By Ned B. Hunter
Albert Douglas was glad to do his part in the election process by casting a ballot in Thursday’s election.
Douglas said he “always votes,” and while others may scoff at the 53-year-old who believes his votes count, he said non-voters don’t understand the importance of casting ballots.
“If I don’t vote,” he said, “I just don’t feel like I do my part.”
A Madison County Democrat, Douglas voted at Whitehall pre-kindergarten center, saying he was mostly concerned about two elections.
“Lowe Finney and the sheriff,” he said. “They seem like they have been doing a lot for the community.”
State Sen. Lowe Finney was running unopposed on the Democratic primary ballot Thursday. He will face Republican challenger Don McLeary in the November election.
Sheriff David Woolfork won a fifth term in his race against challenger Alan Baxter.
There were 62,548 registered voters in Madison County before Thursday’s primary election day, according to the Madison County Elections Commission. A total of 19,202, or 30.6 percent, voted in the election.
But nearly half of this election’s voters, 9,541, or 49.6 percent, voted before Election Day, casting votes during early voting or by absentee ballot. Douglas said those who didn’t vote missed an opportunity to help their candidates make it into the November general election.
“People always say their vote doesn’t matter,” he said, “but you just don’t know.”
By 3 p.m. Thursday, about 120 people had voted at the Whitehall precinct station, said James Glass, Republican poll watcher. Glass, and others who serve in the same capacity throughout the county, was there to make sure voting regulations were followed. He, too, was concerned that so many people don’t think their vote matters.
“If you don’t vote,” he said, “you effectively nullify one of the important rights of the Constitution.”
Some, however, just won’t vote.
“No I probably won’t vote,” said one man running to get his pre-schooler inside the center. “I don’t have the time.”
Markieta McGoughy has run the Carl Perkins Civic Center voting area for five years. The precinct it serves has 800 voters, she said. By 3:30 p.m. Thursday, 39 had cast ballots. She blamed the lack of voters on two factors.
“The (2003) tornado displaced a lot of people,” she said, “and, they don’t care.”
This election marked the largest early voter turnout since its inception in Madison County, according to the election commission.