On Tuesday, 8 candidates compete for two at-large seats on the City Commission

SARASOTA— This week's Sarasota City Commission race is on pace for another year of low voter turnout, if early voting totals are an indication.

Only 3,540 ballots were delivered by mail or cast in person as of the end of early voting on Saturday afternoon.

That represents just 9.4 percent voter turnout of the city's approximately 37,579 registered voters, all of whom could cast ballots in this year's race for the commission's two at-large seats that represent the entire city.

Although turnout is difficult to predict, voting through last week was roughly on pace with past elections that have struggled to draw more than about 7,000 votes, Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner said last week.

City leaders have often chided the "abysmal" low turnout for the commission's spring elections, and low vote totals again this year are likely to make several of the margins between the eight candidates vying for the two seats razor thin.

That could mean only a couple dozen votes, or even fewer, as has happened in past races, could decide which three candidates earn the most votes to advance to a May 9 runoff.

But unusually high turnout on Tuesday could help push participation above the last citywide commission race, which saw 18 percent turnout, Turner said.

"When you're looking at turnout, obviously it's not very high in comparison to countywide elections," he said. "What I saw in 2015 and 2013 (Sarasota municipal elections), more voted by mail or on election day. (In-person) early voting turnout has been historically light in the city of Sarasota."

The Supervisor of Elections office issued 5,739 vote-by-mail ballots and has received 2,721 back to the office as of Saturday, according to the latest statistics. Ballots will be accepted through 7 p.m. Tuesday, when polls close, and can be dropped off at the elections office at 2001 Adams Lane.

The office issued more vote-by-mail ballots than it has in the past, but that is likely because many city voters who requested one for the November general election also received one last month, hopefully raising the exposure of the race, Turner said.

Only 819 voters cast ballots at in-person early voting, according to early returns.

Despite much fanfare this spring about trying to get younger people involved in the election, only a little more than 50 voters under 30 years old have cast ballots, according to Turner's data. That's less than 1 percent of the approximately 6,150 voters in that age group registered to vote.

Voters 65 years old and up have cast well over 2,000 of the ballots received so far, he added.

A new media group called Sarasota Underground made a point of addressing the shortage of young voters in the election at an entertaining, Millennial-oriented town hall with the eight candidates last month that drew hundreds of attendees to Municipal Auditorium.

"There is no excuse for 6,000 voters to decide the direction of this community, because then all we can do is sit back and complain," Sarasota Underground Founder Raymmar Tirado told the audience.

It is hard to move that needle and even if it works, the younger population is simply a minority in Sarasota, Tirado admits. But that won't stop Tirado, who aims to hold more town halls and engage his company's younger audience on particular policy issues, like downtown events and noise rules, when they do come before the commission.

Critics have argued for moving the city's spring elections to November, either with general elections or separately on odd years, to pump up turnout and increase voter participation, especially from younger voters. Supporters argue the spring election gives the city races their due attention instead of burying it down ballot.

The current City Commission dropped that idea after debating it several times last spring, but Tirado asked this year's candidates if they would support the move to November at the Sarasota Underground town hall. Only incumbent Susan Chapman and STOP! co-founder Jennifer Ahearn-Koch said they would not.

The final turnout remains to be seen and Turner declined to make any predictions.

"There's certainly no lines in early voting," Turner said and laughed. "I don't suspect there will be lines next Tuesday, but I've been telling people all elections are important; there are no small elections."