Voter turnout is expected to be low for today's Virginia state Senate elections, despite the fact that the vote is particularly key to both sides of the political spectrum.
Republicans need to gain only three more seats in the Senate in addition to their current 18 seats to relinquish majority control from Democrats, who currently hold 22 seats.
"There are 7 or 8 strongly competitive Senate races around the state," Larry Sabato, director of the University's Center for Politics, said in an email. "Only one GOP incumbent is hard-pressed, and the rest are Democratic seats. This is one reason why Republicans are optimistic about takeover."
Despite these select competitive races, Sabato predicts that turnout for today's elections will be low.
"Unfortunately, turnout will be somewhere around 30 percent of the registered - very low," Sabato said. "That is because in most places, there is very little competition, and there is no statewide election for any office or issue. Close to three-quarters of the seats in the House of Delegates are unopposed by the opposition party (either D or R). The Senate is much more competitive, but lots of seats are uncompetitive. Mainly, it is a result of partisan redistricting in both houses."
A poll conducted last month by Christopher Newport University and The Richmond Times-Dispatch also points to high levels of voter apathy in Virginia. Seventy percent of voters said they were paying little to no attention to the November elections.
During the last state election, more than 40 percent of registered voters made it to the polls, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections.
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