Table Games - Kanawha County (Updated)

The Associated Press sets the stage for the final days of early voting and Saturday's special election on the table games question.

I looked at the early voting so far in Kanawha County, allegations that opponents have been harassed and their signs vandalized or stolen, and the extensive polling that the Nitro track has conducted.

The close nature of the contest invites comparisons to 1994, when voters in the four racetrack counties were asked to authorize video lottery machines.



The above chart suggests several parallels with 1994, including the rejection of the pending initiative by Jefferson County voters. Turnout also appears similar (note that Jefferson's population has increased since 1994).

The chart also offers the turnout for the previous referendum election, the (unsuccessful) pension bond proposal of 2005.

The Charleston Gazette's Phil Kabler looked back to the 1994 vote, and to recent polling by Tri-State, in his Sunday column.

Update: The Charleston Daily Mail examines how "a big chunk of the state's take of the revenue generated at the racetracks can't be spent on anything other than debt reduction."