Fri, Jul 04 2008
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Published April 09, 2008 09:35 pm - Only one in 10 registered voters in Jasper County went to the polls Tuesday to decide tax questions and leadership positions in cities and school districts. Only one in 10 voters went to polls Tuesday in Jasper County By Susan Redden and Joe Hadsall news@joplinglobe.com Only one in 10 registered voters in Jasper County went to the polls Tuesday to decide tax questions and leadership positions in cities and school districts. The turnout — 10.35 percent of the county’s 70,251 registered voters — was a record low for an April election in the county. In Newton County, 10.5 percent of registered voters cast ballots on city and school races and other issues. Of the 23,085 registered voters in Lawrence County, 3,436 — or 14.9 percent — participated in Tuesday’s election, which featured a proposed tax on adult cabarets. Bonnie Earl, Jasper County clerk, said April turnouts have declined in recent years, and she is confused by the trend. “I don’t get why people wouldn’t want to have a say on how their towns and school districts are run,” she said. “These are the issues that impact them most directly.” Nearly 20 percent of Jasper County’s registered voters cast ballots in the April 2004 election. The number slid to 15.45 percent in 2005, 12.95 percent in 2006 and 12.47 percent in 2007. Those turnouts were recorded despite some of the largest school bond issues in recent years in parts of Jasper County, including a nearly $30 million bond issue in Carthage two years ago and a $57.3 million bond issue last April in Joplin. Though some bond issues and a hotly contested Neosho school board race spurred a 20 percent turnout in Newton County a year ago, earlier turnouts were closer to 10 percent and 11 percent. Both Earl and Kay Baum, Newton County clerk, said they believe local elections are being overshadowed by the run-up to the presidential election. Workers in the local election offices said they registered a number of voters before the city and school elections Tuesday, but they showed little interest in the local issues. “We would tell them they could vote in April, and they said they didn’t care about that; they just wanted to be sure they could vote for president,” Earl said. ‘S-l-o-w’ By 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, only 38 votes had been cast at Peace Lutheran Church at 20th Street and Wisconsin Avenue in Joplin. “It’s s-l-o-w,” precinct workers there replied in unison. 
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