Most City of Charlottesville voters stayed away from the polls on Election Day, with only about a quarter of registered voters choosing to cast a ballot. Though a greater percentage of Albemarle County voters visited the polls, the two areas' low turnout was attributed to factors such as a lack of competitive races and, in some cases, a lack of information on candidates.
Charlottesville General Registrar Shari Iachetta said she initially believed the city's turnout of 25.89 percent was low because the candidates for Virginia Senate and House of Delegates ran unopposed. She noted, however, that Albemarle County had higher turnout even though the same candidates for Senate and House of Delegates were on the county ballot.
Albemarle County saw 39 percent of registered voters cast ballots, though Albemarle County General Registrar Jake Washburn noted more registered voters usually exercise their right to vote in years when the Commonwealth is selecting a new governor.
"For this particular category of Virginia state elections, this was not unusual," Washburn said. "When there is a statewide gubernatorial election and there are also some local offices in play, the turnout is generally higher, primarily because there is a lot of interest in a gubernatorial race and that tends to bring voters out. This year was not a gubernatorial election year, so the races were primarily, although not exclusively, local elections."
Iachetta added that voters may have been deterred from voting because they felt uninformed about their choices.
"I know that we had a lot of people comment that they couldn't find information on candidates," Iachetta said.
According to Ken Stroupe, chief of staff for the University's Center for Politics, elections not featuring national or statewide races are generally characterized by low voter turnout.
"If there isn't an interest among the voters in these local issues, or if the race or races are uncontested, then it tends to cause people to ignore it entirely," Stroupe said, adding, however, that a local contested race can affect voter turnout. "I believe Albemarle County had a hotly contested sheriff race. Even if there isn't competition at the top of the ticket during off-year elections, a hotly contested race for sheriff or board of supervisors may be sufficient to cause voter turnout to be higher from one locality to the next."
Nancy Rodrigues, secretary of the State Board of Elections, offered similar reasoning, noting voter turnout was higher in regions with more competition in local races.
"In the localities where we had contested elections, for example Surrey County, there was over a 70 percent voter turnout," she said.
Both in areas featuring competitive elections and those with few contested races, Stroupe said greater civic education is needed to raise awareness of political issues and increase voter turnout.
"Unfortunately, people don't appreciate the extent to which politics really affects you from the time you get up until the time you go to bed," Stroupe said. "They're even taxing you while you sleep"
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