From the Quincy Herald-Whig:

Massive campaign spending unlikely to boost voter turnout
Monday, November 6, 2006

Massive campaign spending unlikely to boost voter turnout

By Rodney Hart

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Quincyan Mark Brei isn't exactly thrilled with his choices for Illinois governor as he prepares to head to the voting booth Tuesday.

The Quincy resident says he will vote, but it will be a tough choice when it comes to deciding between incumbent Democrat Rod Blagojevich and Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka.

"Blagojevich has issues, but I'm not too thrilled with Topinka either," said Brei, who said he votes for the best candidate, regardless of party. "It won't prevent me from voting or making a decision. In spite of their flaws, one of them could still govern the state."

Illinois voter turnout is expected to be low across the state, despite massive election war chests and frantic advertising in the closing days of the campaign. Illinoisans will choose all statewide officers.

Blagojevich is reportedly spending nearly $15 million on election ads, while all statewide Illinois candidates are expected to spend an estimated $38 million this election cycle.

"Throwing money at something doesn't always provide the right ending," Brei said.

Adams County Clerk Georgia Volm said she expects the turnout to be as high as 60 percent. This is the first year Illinois has offered early voting, and 1,265 Adams County voters took advantage of early voting by last Thursday's deadline.

"I don't have the final (early voting) numbers yet, but I think we will rank very well when compared to other counties our size," Volm said this morning.

There have been about 400 absentee ballots cast in Adams County, Volm said, with more expected to come in today.

Voter turnout in Adams County was a robust 77 percent two years ago. That was driven primarily by several interesting local races, and a heated presidential contest between incumbent George Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry.

Nationally, 122,294,978 Americans cast votes in 2004, about 55 percent of eligible voters. Only 37 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in 2002, the last nonpresidential election year, but the turnout in Adams County was nearly 60 percent.

The number of ballots cast historically is low in nonpresidential year elections, with only about 40 percent of U.S. citizens of voting age population going to the polls.

Up for grabs nationally are 435 House seats, 33 Senate seats, governorships in 36 states and thousands of state legislative and local races.

One of those House races is the 17th District in Illinois, where Democrat Phil Hare and Republican Andrea Zinga are running to replace Rep. Lane Evans.

In 37 states, voters also will determine the fate of ballot initiatives, including whether to ban gay marriage, raise the minimum wage, endorse expanded embryonic stem cell research and impose the country's most stringent abortion restrictions.

In Adams County, the chief races are between incumbent Brent Fischer and challenger Jon McCoy for sheriff and incumbent Jean Reddington and challenger Lisa Hamby Gasko for treasurer.

Quincy resident Dale Willis voted early because he'll be out of town Tuesday. He said he is tired of the negative advertising, but voting "is one of our rights, and we should take it seriously. If you don't vote, you don't have a choice on who does get in."

As for the massive spending in the election, Willis said: "If they could use that money for other things, we'd be a lot better off."

Julia Askew of Quincy said she and her husband, Carl, will vote Tuesday. She usually votes Republican.

"I honestly don't care much for her (Topinka) either, but I don't want Rod Blagojevich in again," Julia Askew said.

Despite the blizzard of negative ads and heaps of cash spent on the election, Brei said it's still important to vote.

"People have lived and died for this," he said. "There are people fighting for our freedom right now, fighting for our right to vote. To have that right, that's part of being an American."