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Fifty-percent
of Owen County voters are men. Fifty percent are women.
Seventy-six percent are Democrats. Twenty percent are Republicans.
And 5 percent are independent, choosing to side with neither political
party.
A total of 7,446 people are registered to vote in the primary
election set for May 16.
Those statistics were released last week by the Owen County Clerk’s
office.
What they show is that more people are registered to vote and
more people are registering as Republicans.
Four years ago, before the 2002 primary, 7,240 residents were
registered to vote. Of those, only 14.7 percent, or 1,065 were
Republican. An additional 224 were registered as independent voters
and 82 percent or 5,951 were registered as Democrats.
“In conversations, I’ve learned that people are switching
parties for a couple of reasons,” said Tony Watkins, chairman
of the Owen County Republican Party. “The first is for moral
reasons, such as abortion. And the second thing people say is
that they just resonate more with the Republican party platform
— lower taxes, less government and more self-determination
of the individuals.”
Rob Stafford, chairman of the Democratic party in Owen County,
said he thinks the influx of residents from Northern Kentucky
has had a lot to do with the switch.
“Many of those people are Republican and they bring an influence
to other voters,” Stafford said.
The statistics show that while the county has 206 new voters registered,
there are 423 new Republicans, indicating that residents are switching
their parties faster than they are moving into the county.
Stafford said he’d been told by some that they felt the
Republican party “better represented them in some way.”
“They also been more organized and active locally in the
last few years,” he said. “And they’ve been
a much more aggressive party nationally as well.”
Watkins said he’d also heard people say that they were only
registered as Democrats so they’d have the opportunity to
vote in the primaries. The recent increase in Republican primaries,
and candidates stepping up to run, probably impacted registrations
for the party as well, he said.
Voter turnout for the election is expected to be heavier than
it was for the primary four years ago.
At that point, only 33.8 percent of registered voters participated
in the primary election. Owen County Clerk Mary Kay Duncan said
she thought the large number of candidates running in this election
will drive that turnout number higher.
“I feel like it will be a big day,” Duncan said. “Primary
elections are always major elections, especially in county races.
And since we have both Democratic and Republican primaries, it
should be busy.”
The polls will open at 6 a.m. May 16 and will remain open until
6 p.m. that day. Anyone in line at 6 p.m. will have the opportunity
to vote. A ballot is included inside this edition on page 3.
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