Largest voter turnout in history expected for Sussex
Story Location:
119 N. Race Street
Georgetown, DE 19947
United States
With just weeks to go until the Nov. 8 general election, Kenneth McDowell, Sussex County Department of Elections director, said he and his staff were busy preparing for what he is predicting will be the largest voter turnout in county history.
As of Sept. 27, there were 154,088 registered voters in Sussex County, said McDowell. In the 2012 presidential election, he said, there were about 134,000 registered voters, and 68 percent of them voted.
There’s a lot of interest in the presidential race, and then there’s the governor’s race, he said on why he’s expecting the high turnout.
McDowell said he didn’t have a feel for who was going to win, but he said there have been more people saying they want to vote against one candidate than for the other.
According to the Delaware Department of Elections’ most recent data, the number of registered Democrats statewide is nearly double the number of registered Republicans – 318,991 to 188,491 – but as of the state’s presidential primary in April, said McDowell, there are more registered Republicans in Sussex than Democrats.
There are 59,645 registered Republicans and 58,546 registered Democrats, he said, adding there are another 35,897 people registered in all other parties. Statewide, the number of registered voters for parties other than Democrat or Republican is 163,561 of a 671,043 total.
Billy Carroll, Sussex County Republican Party chair, said GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is the reason registered Republicans surpassed registered Democrats. There were people who had never registered to vote or never even considered registering as Republicans who wanted to vote for Trump, he said.
Carroll said he didn’t expect the recent change to have too much effect on local races.
Mitch Crane, Sussex County Democratic Party chair, agreed.
“There is nothing alarming in the numbers,” said Crane in a Sept. 28 email. “Most all of the growth in the Republican numbers are in the 38th [Representative District], where there is a Republican edge of 3,000 votes. There is a 200-vote edge in the 40th [Representative District]. The Democrats have a lead in the other seven representative districts of over 3,000 voters. The Democrats are ahead in every contested district.”
In the 14th Representative District race between incumbent Democrat Pete Schwartzkopf and Republican challenger James DeMartino, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 1,200 voters – 8,435 to 7,159. There are 4,866 people registered as other in the district.
In the 20th Representative District race between incumbent Republican Steve Smyk, Democratic challenger Barbara Vaughan and Independent Party of Delaware challenger Don Ayotte, the numbers are closer – 7,854 to 7,654 – but Democrats still have a small advantage. There are 5,288 people registered as other in this district.
In the Sussex County Council District 3 race between Republican I.G. Burton III and Democrat Leslie Ledogar to fill outgoing Councilwoman Joan Deavers’ seat, Democrats hold a 600-person advantage – 13,874 to 13,297. There are 9,085 registered others for this district, which includes parts of the 14th, 20th, 36th and 37th Representative Districts.
It should be pointed out that Republicans dominate the county’s elected positions. Schwartzkopf is the only Democratic state legislator in Sussex; there would be no Democrats on county council if Burton were to win; and if Republican Norman Jones Jr. defeats Democrat Charles Koskey in the clerk of the peace race there would be no Democrat in the county’s row offices. The clerk of the peace position is currently held by Democrat John Brady.
In total, there are 73 election districts in Sussex County, and, said McDowell during a brief tour of the elections building in Georgetown, all of them will get two large gym bags of supplies to make sure the election runs smoothly. The bags include markers, scissors, chalk, masking tape and a host of other supplies.
There’s also a spare bag made up in case one of the people dropping off the supplies to a polling location can’t make it for some reason. “But, I’ve never had to use it,” said McDowell, who began working with the department in 1991.
The deadline to register in Delaware is Saturday, Oct. 15. There are two ways to register – at the department of elections, 119 N Race St., Georgetown, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and iVote.de.gov, which allows for registration until midnight.
Look for the Cape Gazette’s comprehensive 2016 Election Guide in the Friday, Oct. 28 edition.
