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Hernando Today

Hernando's Turnout Is Among Best Of The Worst

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By TONY MARRERO Hernando Today

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 28, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - The Hernando County Supervisor of Elections Office might have used a star on a sign in front of the county courthouse to mark how many voters showed up for Tuesday's primary, but officials never expected the turnout to be stellar.

"You try to tell people how important it is, you do all you can to get the vote out, and then it's up to the voter to get there," Elections Supervisor Annie Williams said.

But far fewer got there than expected.

Of Hernando County's 120,000 voters, 17,808 - or 14.8 percent - showed up, according to the Florida Division of Elections.

That's below the state average of 17.4 percent, but better than most counties in the region. Hillsborough County had just more than 10 percent cast a ballot; Pasco, 12.5 percent; and Pinellas, 12.4 percent.

Citrus County boasted a 23.7 percent turnout, which is more in line with what Williams predicted for Hernando.

Among counties with comparable numbers of registered voters, Hernando fell somewhere in the middle. St. Johns County, for example, saw a 20 percent turnout rate. Osceola, 10 percent.

Leon County, with nearly 153,000 registered voters, boasted 31 percent.

Williams is still adding up the total cost of the primary, but said it's more than $200,000 and could hit $250,000. That includes the cost of printing and mailing the ballots, training and paying poll workers and renting some polling places, Williams said.

Assuming the price tag is $225,000, the primary cost taxpayers $12.63 per vote.

Since early voting began, the elections office has filled in the white star on the sign on the courthouse lawn to mark the turnout rate.

On Wednesday, Elizabeth Townsend, community relations coordinator for the elections office, took a brush and filled in a little more of the star to denote 14.26 percent. When asked about the discrepancy between that number and the figure on the state Division of Elections Web site, Williams noted the figures are unofficial.

"We can change the sign," she said.

Voter Turnout

Hernando County: 14.8 percent.

Pasco County: 12.5 percent.

Citrus County: 24 percent.

State average: 17.4 percent.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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