What If You Threw an Election and No One Showed Up?

Empty voting booths today in Dogtown.

Mayor Francis Slay may be asking himself that question today. I swung by my voting station -- Roe Elementary School in Dogtown -- around 11:30 this morning. Just 82 people in the precinct had bothered to show up before me.

The polling place was darn near empty during the five minutes I was there. In fact, one election official was so bored he was practicing free-throws in the empty gymnasium.

The only contest on my ballot was the Democratic primary for mayor, with incumbent Slay facing off against Irene Smith and Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman. I can only imagine that wards with aldermanic races will get a better turn out.