 2017, 679 voters voted in person at Precinct 6 and 152 voted early or absentee. (The initial voting results reported by the city are of the individual votes cast for each candidate. Each voter can cast as many as seven votes, one for each councilmember. The number of actual voters is, of course, significantly lower than the total votes cast. For example, in the 2017 city council elections, out of 13,597 registered voters, 2,569 individual voters cast 14,077 votes for the seven councilmembers.) Precinct 8 voting was held at the Springhill Lake Recreation Center. Though there were no voters seen coming in at noon, the election clerks stated that there had been a “normal streaming” of voters. In 2017, a total of only 223 people from Precinct 8 voted in person, early or absentee. At Precinct 13, where voting was held in the Greenbriar Community Building, Election Judge Warren Wilcox said that 81 people had come in to vote by about 12:15 p.m. He continued that “It’s awful slow today, I’m guessing only a couple hundred people may end up coming here to vote today.” In 2017, 258 went to the polls to vote while 33 voted early or absentee. For the first time, the polling place for Precinct 18 was at Schrom Hills Park. As of about 12:30 p.m., Election Judge Therese Benedik said that 74 people had voted. “This is my first time working this precinct so it’s hard to compare,” she said. Benedik also said that there had been many enthusiastic voters coming in. In 2017, 254 voters from Precinct 18 came to the polls and 100 voted early or absentee. This year as opposed to two years ago, election clerks and judges have noticed more early voting in their respective precincts. Hamlin mentioned that about one-third of Precinct 3 voters voted early this year. Chernikoff noted that in Precinct 6 “we also had a little bit higher early voting.” Benedik said that in her precinct, there had been 79 early voters but the total of early voters for all precincts was 445. Hamlin said that registered voters do not need a photo ID to vote, but need to give their name and address in order to verify they are in the correct precinct. Once a voter’s name has been checked off as registered, the voter verifies their name, address and date of birth on a card. After signing the card, the election clerk and judge initial the card. After voting, voters had the opportunity to complete the biannual city questionnaire. The questionnaire can also be completed online (see greenbeltmd.gov/community/greenbeltcommunity-questionnaire-2019) or in the News Review. Completed questionnaires can be dropped off at the Municipal Building or mailed to Community Questionnaire, City of Greenbelt, 25 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770.