Turnout has been trending down in the county for decades

Election officials in Tooele County would love to turn back time.

A half century ago, almost every able-bodied voter in the county turned out for a presidential election. But that tradition of civic duty has tapered off over the decades, leaving many observers wondering why county voters have become so apathetic.

In the 1964 presidential race between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater, county voter turnout was 90 percent. Only 66 percent turned out for this year’s race between Obama and McCain, near the county’s all-time low of 63 percent in 2000.

In fact, since 1996 the turnout has not exceeded 70 percent.

Bev White, a former state representative from Tooele who served nearly 20 years in the House, believes a generational change is to blame for decreasing voter turnout.

“A lot of the older voters that voted regularly have literally died off,” said White. “The younger generation just doesn’t vote like the older generation did. They have to have a cause to get them out to vote. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, young people were fighting to get the right to vote. That was when we lowered the voting age to 18, figuring if you could fight and die for the country you ought to be able to vote. Maybe we don’t have a cause that solidifies the younger generation like we used too.”

Dennis Ewing, who retired as county clerk in 2006 after serving for 33 years, commented that the steady decline in turnout may not be down to voter apathy alone.

“While I expect part of the decrease is due to lack of interest, the federal government also changed the way voter registration records were kept,” Ewing said. “I can’t remember what year it was, but we used to be able to keep very clean voter registration records of just the people that actually voted. Then the federal government changed the regulations and made us keep voters on the records longer.”

Ron Allen is a former state senator from Stansbury Park. Allen has ran four local campaigns, two for county commissioner and two for state Senate.

Allen believes the low voter turnout is the result of two things: young people tuning out of their civic obligation and issues becoming more complex.

“Younger people are not subscribing to newspapers and keeping informed,” Allen said. “They say they get their news online, but what they are really reading is entertainment and weather. They don’t vote, but bring out a new video game and they will stand in line overnight for it.”

Gillette predicted this was the year the county would break the apathy trend with turnout of 80 percent — a forecast she based on early voting turnout, absentee ballot requests and general voter interest. Voting places were changed to accommodate the anticipated historic turnout.

It was a party that never happened.

“You can never second-guess voters,” Gillette said, though she has a theory on why the predicted turnout never materialized.

On Election Day, morning turnout at the polls was steady, according to Gillette. However, an after-work rush in the afternoon never appeared. The same scenario played out in Salt Lake County, where county clerk Sherrie Swensen quickly revised her 80 percent turnout forecast down to 70 percent. By midnight, when the unofficial tally was ready in Tooele County, it showed only 62 percent of voters had voted, though that number rose to 66 percent by the time absentee and provisional ballots were counted.

“I imagine that as people were driving home from work they heard forecasts of Obama winning on the radio and figured it wasn’t worth their time to stop off and vote,” said Gillette.

Chris Sloan, Tooele County Republican Party chairman, agreed.

“When people hear polls declaring a winner two hours before our polls close, it has to have a fallout on our turnout,” Sloan said. “There were no real heavily contested local races to drive people to the polls, and for the hard rock conservatives, McCain just didn’t excite them enough to get them out to vote. A lot of Romney supporters may have just stayed at home.”

“I expect it will take a significant emotional event to change peoples voting habits, like the economy continuing to worsen.” Allen said. “ It is nothing I would wish to happen, but it would have to be something big enough to wake people up and say, ‘I should have voted.”

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com