Allen County turnout lowest in years

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Historically, local elections have had low voter turnout. Allen County Election Board members said the turnout was decent early on Tuesday.

NewsChannel 15's Megan Reust was out at some of the polling places. Election staff told her they saw a steady flow of voters most of the day. But, by the time of the final count, turnout was the lowest it's been in years.

Tuesday at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Aboite the lines were steady. As soon as a small group of voters left another came right in. By 2:30 p.m., St. Elizabeth was within 6 percent of reaching the total number of voters it was hoping for.

"We've heard that precincts are reporting that things are going well and that they've had a lot of turnout, a lot of flow. So, it appears that turnout is pretty good," V.P. Allen Co. Election Board Andy Boxberger said.

Election officials did not report any major problems throughout the area, other than some minor issues that are common every year.

By the end of the day, final results showed the turnout was the lowest in the past three mayoral elections in Fort Wayne. In 2003, a voter turnout of 31% was recorded with 47,000 votes cast for mayor (Richard def. Buskirk).

Andy Downs from the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics said, "Many people were expecting low turnout and that is what we saw.  For some reason, people were not particularly excited about this election in spite of a few exciting races.  I am inclined to say that many voters saw two qualified candidates (e.g. Henry and Hughes; Jehl and Goldner) and decided that either would be able to do the job well."

In 2007, Mayor Henry won a landslide 60%-to-40%, with turnout near 31% and 53,000 total votes cast for the mayor race.

In 2011, voter turnout was recorded at 26%, with only 46,445 votes cast for mayor. Henry's win was the smallest margin in the past three mayoral elections.