May 17, 2004

(Updated) It's Election Eve, Do You Know Where Your Ballots Are?

Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.

According to the running tally of daily turnout, as of 5:30 PM Monday evening, voter turnout in Multnomah County was at 30%. At the same point in our previous primary election -- in other words, the day before May 21, 2002 -- voter turnout was... 30%.

In that previous primary election, final turnout figures from election day brought the total voter turnout for that election to 46.89%.

Just in case anyone was looking for some sort of historical context for what we might expect in terms of voter turnout this time around. What remains to be seen is if the fact that there's a Mayoral race this time does anything to spike turnout past that 46.89% from 2002.

If you haven't yet voted, don't try to mail your ballot. This isn't about getting them postmarked by today, it's about them being in the hands of the Elections Division by 8:00 PM on Tuesday night. You'll have to find a drop site (pdf) and deliver your ballot by hand.

As for us, we always vote on election day itself, by dropping our ballot off at the Elections Division itself. We love vote-by-mail, but we enjoy the ritual of it.

Meanwhile, while we referenced it briefly when discussing a controversial video clip, we didn't specifically mention an article in The Sunday Oregonian about the last-minute campaigning for votes the various candidates have been conducting.

Finally, for those wondering where the candidate parties are, here is our initial list based upon recent email announcements out of some of the campaigns. As we come across others over the course of the day tomorrow, we'll add them as updates here.

The Sam Adams party will be at the Hilton Hotel at 921 SW 6th, in the Broadway Room from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

The Tom Potter party will be at Woodstock Wine & Deli at 4030 SE Woodstock Boulevard, from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

The Jim Francesconi party will be at 1125 SE Madison, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM.

The Frank Dixon party (which may also include other candidates from the neighborhood insurgency) "neighborhood insurgency" party will be at Wynne's Cafe and Spirits at 2002 SE Division Street, beginning at 7:00 PM.

The Nick Fish party will be at the Kennedy School at 5736 NE 33rd Avenue, in the Parson's Room from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

The Phil Busse party will be at the Gotham Building Coffee Shop at 2240 North Interstate Avenue from 6:00 PM until Midnight.

Disclosure: PORTLAND COMMUNIQUE accepts political advertisements, and currently runs ads from candidates mentioned in this item.

May 18, 2004

Update

First, make sure to click through to the comments for news of other election night shindigs.

Meanwhile today's Oregonian did what I managed to forget, which was to look at the last primary which included a Mayoral election, which was in May of 2000, to look at turnout figures.

Posted at 11:44 PM | PermalinkComments (9) | TrackBacks (1)
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Comments (9)

  1. Glenn Watts on 18 May 2004

    Thanks for all of the info... One comment: Using the we/us pronouns instead of I/me is very awkward. Any chance you might reconsider that style choice? Is this blog really written by committee?

  2. josh berezin on 18 May 2004

    I just heard that Robert Liberty's election night party is at the Lucky Lab on Hawthorne, 7 pm.

  3. Amanda on 18 May 2004

    The party at Wynne's is for the "neighborhood candidates", not the "neighborhood insurgency". In the United States, citizens have the right to run against an incumbent. Ten wonderful people chose to do so. That's not an insurgency, it's brave participatory democracy at its finest.

  4. josh berezin on 18 May 2004

    I got more for you!

    The Chip Shields party is at Billy Reed's, 2808 NE MLK Jr. Blvd, 7 pm.

    And apparently James Posey's party is also at Billy Reed's from 6 - 11 pm. Weird!

    I'll be at Phil Busse's party, of course, enjoying peach pie and tunes mixed by the DJ from Lifesavas. It'll be fun. If we get second place, it'll be even MORE fun.

  5. The One True b!X on 18 May 2004

    Apparently some neighborhood people have no sense of humor. I've called it the insurgency ever since I began covering the race. I guess maybe since I slapped them all in my endorsement post for that race, people feel they need to get all weird about I have called it since day one.

  6. Pete on 18 May 2004

    I'd like to point out that the Busse party, in keeping with campaign tradition, is set to go the longest and will definitely be the most fun. I hope we get to see some b!x there, and everybody else who reads this should come down, too. The Busse events have been open to all and off the wall for the past 9 months, no reason to change that tonight.

    Hey Josh, If Phil gets first place it'll be even more fun than second. We're in it to win.

  7. Mikey on 18 May 2004

    Will Art Alexakis be at our (Busse) party? I mean, he was wearing our shirt!

    http://www.meformayor.com/crew/

    Yeah! Ha ha! (I am kind of giddy and excited today)

  8. Jeff on 18 May 2004

    My big hope (and prediction) is that Jim doesn't get his 50% Even if it takes all the other candidates, that will be a big victory and a fairly decent blow. For the sake of democratic process, I hope it's not decided tonight.

    (In other words: vote!)

  9. The One True b!X on 18 May 2004

    Well, KATU this weekend was predicting that Francesconi and Potter would each get around 35%, and that recent polls might indicate that Potter will end up with the larger vote between the two of them.

    Interestingly, if true, this only adds up to about 70%, leaving open the question of who will place third and will it be a strong third.

Trackbacks (1)

  1. No need for Roy Burkett on 18 May 2004

    A vote for Roy Burkett in Multnomah County today, will be a vote for a gentleman who doesn't believe that we have a 'Democracy', but rather a 'Republic under God'. That education cannot be separated from the Christian faith, and...