By Mike Sever
Record-Courier staff writer
Portage County election officials are predicting a 40 percent voter turnout on Election Day.
“We’re being overly optimistic,” said Board of Elections Deputy Director Lois Enlow.
Director Linda Marcial said she was “a little hesitant” about the number, but was sticking to it.
It’s a tradition that the elections board director and deputy estimate what the turnout will be each year. This will be Enlow’s last time to make a prediction. She retires at the end of November after a dozen years with the board.
Turnouts in the 40-percent range are typical for off-year elections — those without presidential or gubernatorial seats at stake. Those are traditionally low turnout elections.
But there are a lot of township and school board races that have drawn large numbers of candidates.
There are nine candidates for mayor in Streetsboro. Rootstown has 11 candidates seeking two seats on the board of trustees. Brimfield voters will pick among seven candidates for two trustees. The school board race in the Field school district is hotly contested. And, in Waterloo school district, eight candidates are up for two seats on the school board.
Also, there are local issues that may prompt more voters, such as Issue 29, a referendum to repeal zoning in Deerfield, and Issue 40, a bond issue for a new high school in the Crestwood district.
Portage County has 108,706 registered voters eligible to go to the polls Tuesday. Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.