Despite all the publicity about the Tuesday, Nov. 8 election, slightly less than half of registered voters in Guilford County voted.
At the top of the ballot was an open US Senate seat with two high profile candidates who each spent tens of millions of dollars trying to convince voters to go to the polls and vote for them.
Sixth District Congresswoman Kathy Manning spent millions in a successful effort to convince voters to give her a second term.
Then there were critically important statewide judicial races as well as local races for sheriff, county commissioner, school board, the state legislature and other local offices.
But a little over half of the registered voters in Guilford County stayed away from the polls and didn’t bother to cast a vote.
In Guilford County, 186,240 voters, or 49.24 percent of the 378,242 registered voters, voted. This is despite the fact that Early Voting started on Oct. 20 and closed on Nov. 5, giving voters plenty of opportunities to vote, and for those who couldn’t get to the polls absentee mail-in voting was available.
On Election Day the polls were open for 13 hours, from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
And then there were some less publicized efforts to make sure people who wanted to vote could get to the polls. The Greensboro Transit Agency (GTA) offered fare free rides all day for both the regular GTA buses and the paratransit system Access GSO. So, on Election Day, a voter who was riding the bus to vote didn’t have to pay a dime and all the other folks riding a bus didn’t have to pay a dime either.
The free fares on Election Day didn’t appear to be well publicized. There was no press release from the City of Greensboro or GTA. But a GTA online brochure on the GTA website states, “On Election Day Tuesday, November 8, GTA and Access GSO will operate fare free.”
Guilford County was slightly behind the state in voter turnout. Statewide voter turnout was 50.53 percent.
However, the voter turnout in Guilford County for the Nov. 8 election was far better than the voter turnout for the Greensboro City Council election on July 26, when only 16.21 percent of those registered to vote in Greensboro voted.
And that is why we we have a hug a thug sheriff, communist controlled tax and spend county commission. You get what you vote for … or don’t vote for
Guess we get what we did not vote for. Eh?
Got to blame the Rep for some of this, the Dem did a good job getting their supporters out and motivated to vote, the same applies for the city council race. GSO leans left so the Republican have to be more energetic to bring out voters or this trend will continue. 2024 is just a round the corner so the Republicans need to start now!
Voter Apathy, the death of a nation.
If you didn’t vote just shut the hell up! You have NO EXCUSE!. Unfortunately no one will know YOU WERE TO LAZY TO DO YOUR DUTY! IMO you don’t deserve to live in this great State and Country because you’re LAZY….
It would seem that less than half of the voters care enough about their county, state or federal
representation to be bothered to vote. Usually less than one hour of time out of an entire year.
The status quo must be “Good Enough”. Sad……….
Voter apathy benefits the incumbent, and politicians in general, even if you’re voting is inspired by anger, get out and vote. I know at times it seems like Politicians are more concerned about themselves then the constituents they are supposed to be serving, but even if it’s just to ruin a particular Politicians Day, get out and vote.
I agree with everyone about everything. A minority of voters chose all the winners. In some countries, it is MANDATORY to vote. Why not here? And this mail-in-crap? Who can believe it? It is ripe for manipulation.
So we should vote in person, with ID. Witnessed absentee ballots for those infirm or out of State. That simple. That has worked well in much of my lifetime, why not now?
From 1775 to 1991 U.S. Forces suffered 651,031 battle deaths, 308,800 “In Theater” deaths and 230,254 “Non-Theater” deaths. They’re death insured that the U.S. States of America continued, with the citizens right’s being preserved.
I started voting at age 21, I am now 77. I think of going to the polls as attending a memorial service for some of those that died preserving my rights.
Typically an election is held every two years, averaging one election for each year of life. I believe I have attended 52 of these memorial services for those that died for my rights.
If someone should jump out into traffic to prevent a car from hitting you and loose their life in doing so, would you attend their memorial service?
We have some sorry citizens.
You are right. We are not keeping our Republic.
Considering what the results are of our govt school education, the Republic is gone.
Maybe it’s time to start taxing the people who don’t vote.
formats like this should b all the gov’t apparatus we need. people with the time, interest n intellect read n make comments about any issue – then the thumbs up/down r tabulated – top 4/against comments noted – everything auto archived – all on the internet. washington d.c. : unnecessary. gov’t ADMIN is now all on the net. one million motor vehicles/ day off the road & those workers safe @ home. every vote on everything instantly on the ‘net’.
formats like this should b all the gov’t apparatus we need. people with the time, interest n intellect read n make comments about any issue – then the thumbs up/down r tabulated – top 4/against comments noted – everything auto archived – all on the internet. washington d.c. : unnecessary. gov’t ADMIN is now all on the net. one million motor vehicles/ day off the road & those workers safe @ home. every vote on everything instantly on the ‘net’. WHY NOT!!