Voter Turnout

BUCKING a statewide trend of Democratic victories, Carroll County remained staunchly Republican in Tuesday's election. No Democrat gained office; none came close to winning.The county's conservative bedrock laid the foundation for Republicans, none of whom could be called the slightest bit liberal.The difference was not campaign money or voter turnout, two common excuses of losers. The county's majority Republican Party turned out in good numbers, but so did Democrats. Overall, the county voter turnout was 61 percent, down from 67 percent in 1994.

Eugene Graybeal last ran for the Bel Air Board of Commissioners 40 years ago. Tuesday, on his second try, the 74-year-old made it.Graybeal, and incumbent Susan McComas, 39, were elected from among six candidates to four-year terms on the five-member town board.McComas, who had served one term on the board, was the highest vote-getter, gathering 395 -- 385 votes at the polls and 10 absentee votes. Graybeal came in second with a total of 358 -- 348 votes at the polls and 10 absentee votes.Other totals: Joseph P. Meadows, 238 votes, including three absentee ballots; Madeleine W. Grant, 103 votes including four absentee ballots; Felix Tarasco, 46 votes; Donald J. Arnold, 30 votes.

New NAACP president launches voter drive 3 On his first day as president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Benjamin Todd Jealous launched an online voter registration initiative yesterday called "Upload to Uplift." The program is designed to encourage people to register and upload the e-mail addresses of family and friends who are not registered to vote. It also has a text-messaging feature that will remind people to vote on Election Day. "We must register every last voter, verify every last voter, mobilize every last voter, protect every last voter and ensure that every last vote is counted," Jealous said in a news release.

County voters didn't have to wait in line yesterday to exercise their democratic privilege, but they found neighborhood polling places busier than they were two months ago, when the primary drew a dismal 24 percent voter turnout.By late afternoon the county Board of Elections predicted a 60 percent turnout of the county's 94,549 registered voters in yesterday's general election.Chief clerk Barbara Feaga attributed the substantial increase in voter turnout since the primary to "the anti-incumbent movement."

Underdog optimism: Even though Republicans greatly outnumber Democrats in Carroll County, the county's underdogs maintained a buoyant attitude as they gathered to watch the early returns at Johanssons Dining House in Westminster on Tuesday night. "I was so impressed by the Democratic Party in Carroll County," said Anita Riley, an Eldersburg resident and president of the South Carroll Democratic Club. "It's an uphill battle for Democrats in Carroll County. ... But they have their act together.

Given the controversy between Jesse Jackson and Bill Clinton over the remarks of rap artist Sister Souljah this summer, many observers were anxious to see whether Mr. Clinton's supposed snub of the black leader would have any effect on black voter turnout on Election Day. Last week the first exit poll data began trickling in -- and the results were, well, yes and no.On the Friday after Election Day, the Joint Center for Political Studies in Washington reported...

Not long past dawn after the dramatic cliffhanger election for governor, another political troupe descended on street corners in downtown Baltimore. The band of campaigners spelled out with successive signs: "Next election: Mary Pat Clarke -- Mayor -- 1995."A cheerful Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, who had kept a late vigil with supporters of Democrat Parris N. Glendening, was back in a high-ceilinged conference room at City Hall preparing for a routine financial meeting. Election officials across Maryland had just begun a tedious count of absentee ballots, but Mr. Schmoke already was celebrating the voter turnout in the city that would help give Mr. Glendening his slim margin of victory.

The Baltimore City Election Change Coalition, a citywide coalition of nine organizations, supports changing the date of the Baltimore City primary election to coincide with the gubernatorial election cycle ("The right time for city elections," March 22). Doing so will save money - nearly $3.7 million in the city and $270,000 for the state. Many politicians support changing the election cycle to align with the presidential cycle. But there are a number of reasons why the coalition favors the gubernatorial over the presidential cycle.

Voter turnout for the presidential primary Tuesday was Maryland's lowest in at least 32 years. About 21 percent of registered voters cast a ballot Tuesday, according to early tallies from the Maryland Board of Elections. That figure does not include absentee and provisional ballots, which may push up the final total, but officials said turnout won't reach 25 percent. That is the previous record low — set in 1996 — in the 32 years for which statewide records are available. "Voters know when there's a real election and when there's not a real election," said John Willis, a political science professor at the University of Baltimore and former Maryland secretary of state.