Friday, February 19, 2010

Waukesha Mayoral Vote Total Was A Mere 13%

Primaries historically have low turnouts, and this week's Mayoral contest in Waukesha, with just over 13%, was no exception.


So the two candidates headed for the April 6 general election - - incumbent Larry Nelson, and upset primary winner Jeff Scrima - - will have dual-track strategies for the next five-and-a-half weeks: sway primary voters who cast ballots for the three candidates who did not survive the primary and bring in those voters who sat out the primary.

In primaries, candidates turn out their base voters. That is why Larry Nelson is in trouble, as an incumbent has to have a base of more than 24% to get re-elected.

Nelson has to hope that newcomer Scrima's base can't be expanded much above the 35% he won in the primary.








2 comments:

xoff said...

It's not unusual to have double the primary turnout, or more, in April.

In Milwaukee, Dennis Conta beat Henry Maier in the 1984 primary, and Marty Schreiber beat John Norquist in 1988 when Maier was retiring.

But Maier won the general in 1984 and Norquist won in 1988.

So it ain't over till it's over.

Anon Jim said...
This comment has been removed by the author.