Turnout was light at Tuesday's election for the Vienna Town Council, said Regina Jordan, chief of the election. Jordan speculated that the low turnout was due to an uncontested election. "I even have friends who said they weren’t coming," Jordan said. "I think it’s important to come and show support."
Voter Pat Marrero agreed. "It’s hard for people to volunteer to take a job like this," she said.
Three seats on the Town Council are up in this year’s election, and the three incumbents, George Lovelace, Maud Robinson and Sydney Verinder are all running for re-election.
In last year’s election, a write-in campaign driven by the issue of the mulcher on Beulah Road drove the voter turnout to about 25 percent of registered voters, said Jordan. She expected this year’s turnout to be lower. The town has 10,249 registered voters. Of those, 10,035 are considered "active" voters. People who have not voted in the last two presidential elections are considered "inactive."
As of about 8 a.m. on Tuesday, only 35 people had voted, Jordan said. "Maybe we’ll get some at lunch."