Runoff turnout could be record low

Voter turnout today could reach a record low with only one statewide Democratic runoff on the ballot.

Gary Bartlett, the executive director of the state elections board, said he would not be surprised if today's turnout fell below the 2.5 percent recorded in a Republican primary runoff for labor commissioner in 2000.

The statewide runoff today pits Mary Fant Donnan, a program officer for the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, against John C. Brooks, a former labor commissioner who was defeated in 1992. The winner will face incumbent Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry in November.

"It seems that probably the largest voting bloc out there today will be the election officials themselves," Bartlett said. "Certainly I would be very disappointed if they did not exercise their franchise."

Bartlett said the heaviest voting appeared to be in McDowell County, which is holding a mixed beverage referendum, and Yancey County, which has a hot school board contest.

In Orange County, voters are deciding between Leo Allison of Efland and Steve Yuhasz of Hillsborough for a seat on the board of commissioners. And in Durham County, Jonathan Alston and Leigh Bordley face off in a nonpartisan runoff for the school board.

Registered Democrats, unaffiliated voters who chose Democratic ballots in the May primary and unaffiliated voters who did not vote in May are eligible to participate today in the runoff for labor commissioner.

In Raleigh, several unaffiliated voters who cast Democratic ballots in May at Millbrook Exchange Park and Glen Eden Pilot Park discovered a discrepancy in election records this morning.

The records failed to indicate that they had voted in the Democratic primary in May. The voters were allowed to cast provisional ballots, which will be counted when elections officials verify that they cast Democratic ballots in May.

Wake Elections Director Cherie Poucher said that election officials in May apparently failed to mark a document called an "authorization to vote," noting that the unaffiliated voters had asked for and received Democratic ballots. However, election officials can research other records to verify that the voters received Democratic ballots in May, she said.

Poucher said she had not received complaints about the issue and assumed that the problem was not widespread. Bartlett said he had not received such complaints either.

With 2.63 million people voting in May, Bartlett said, some errors were bound to occur. "The good thing is we have safeguards in place to resolve these issues," he said.

Polls stay open until 7:30 p.m.