Turn-out, Turn-off

I just voted at Hargraves and then walked down Franklin Street from the Post Office to the Carrboro town line shortly after lunchtime. I didn't see a single person with an "I Voted" sticker. I did have a number of people speak to me because of my sticker: a few friends asked who to vote for, one woman in a minivan asked me for directions to her pollsite, and I was interviewed for WCHL's "On The Street" program. (Listen for that on 1360AM tomorrow at 7:39am, 12:39pm, 4:39pm, or 5:39pm.)

The papers all say they expect low turnout. I don't get why they think it would be lower this year than others. If anything, I would think Big Merger Madness (thanks Jay) and the deluge of Town Council candidates would bring more voters out this year. The poll workers said I was voter number 78 so far. According to the Board of Elections, there are 1,479 in my precinct (Northside) - so they may be right. Time will tell...

People have been asking what will happen to this web site after the election. I hope we will spend a few days this week analyzing today's outcome and it's implications. Then we will return to the discussion of issues and policies for which OrangePolitics.org was created. We probably won't have the same frequency of posting and commenting that we have seen recently, but I think we will still be able to publish at least five articles each week by various authors. I look forward to more thoughtful and educational (and fun!) conversations with y'all about our community.