Fairgrounds May Drive Some Metro Voters to the Polls

Aside from all 40 Metro Council seats and the office of mayor, Davidson County voters will have the chance to weigh in on the future of the state fairgrounds starting Friday.

Bellevue Councilman Eric Crafton is in favor of the fairgrounds amendment, which makes it much harder for the city to redevelop the site. He’s also running for one of the five at-large seats and says the issue could attract otherwise disinterested voters.

“It’s hard to know, but if the fairgrounds issue is an issue, I think that’s good.”

Four years ago, 30 percent of Davidson County voters turned out for city elections, but that was with a hotly contested mayoral race. In 2003, only 18 percent of registered voters made it to the polls.

Early voting starts Friday. Election Day is August 4th.