Big turnout expected for runoff

By D.E. Smoot
Phoenix Staff Writer

May 12, 2008 11:51 pm

— Muskogee County Election Board officials predict 5,700 voters will turn out today to cast ballots in the city’s runoff elections.
That prediction, if realized, would mean a 30 percent increase from the more than 4,300 voters who cast ballots April 1 for the mayoral race in the city’s general election.
“Early voting has been steady,” said Ellen Thames, assistant secretary of the Muskogee County Election Board. “My boss predicts between 5,500 and 6,000. If we get that many, it would be a pretty good turnout.”
Thames said there “seems to be a lot of interest this time around.” When polls closed Monday, 323 voters had cast early ballots for today’s municipal races. That was up 51, or 18.75 percent, from the 272 ballots cast in advance of the April 1 general election.
At stake today are the mayoral contest, which pits John Tyler Hammons and Hershel McBride, and two City Council ward races. Shawn Raper is trying to unseat Ward II incumbent Frank Borovetz Jr., and Jackie Luckey is challenging Ward IV incumbent Troy Stoutermire.
Jim Ritchey, who was elected Ward IV representative during the 2006 election cycle, said he hopes the Election Board’s prediction proves to be true.
“There are a lot of big issues on the table the next City Council will have to deal with,” said Ritchey, who still has two years left of his first City Council term. “The election will decide two City Council seats and the outcome of the mayor’s race. All of them will have a say about who will sit on the (City of Muskogee) Foundation’s board.”
The foundation will be created to determine how the proceeds from the lease of Muskogee Regional Medical Center will be handled.
In addition to the creation of the foundation and related issues, Ritchey said there are a number of other issues that “will require the dedication” of the nine City Council members. Among those, Ritchey said, are infrastructural needs, economic development and growth.
“I think this is one of the biggest City Council elections we’ve had,” Ritchey said. “These people will need to set the pace toward Muskogee’s future.”
Thames said Precinct 55 voters may vote at National Guard Armory, 661 E. Davis Field Road. The polling location was omitted inadvertently from the precinct list published in earlier editions of the Phoenix.
Reach D.E. Smoot at 918-684-2903 or Click Here to Send Email