In Tuesday's midterm elections, 55 percent of voters registered in the Fifth District cast their ballots, the highest percentage of any congressional district in the state, according to the Virginia Board of Elections. Turnout was down, though, from 2008, when 76 percent of registered voters cast their ballots. During the last round of midterm elections in 2006, 53 percent of registered voters showed up at the polls.
"Voter turnout was always going to be lower than 2008," said Isaac Wood, communications director for the University's Center for Politics and a former Cavalier Daily opinion columnist. "The presidential election sets a high bar for voter turnout, which no other election will match until the next presidential election."
Wood attributed high turnout in the Fifth District, which contains Charlottesville and the University, to the tight race between incumbent Congressman Tom Perriello, D-Virginia, and his Republican challenger, state Sen. Robert Hurt. President Obama appeared in Charlottesville last Friday to campaign for Perriello, bringing national media attention to the contest. But Hurt still captured 51 percent of the vote Tuesday to defeat the freshman congressman.
"Many voters feel that the president is the most important position in the government, so they pay the most attention, and the media covers presidential races to a much greater degree," Wood said. "And the Fifth District race was hotly contested and well publicized, so there was higher turnout in the district than in the rest of the state."
Adam Gillenwater, president of University Democrats, which drove some students to their polling locations, compared the turnout he saw at this year's election to years in the past.
"Obviously turnout was down from two years ago, but compared to last year in the gubernatorial election, we saw a good response," Gillenwater said. "We took hundreds of students to the polls yesterday."
Students interviewed yesterday cited a number of reasons why they did or did not vote in Tuesday's elections. Some felt they were not adequately educated on the candidate's platforms, while others simply did not have time to make it to the polls. Third-year College student Vincent Piccolo said as an out-of-state student, he would have to vote absentee or not at all.
"I'm not a registered voter in Virginia. I'm only registered in New York, so I didn't vote," Piccolo said.
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