Voter Turnout Could Sway Brevard County Elections

Categories: Brevard County

Voter Turnout Could Sway Brevard County Elections

BREVARD COUNTY, Florida — If voter turnout in the second half of Election Day is like the first half, there could be a below average voter turnout of around 21% in the 2014 Brevard County Primary.

However, Brevard County Supervisor of Elections, Lori Scott, noted that since this is the first time Brevard County has had live voter turnout results, it is hard to know exactly when the larger portion of votes will be cast today.

In the last off-year Brevard County primary election in 2010, 27.6% of all eligible voters voted. In 2012, 23.6% voted.

A low voter turnout tends to favor conservative over liberal candidates which could seal big victories for the candidates favored amongst conservative Republicans, Michael Hartman and Curt Smith, in the District 2 and 4 County Commission races.

A low voter turnout also tends to translate into less moderate and undecided votes showing up at the polls. Whether it is simple name-recognition or a larger campaign war chest, undecided voters tend to break for incumbents. This could mean that conservative challengers Tim Street and Monique Miller would still have a fighting chance to unseat the heavily financed moderate incumbents John Tobia and Thad Altman in the Florida House District 53 and Florida Senate District 16 races.

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