By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-835462.mp3
Dallas, TX – Election day is Saturday and early voting' for municipal elections ends today. KERA's BJ Austin says in spite of a couple of hot button ballot "issues" in Dallas County, turnout is expected to be light.
Bruce Sherbet, Dallas County Elections Administrator, says early voting totals do NOT signal anything out of the ordinary. He expects a county-wide turnout of about 10% maybe a couple of percentage points higher in the city of Dallas where the vote on a convention center hotel is drawing interest. But Sherbet says it won't even come close to a 30% turnout when the American Airlines Center was up for vote approval.
Sherbet: The record turnout, there were two of them side-by-side. The arena was one of them: the other, the Trinity bond package, got a little bit more of a turnout. In terms of early voting, so far, it looks like it's going to be a little bit more than normal, but just a percent or two.
Sherbet says a municipal election just doesn't draw the voters that a partisan November general election does.
Tarrant County elections officials tell KERA they do not expect a uptick in turnout even with a contested Mayor's race in Fort Worth.