On Monday, a grand total of -- drum roll, please! -- just more than 2,100 people cared enough about casting ballots in the May 4 Shelby County primaries to seek out early-voting locations throughout the county, on the first day the process expanded to early-voting locations. Counting absentee and other ballots, 2,373 votes were cast Monday, pushing the early-voting total to 3,503 (there were four days of early voting at the Shelby County Election Commission's office downtown at 157 Poplar, Suite 121).
The first day of satellite voting is usually one of the stronger days, so that is not exactly a great indicator for turnout. If an average of 2,000 people show up over each of the next 10 days of early voting and if early-voting comprises about half of the total turnout, we would be looking at less than 10 percent turnout for the primaries -- an anemic showing for an election in which 10 of 13 Shelby County Commission positions will be determined.
We wrote Monday about critics questioning why taxpayers are spending $1 million on that county primary. Our editorial page read the story and joined the chorus, calling for elimination of the primary.
A Tuesday link-o-rama is below:
In a County Commission District 4 race, it's a battle of the 'burbs going north (Terry Roland) vs. south (George Chism). In District 1, Republican incumbent Mike Carpenter and his surprise, last-minute challenger Joe Baier are talking a lot about Democrats.
From Nashville, The CA's Richard Locker tells us that the Tennessee attorney general indicates the state would defend the dual-majority referenda required for metro city-county merger, despite a challenge from local civil-rights lawyers D'Army Bailey and Steve Mulroy that it violates the one-person, one-vote rule. Rick also reports the state pushed forward plans for Bass Pro to take over The Pyramid with initial OK of sales-tax plan. On Sunday, Rick detailed the cases that will be presented in the Knoxville trial of David Kernell, the son local state representative Mike Kernell, for allegedly hacking into Sarah Palin's e-mail account.
In the suburbs, locals are beginning to grapple with the increasing costs of maintaining or expanding infrastructure as more people move into town. Collierville hopes to avoid raising taxes, and DeSoto County is grappling with jail plans.
Amos Maki updated us Monday on the city continuing to pursue a lawsuit against the company that operates Beale Street.
Those traffic cameras sprouting at intersections? A Knoxville state senator wants to eliminate all of them, despite local officials loving both the revenue and the improved public safety. From the story, testimony from Knoxville showing millions of dollars in new revenue and strong evidence of safer streets:
The first day of satellite voting is usually one of the stronger days, so that is not exactly a great indicator for turnout. If an average of 2,000 people show up over each of the next 10 days of early voting and if early-voting comprises about half of the total turnout, we would be looking at less than 10 percent turnout for the primaries -- an anemic showing for an election in which 10 of 13 Shelby County Commission positions will be determined.
We wrote Monday about critics questioning why taxpayers are spending $1 million on that county primary. Our editorial page read the story and joined the chorus, calling for elimination of the primary.
A Tuesday link-o-rama is below:
In a County Commission District 4 race, it's a battle of the 'burbs going north (Terry Roland) vs. south (George Chism). In District 1, Republican incumbent Mike Carpenter and his surprise, last-minute challenger Joe Baier are talking a lot about Democrats.
From Nashville, The CA's Richard Locker tells us that the Tennessee attorney general indicates the state would defend the dual-majority referenda required for metro city-county merger, despite a challenge from local civil-rights lawyers D'Army Bailey and Steve Mulroy that it violates the one-person, one-vote rule. Rick also reports the state pushed forward plans for Bass Pro to take over The Pyramid with initial OK of sales-tax plan. On Sunday, Rick detailed the cases that will be presented in the Knoxville trial of David Kernell, the son local state representative Mike Kernell, for allegedly hacking into Sarah Palin's e-mail account.
In the suburbs, locals are beginning to grapple with the increasing costs of maintaining or expanding infrastructure as more people move into town. Collierville hopes to avoid raising taxes, and DeSoto County is grappling with jail plans.
Amos Maki updated us Monday on the city continuing to pursue a lawsuit against the company that operates Beale Street.
Those traffic cameras sprouting at intersections? A Knoxville state senator wants to eliminate all of them, despite local officials loving both the revenue and the improved public safety. From the story, testimony from Knoxville showing millions of dollars in new revenue and strong evidence of safer streets:
Knoxville Police Department Capt. Gordon Catlett told The Knoxville News Sentinel the total percentage of crashes at the intersections with the cameras last year was down by 10 percent over 2008, and front impact or side impact collisions declined by 30 percent. Catlett said the fact that collections are going down shows there are less citations being issued because more drivers are stopping at red lights where the cameras are located. "It's made our streets safer," he said. "Public safety has really benefited. We picked the worst intersections based on crash data."
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