Voter turnout for city elections is typically very low
The last time Dover held a city-wide municipal election, only a fraction of eligible voters showed up at the polls. The 2015 contest for mayor attracted just 2,116 of the 22,837 registered voters in the city.
That meant a little over 9 percent of the population decided the course of city government for the remaining 91 percent. Over the past 20 years, city-wide elections have drawn as little as 5.44 percent of the electorate and as much as 23.68 percent.
City Clerk Traci McDowell admits even thought it means a lot of work for her office, she’d prefer to see large turnout.
“It’s important to vote because so many countries don’t have the choice, they don’t have the ability,” she said.
“What happens here affects people’s lives every day and this is their choice to have a voice in the decisions that are being made. You have more of an impact voting in local elections that you do in the big ones,” McDowell added.
That said, there’s a chance the upcoming city council elections could generate a little more interest than usual. This year, eight people are vying for three council seats, with additional attention being focused on the First District. Three candidates are looking to take over for the retiring James Hutchison in that contest.
Dover holds elections every two years, with of half the eight council seats and either the mayor or council-at-large positions up for grabs.
Candidates responsible
Tuesday, April 18 indeed will be a busy day for McDowell, Assistant City Clerk Denise Devine and assistants Jody Stein and Debbie Krueger: it’s election day and every day since December 1 has been leading up to this one.
“We have the checklist so nothing falls through the cracks,” McDowell said. They start their work early because candidates usually begin filing after New Year’s Day, she added.
Throughout the season, the clerks continually refer to their single-spaced, 41-page, 120-step checklist that highlights every necessary step in the process.
To become a candidate, council hopefuls obtain the signatures of at least 10 but no more than 25 residents of their election district. These petitions must be verified by the city clerk before a candidacy is accepted.
Devine contacts the Commissioner of Elections to ensure the candidates receive up-to-date campaign and campaign finance requirements.
“We give them candidate packets that have rules and regulations about the election, campaigning, polling places, dates and times and deadlines,” McDowell said.
The candidates must sign and acknowledge they understand those obligations, she added. Other than an initial press release from McDowell’s office confirming the candidacy, it’s now up to each prospective councilman or mayoral candidate to start campaigning, she said.
A long day
Things start to accelerate as Election Day nears.
At least one person from McDowell’s office is assigned to each polling place, which also is staffed by paid volunteers and overseen by observers from the state Elections Commissioner.
The voting machines are brought to each polling location the day before election, set up, verified and then sealed shut. McDowell and her staff come in at about 5 a.m. Election Day to set about swearing in and assigning poll volunteers, checking the voting machines, posting signs outside the building and generally getting everything in order. The candidates are invited to check the voting machines as well.
Voters tend to show up in spurts, with some already in line as the polls open at 7 a.m.
“We usually have a good flow in the mornings and a lot of times the candidates are the first to show up,” Devine said. “Then we have large groups at lunchtime and later in the evening.
“It makes for a faster day when you have a steady stream of voters, and when there are lulls it makes for longer days, I think.”
An Election Day is a long one for all concerned. Poll workers are not allowed to leave the building during the 13 hours polls are open; many bring their own food and drink, although they may order take-out meals at their own expense. Many read or even knit to pass the time.
Closing the polls is an involved process that must be done correctly every time, McDowell said.
“That to me is the most stressful part, there’s a lot that’s happening,” she said.
Doors to the polls are shut at precisely 8 p.m. and the machines are closed down. Memory cartridges from each are removed and given to the Department of Elections, and paper tapes with the final tallies are verified.
Counts from absentee ballots are tallied and added to the machine totals, with the final results taped to the outside of the polling place. For the April 18 election, the results for all three district elections will be announced at the First District polling place at the Elks Lodge on Saulsbury Road. The final votes also are posted on the city of Dover’s website.
Election board must certify
But the election process still isn’t over.
At 10 a.m. the following day, Wednesday, April 19, the city’s Election Board will meet to certify the results. That information is transmitted to the city council, which acknowledges the results at its April 24 session. New and re-elected council members will be sworn into office May 8 at the Annual Council Meeting.
The cost of each election varies, depending on the number of election districts involved, Devine said. It costs $150 to rent each polling location while election workers are paid $150 each and election board members receive $200.
The city also pays for mandatory advertising of the election in local papers as well as renting the voting machines at $25 each.
The 2015 election cost about $7,100, Devine said, and personnel costs alone for the April 18 contest alone are expected to be around $5,250, she said.
Despite all the work and the high-pressure environment of making sure everything goes as planned, Stein admits she enjoys Election Days.
“I like to see the process in action, I like to be a part of it,” she said. “We know how important it is for people to come out and elect our council people.”