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Election 2008
Little voter turnout Donnan defeats Brooks in Democratic runoff for labor commissioner By Matt Shaw | Daily Times Staff Writer Tuesday's Donnan-Brooks showdown turned out to be less than a donnybrook for Wilson County voters. Nearly 36,000 county residents were eligible to vote in the Democratic runoff for state labor commissioner, but only 386, or about 1 percent, made it out to the polls. The county vote, such as it was, went to Mary Fant Donnan of Winston-Salem, a former policy analyst for the labor department. Donnan received 221 votes, or 58 percent, to 160 votes for John C. Brooks of Raleigh, who was the labor commissioner from 1977-1993. Donnan also carried the state with 68 percent of the vote. All results are unofficial until next week's canvass, but Donnan seems certain to face incumbent Cherie Berry, a Republican who's held the office since 2001. Wilson County Elections Director Ann Cone reported that the voting went smoothly. Cone said she still doesn't know exactly how much the election will cost the county, because she has not had a chance yet to tally the bills, but she said it should be several thousand dollars. Officials of the State Board of Elections estimated this week that the runoff would cost between $3.5 million and $5 million statewide. They didn't get a lot of bang for their bucks. "Everywhere I went today, I heard, 'We've had two or three people, two or three,'" said board member Russ Britt. The lowest turnout was at Whitfield Housing Recreation Building (Precinct B) where only one person voted, Cone said. The highest was at Reid Street Community Center (Precinct R), which had 35 voters. Twenty-nine people voted during the one-stop absentee period and another 15 voted by traditional absentee ballot. Poll workers dealt with boredom all day. Mary Bert Eason said it was as slow as she has seen in 42 years of working at the Wilson County polls. "I have worked all day long when we have had eight voters. And four of us working were among them," she said at the Wilson County Agricultural Center (Precinct I) where she is chief judge. The precinct avoided the distinction of its worst turnout in Eason's memory -- nine people voted there Tuesday. At the Wilson County Public Library (Precinct A), poll workers looked at magazines and catalogs as well as their election materials. "We use this time to catch up on things," said Deborah MacPhail. "I'm reading the instructions for shutting down tonight," added Myra Woodard. "And we've been talking about how busy we'll be in November." The state's first primary, featuring a hotly contested Democratic presidential race and gubernatorial races in both parties, had drawn record turnouts in May. "Time shoots right on by when it's like that," said Cordain Dancy, the chief judge. At least the expectation of the small turnout had kept the county from having to fully staff the precinct, Dancy said. Typically, there would be three more people on his crew. At Reid Street, voting was slow until noon, then picked up throughout the afternoon, according to Chief Judge Betty Boykin. People were interested in participating, but they weren't aware of the election, she said. "We've had people come by and say, 'I want to vote, but who are we supposed to be voting for?'" she said. "We could have used a little bit more publicity." Still, there was one nice thing about the slowness -- it gave her the chance to talk. "If it's like I expect in November, I won't even have time to talk to you," she said. mshaw@wilsontimes.com | 265-7878
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