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Crunch time By Sean Wolfe Ashland Daily Tidings Tepid voter turnout has fueled last-minute efforts to get out the vote by supporters of the Youth Activity Levy. Ashland High School senior Marla Morin pleads for a 'yes' vote Monday on the Plaza. Last-minute campaigning for the levy continued today. Ashland Daily Tidings/DENISE BARATTA Today, as the last remaining hours available to cast ballots tick away, supporters and volunteers are hoping to secure a win by working the phones, holding banners aloft in front of ballot dropoff sites, and even volunteering to pick up and deliver ballots for homebound voters. Greg Clevenger, Youth Activities Levy co-chair, said he was apprehensive, but still felt there was a solid chance of the measure passing. "Our sense is as we're calling people that we probably have support for the measure, but we've got to get that voter turnout," Clevenger said this morning. "We want the levy to pass - there's no question about that, but more importantly we want people to vote. We'd rather have people actively express their views than passively sit back." But voter passivity - and in some cases, an inaccurate voter registry - appears to be part of the problem. According to Jackson County Clerk Kathy Beckett, turnout has been weak - typical for elections at this time of year. "We're just not seeing the numbers come in. We are expecting a heavy surge this afternoon and evening, but this is the traditional special district election, and for turnout we're about where we've always been. What adds a monkeywrench is there are a few city measures - including the levy - that require a double majority. So depending on how those measure are looked at in the community, and how active the political action committees are regarding those issues has a lot of bearing on whether they'll receive the support," Beckett said. According to Beckett, turnout as of press time this morning was 40.9 percent for Ashland, 37.9 percent for Phoenix, and 23.1 percent for Jackson County. Ashland School Board director Chuck Keil said he was confident the levy would pass - but whether it succeeds or fails at the polls still ought to send a clear message to legislators in Salem. "Assuming our measure and other local measures pass, the message (our legislators) need to take back is one of frustration at the local level with inactivity at the state level. The frustration is taking the form of attempts to provide local funding. It is a measure of the exasperation of local communities that emanates from the failure of the Legislature to provide stable long-term funding. We literally have hundreds of volunteers working on this, and they're doing it because the 91 people in Salem aren't doing it," Keil said. Some 35 of those volunteers have been working the phones from Ashland-based Darex Corp., which has donated office space and phone lines to support the cause. According to Keil, volunteers Monday placed nearly 2,000 phone calls to registered voters who had not yet cast a ballot. But according to Clevenger, those phone efforts revealed that many registered voters have moved away, or disconnected their phones. That makes Clevenger question the necessity of having ballot measures require a double majority to pass. "The other issue with the double majority is that we've found quite a few disconnected phone lines and that tells us that voters registered here have moved away, but they're still counting against us. It's to be expected. Ashland is a college town, and college kids come and go. And you can't realistically expect the county - strapped as it is - to spend lots of time and effort to track down voters," Clevenger said. In addition, more volunteers with vehicles are available to visit the homebound to pick up and deliver ballots. To take advantage of this service, voters can call 541-944-5693, Clevenger said. Drop-off locations are slated to close at 8 p.m. These include the Recorder's Office at Ashland City Hall, public libraries in Ashland, Phoenix, Talent, as well as Central Point, Eagle Point, Shady Cove, Rogue River, Gold Hill, and Jacksonville. Voters are encouraged to use the recorder's office site in Ashland rather than the Ashland Public Library; the library - which underwent renovations up until Monday - will only accept ballots until 5 p.m. today. Those also must be transferred to the recorder's office in time to meet the 8 p.m. deadline. The county Elections Center drop box is located at 1101 W. Main St. in Medford and is open until 8 p.m. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -