Mar 31 2008
Cumberland Commissioners Hope High Primary Turn Out Will Help Raise Taxes
Cumberland County commissioners hope they get a positive bounce from the Democratic presidential primary on May 6.The commissioners are pushing a sales tax issue that also will be on the ballot. They want to raise the sales tax by a quarter percent.
Voters rejected the county’s first attempt in November, when turnout hovered around 10 percent.
The commissioners think a higher turnout, buoyed by the buzz over Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, will help this time. Both made stops in Fayetteville this month.
“I think people will be coming out for different reasons and will be going to the polls for something — a candidate — rather than going to vote against something in a special election,” Commissioner Jeannette Council said.
I’m not exactly certain why a higher turn out would raise the odds of voters casting a vote in the affirmative to allow the county commissioners to pick their pockets some more. Are they counting on a higher turn out of the ill-informed and stupid?
