Heads, It’s Voting, Tails It’s TV People Have Many Methods To Choose Candidates

Angie Mott prefers a candidate with an honest personality, one who will take the time to say hello, someone who seems sincere.

Linda Wheeler looks first for women candidates and then for liberals.

Martha and Phyllis, two elderly women who live in a Coeur d’Alene retirement complex, will vote on the candidate their friend told them about.

“She gives us the lowdown,” Martha said, declining to give her last name. “She was born and raised here so we trust her.”

Just about everyone has a different way of deciding which candidate to vote for - or whether to vote at all.

When they go to the polls on Tuesday, North Idaho residents will have a host of homegrown candidates to pick over. With no national or statewide matters at stake, local voters will have to draw on their tried-and-true methods for choosing candidates - many whose names are unfamiliar.

But first voters will have to decide whether to even bother going to the polls for a ho-hum election.

“I think the turnout goes down the closer you get to home,” said Bill Lund, a political science professor at the University of Idaho. He teaches the school’s political parties and elections class.

Karen Stephens of Coeur d’Alene admits she probably won’t vote next week. But her reasons have more to do with the difficulties that come with low-profile local elections.

Like many of the people interviewed last week, Stephens said she hadn’t heard much about the local candidates and didn’t know any of their names.

Unlike national elections, it’s harder to get information on the hometown hopefuls, Stephens said. “You don’t hear as much on TV,” she said.

Also, “there really isn’t any major issue in town I am concerned with right now,” she said. “So, I’m going to slack.”

Despite the low-key elections, Melanie Poole of Coeur d’Alene said both she and her children will cast their ballots. Through a program called Kids Voting, children will be allowed their say on Tuesday. Organizers hope the program will help get more adults to the polls as well.

The turnout for presidential elections tends to be between 50 and 60 percent, Lund said. In congressional elections during non-presidential years, turnout is usually between 30 and 40 percent. Studies of big cities show the turnout for municipal elections can go as low as 15 to 20 percent, he said.

When Coeur d’Alene residents took to the polls in 1987 - the last time the city had a contested council race like this year’s - only 4,113 people cast ballots out of 13,773 registered voters. That’s not quite 30 percent.

In Washington, a better percentage of voters is likely to turn out on Tuesday, given the lengthy, complicated ballot in that state.

For an off year - no presidential race on the national ballot, no mayor’s race on most Washington city ballots - this is one complicated election year for folks in the Evergreen State.

Voters there can approve certain types of gambling, ban certain types of fishing, rearrange the concept of property rights, change the way the state Supreme Court’s chief justice and the wildlife director are chosen - all before they turn the first page of their ballots.

JoAnn Young, owner of a used-book store on Garland Avenue, said she will approach the ballot like a test, studying the voter’s guide the night before.

For candidates for local office, who are not covered by the guide, she looks at their views on women’s issues. “We’ve been put down so long,” she said.

One candidate won her vote by stopping in the store. “If I’ve met them,” that makes an impression, Young said.

Voters in Spokane County get no respite by turning to the ballot’s second page. There they will be asked to combine the county government with the Spokane city government and to raise the sales tax 1/10 by of a cent.

Spokane voters also choose from among 21 presidential candidates on the ballot. The same presidential candidates are on the ballot in the City of Coeur d’Alene.

“I’ve never seen such a big ballot for the president in my life,” said Thurley Pack, as she dropped off the ledger at the South Hill Senior Center in Spokane, where she serves as treasurer. “I’ve never heard of half of them.”

Pack always votes - “It’s a privilege” - but this year, the retired high school business teacher said she spent more time than usual with her voter’s pamphlet, reading the newspaper and listening to speakers on such things as the charter.

Kate McCaslin, a veteran campaign consultant in Spokane, believes many voters will make their decisions the traditional way.

“They are always thinking about their pocketbook: How much in taxes they’re paying now, whether they’ll keep their job next year,” she said.

Two predominant theories exist regarding how a person decides whether to vote, Lund said. The first theory says it’s based on party affiliation, trust in government and whether the person feels they can make a change in the world.

People who are strong Democrats or Republicans are more likely to vote than independents, he said. The same holds true for those who feel like they can make a difference.

Also, “The more they trust the government the more likely they are to vote,” Lund said.

The other theory holds that people decide whether to vote after weighing the costs and benefits.

“If you think about the cost of voting in terms of the time to register, time to vote and time to study on the candidates, you have to weigh that against the benefits,” he said. “Do I want to spend the evening reading about Bill Clinton and Colin Powell or do I want to spend the evening watching the football game. Which will give me the biggest benefit?”

However, behind both theories is one common thread. The less education, the lower your status, the lower your income - the less likely you are to vote.

“The less educated you are the less likely you are to feel a sense of efficacy and trust in the system,” Lund said.

Because Tuesday’s elections are municipal, they will be strictly non-partisan in North Idaho - that means no handy Republican or Democrat labels to help voters make their decisions.

But “Nonpartisan elections are somewhat of a misnomer,” said state Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Coeur d’Alene. He is also owner of Rasor and Associates Inc., a public relations firm that works with candidates.

He believes that even in the local elections, partisan politics has its role. People will still seek out the candidate that most closely identifies with the party they favor.

“I go by the Democrat or woman theory,” said Linda Wheeler of Post Falls.

Signs she looks for? A candidate with strong religious ties may be conservative. She figures an older man is also more likely to be conservative - not to her liking.

“I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Republican,” said Mike Sharon, a Post Falls business owner. “I don’t think I’ve ever voted for a Democrat.”

Even in the local elections he said he’ll try to determine who is a Republican. “I’ll try to read up on our candidates to determine which one is conservative,” he said.

Angie Mott said she focuses on what type of person the candidate is and how true to their word they seem.

“To me, I listen to them speak,” she said. “It’s more their personality. You can usually tell if they’re sincere.”

Of course, in smaller Idaho towns there is a much better chance voters will know a candidate personally.

In one recent election, Mott voted for a candidate because he was her neighbor. “I’ve known him since I was six years old,” she said, “and his daughter was my best friend.”

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Winda Benedetti Staff writer Staff writers Jim Camden, Kristina Johnson and J.Todd Foster contributed to this report.