Politics

Hot Issues Draw Voters To Polls

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

November 4, 1998 / 9:25 AM EST / CBS

Despite predictions that voters would sit this election out, Americans headed to the polls in numbers only slight lower than they did in 1994.

Preliminary results by the Voter News Service indicated a 38 percent voter turnout this year, falling just slightly below the 38.8 percent turnout of the last midterm election in 1994. Since 1970, the voter turnout in midterm elections has fluctuated between about 37 percent and 40 percent.

Curtis Gans, founder of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, anticipated that voter turnout would decline in at least two states for every state where it increased. He noted a handful of states, such as North Carolina, South Carolina, and Kentucky, that would see an upswing in voter turnout.

But even some states with highly competitive races, like New York and Ohio, would have a drop-off in voters, he predicted.

"Voter turnout, when all the voters are counted, will be down from 1994," Gans said.

Some had predicted that the presidential scandal would turn off potential voters. But Anita Perez Ferguson, president of the nonpartisan National Women's Political Caucus, said the effect was just the opposite.

"Rather than suppress the vote, the White House controversy actually increased the interest and voter turnout in midterm elections," Ferguson said.

Matthew Wallace felt just that way Tuesday, as he took off a few minutes from his job at a bank in Odessa, Tex., dashed to a busy ballot box, and cast his straight-ticket Republican vote.

"We've got to do something to show Clinton and the Democratic Party that they can't just do anything they want up there in Washington," Wallace said. "The White House isn't his house, it's my house. I'm afraid of what will happen next if we don't send a strong message."

Like-minded Americans used the election as a referendum on a host of issues important to them, from the economy to education.

Wanda Lyons, a 62-year-old registered Republican, made an extra effort to trek to the polls this year, bearing in mind the issues that have become critical to her since she retired from her job as a photo-lithographer.

"Retirement really changes things," she said, shivering as she stood by her car preparing to leave her polling place in Louisville, Ky. "The Social Security system is really bad; it's hard to live on. I feel for those who only have that. ... Something really needs to be done."

The economy and budget concerns prompted Suzanne Lahue to make an early morning trip to the voting booths after working her overnight shift at the maternity ward at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vt.

Sh wanted to send a message to Washington, urging political leaders to "get the budget under control."

"I wish the government would keep their finances in control," the 51-year-old voter said.

Jeff Huey, a 32-year-old who runs a shop on a beach renting bikes and in-line skates, confessed that his primary draw to the polls this year was a local measure for a new downtown ballpark for the San Diego Padres.

"I came to vote for Prop C. They've already put a lot of money into downtown, so it enhances it more," he said, leaving a San Diego school on a bicycle after casting his vote.

Some, like Donald Scott, just heard the plain old call of civic duty.

"I feel real guilty when I don't do it," said the 47-year-old Scott at the Westport-Roanoke Community Center in Kansas City, Mo.

The Voter News Service is a collaboration of The Associated Press and five television networks: ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox.