Most voters say 'No' to off-year elections
by Matt Scallan - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

People who cast ballots in today's election will have a lot more political clout than usual, if history is a guide. "We'll be lucky if we have a 10 percent turnout," said Betty Madere, registrar of voters in St. John the Baptist Parish, basing her estimate on a trickle of early votes cast for a bond issues and property tax re-dedications by the parish agencies. In St. John and St. Charles parishes, where measures up for consideration include borrowing money for capital improvements and in St. John, a re-allocation of existing property taxes, proponents have been on the stump trying to lure supporters of the proposition to the polls. But big turnout at the polls have historically tended to revolve around people, not propositions.