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Voters wait until last minute As late as Monday morning, Jackson County's turnout was dismal: Only 27 percent had turned in their ballots By DANI DODGE Mail Tribune They'd puzzled over gubernatorial choices and wrestled with Measure 13, but by Sunday night, they'd made their decisions. On Monday, those next-to-last-minute voters were bumper-to-bumper - dented pickups to shiny Cadillacs to dog-nose-smeared mini-vans - headed for the ballot drop box at the Jackson County Courthouse. "I procrastinated a little," admitted Alice Saunders, a retired Medford teacher, as she dropped off her ballot Monday. "I love to garden and I'd rather get out in the garden and pull weeds than study the ballot," she said. "I did the easy ones a few days before and left the hard ones for last." Saunders isn't alone. After a surprisingly slow weekend, only 27 percent of voters had turned in their ballots by Monday morning, according to County Clerk Kathy Beckett. "I came in Sunday to pick up the drop sites at the payment center and on the street and I bet I only got 750 ballots between the both," Beckett said. "It was really, really, really bad. I was anticipating coming in twice on Sunday, but there was nothing in the box. "It's just really bleak." Today is the last day to vote in the primary. Voters can drop off their ballots at several boxes at the County Courthouse, 10 S. Oakdale Ave., Medford, or at local libraries until 8 p.m. Several money measures on the ballot, including a $40 million Rogue Community College expansion bond, require not only majority approval but also a 50 percent turnout to pass. So even if the majority of people who vote support expansion of RCC, it won't pass unless 50 percent of voters turn in their ballots. A police levy in Gold Hill - where only 33 percent of voters had cast ballots Monday - faces the same challenge. "I think we are going to be slammed (today)," Beckett said. "But will it be enough? "I don't know." Many of the people who dropped off ballots Monday said they filled them out after dinner on Sunday. "We ate out at Arby's and when we got back, it was one of the things we still had to do," said Dick Wyatt, a retired power company technician living in Medford. He said he and his wife struggled over the gubernatorial race, for which there are a number of choices in both the Republican and Democratic primaries. "I don't know those guys at all," Wyatt said. "And if you depend on what they say on TV, forget it - you don't know who's telling the truth. "My wife says, 'I like this guy best,' so I said, 'Well, let's go ahead then.' " Tricia Prendergast, a grant writer and yoga teacher, stopped by the old County Courthouse Monday on her way between jobs. She, too, struggled with gubernatorial choices. But she also spent a lot of time thinking about Measure 13, which proposes taking $220 million from a School Endowment Fund to offset cuts in education. "I needed to do research on both," the Medford resident said. "A lot of people who voted early didn't fill it all in, but I think it's important to study the measures and study the people and be as informed as possible." Earl Olsen, a retired electronics engineer who lives in Phoenix, said he and his wife were initially intimidated by the choices on the ballot. "It looked complicated at first," Olsen said. "But then after I looked it over, it was easy." Medford resident Bill McArdle had a unique excuse Monday as he joined in the line at the drop box. He filled out his ballot nearly two weeks ago. He then put it in the secrecy envelope, tucked that into the outer envelope, signed the back and put a stamp on it. Then he left it tucked in the visor of his truck. By Monday, it was obviously too late to mail. "I don't mind wasting a stamp," McArdle said. "I always vote." Saunders said for her, the most difficult choice was the governor's race. She said she used the Voters' Pamphlet and the newspaper to help make her choice. "I had a hard time wondering if I'd made the right choice," Saunders said. "I finally decided I won't know anything more if I keep studying it." And she voted. Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.