LOW VOTER TURNOUT IN TAX ELECTION WORRIES OFFICIALS

Election officials said Wednesday they were disturbed by the low voter
turnout for the election to extend Jackson County's anti-drug tax.

Just 8 percent of the voters cast ballots in Tuesday's election over
whether to extend the Community-Backed Anti-Drug Tax. Voters overwhelmingly
approved the quarter-cent sales tax.

For parts of the county outside Kansas City, turnout was 9.09 percent.

"It's quite a shock," said Charlene Davis, the Republican director of the
Jackson County Board of Election Commissioners. It was one of the lowest
turnouts she has seen in 29 years with the board.

She said Jackson County tends to have higher turnouts for countywide elections.

In Kansas City, turnout was 7.26 percent for voters south of the river.
Tuesday's figures followed a recent trend, said Sharon Turner Buie, the
Democratic director for the Kansas City Board of Election Commissioners.

February's municipal primary race had a 9.6 percent turnout. The city's
lowest turnout in a decade was 7 percent for a November 2001 election to
replace the city's charter.

"People tend to think that elections have no bearing on their lives," Buie
said. "They think others are making the decisions anyway. When they don't
vote, they are right."

Buie and Davis said several factors could have contributed to the low
turnout including vacations, hot weather, the low-key COMBAT campaign and
the lack of other major issues or candidates on the ballot.

Both said turnout probably would have been higher had more issues been on
the ballot. County officials said it was part of their strategy to focus
attention on COMBAT by making it the sole major issue on the ballot.

That means the county will have to pay for the election at a cost of $563,617.

"It is an exorbitant cost," Buie said. "We in the election community all
favor holding fewer elections. Perhaps then, more people would vote and it
would cost voters less."

County Executive Katheryn Shields said the benefits of COMBAT justified the
cost of the election.

"The anti-drug sales tax represents a nearly $20 million annual investment
by the citizens of Jackson County in fighting drug abuse," she said. "The
benefits of the tax -- both in law enforcement and prevention -- are worth
the investment."