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inform. educate. connect.
Arlington & Lakeland’s Community Newspaper
theview
.com
September 2017
Arlington Early Voting Trending Higher
Overall Turnout, Voter Registration Numbers Have Dropped Since 2012
Story and Photo by Terry Bondurant
In the first three days of early
voting for the September 21
municipal
elections,
126
Arlington citizens have already
cast their ballots, almost one-half
(45%) of the total early votes cast
in the either the 2013 (271) or
2015 September (274) municipal
elections.
Historically, Arlington has not
broken a thousand voters in a
September municipal election
since 2011, when 1930 ballots
were cast. The November 2012
School Board election, which was
later set aside, saw a whopping
5308 of 7241 registered Arlington
voters—over 73%—head to the
polls. That election was also held
in conjunction with the US
Presidential voting. In fact, more
votes were cast early (3055) than
on election day. More recent
municipal elections have had
turnouts as low as 13% (981 out
of 7531 registered voters in Sept.
2013) and 10% (779/7690 in Sept.
2015).
According to the latest data
available on the Shelby County
Election Commission current as
of February 2016, the Town of
Arlington is shown as having
6497 registered voters, down from
Signs point the way to early voting at Arlington Town Hall.
Early voting continues daily, except Sundays, through
September 16. A complete schedule of early voting dates and
times, as well as regular polling locations, can be found on
page 9.
over a thousand from the last two
municipal elections.
September 2015 was also the
last shared municipal election
with the City of Lakeland, which
shifted its commissioner and
school board terms to coincide
with November congressional
elections. With this change,
Arlington currently is the only
municipality in Shelby County to
hold odd-year elections.
So what does this mean? Your
vote counts more than you think.
Educate yourself on the issues and
candidate positions, ask questions,
and most importantly, get out and
vote.
Our
election
coverage
continues on page 6.
SUN-STRUCK
Inside this edition...
Courtesy of LES
Photo by Kim Odom, City of Lakeland
Students at Lakeland Elementary School and attendees of the Lakeland Senior Center gaze
skyward during the August 21, 2017 Eclipse. Even though 38002 only experienced 94% totality,
viewers made the most of the occasion. While students completed educational activities to learn
more about the phenomenon, the seniors enjoyed party bags filled with fun space-themed snacks
including Eclipse gum, Sun Chips, Starburst, Milky Way bars, and Moon Pies.
Happenings, p.2
Business News, p. 4
Election Coverage, p. 6-0
Real Estate Report, p 10
Pickin’ and Grinnin’ at
Lakeland Senior Center, p.
12
School News, p. 13
Sports, p. 14
Views from 38002, p. 16