Turnout likely to be low for June 9 vote

Neither the city of Danville nor the Pittsylvania County registrar expects much of a turnout in the June 9 Democratic Party Primary Election to choose who will be the party’s candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general in November.

“The turnout in the county will be very low,” Jenny Lee Sanders, county registrar, said Monday. “People don’t think about any election in June, and a lot of people just give you a blank look. Only the party faithful will turn out.”

Peggy Petty, the city’s registrar, predicts that less than 5 percent of the city’s more than 29,000 registered voters will show up.

“That is based on the two previous June primaries,” Petty said. “Four years ago, when we had a dual (both Democratic and Republican) June primary, we only had a 2.3 percent turnout.”

She said the commonwealth has not had a Democratic primary for governor since 1977. Since that time, the party has selected its gubernatorial candidate by caucus.

Voters wishing to cast their votes in the 2009 Democratic Party Primary Election on June 9 have until 5 p.m. May 11 to register in both the city and county.

In addition to citizens registering to vote for the first time, any changes of names or addresses must be submitted in person or in writing, postmarked by May 11, according to a news release.

The city registrar’s office at 515 Main St. will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 6 for persons who will not be in town on June 9 and wish to vote absentee in person. These hours are in addition to the normal office hours of 9 a.m. to 5 pm. Monday through Friday.

The deadline for receiving applications for absentee voting by mail is June 2.

Petty said there are a number of places to register to vote, including the registrar’s office, the Danville Public Library, Social Services, the Department of Motor Vehicles and military recruiting stations, or applications can be downloaded online at www.sbe.virginia. gov.

To inject a little bit of excitement into an otherwise dreary forecast of voter turnout, Sanders said that several county voting precincts will be using electronic poll books for the first time, although she would not say which places would have them until the polling officials themselves know.

The three candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for governor — Creigh Deeds, Brian Moran and Terry McAuliffe — will take part in a forum from 7 to 9 tonight at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research.

The Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia and the Danville Register & Bee are the forum’s hosts.

Danville’s former Mayor Linwood Wright and Bob Gibson, executive director of the Sorensen Institute, will moderate the forum, which will be broadcast live on public radio station WVTF.

For more information on the forum, go to www.sorenseninstitute.com.