Ed McIntyre and Mayor Bob Young should know. They've been there before.

Four years ago, when they opposed each other in a runoff for mayor, they faced the same reality: The race's outcome has almost nothing to do with getting out their message and almost everything to do with getting out the vote.

"The candidate that can get his voters back to the polls will win," said Ralph Walker, a local elections expert and the political scientist emeritus at Augusta State University.

The candidates say they agree, explaining that voter turnout - not public appearances or televised debates - will be their focus in the coming days.

"If people don't know the issues by now, they're not interested in their government, I would assume," Mr. McIntyre said.

"People have already decided who they're going to vote for," Mr. Young agreed. "It's just a matter of getting them to the polls."

Normally, runoffs generate only a fraction of the turnout of general elections. But the norm hasn't always proved true when it comes to Augusta's mayoral races.

Using history as its guide, the Richmond County Board of Elections will send out just as many voting machines Nov. 26 as it distributed to local polling places Nov. 5. Turnout for the 1998 mayoral runoff was - for the first time in the city's history - slightly higher than in the general election, with 830 more votes cast.

If turnout for this year's runoff exceeds the 60 percent mark of the 2002 general election, every voting machine will need to be available, said Lynn Bailey, the executive director of the elections board.

"These elections for mayor are very important to the citizens of this community," Mrs. Bailey said. "We owe it to citizens here to make it as convenient as possible to vote."

This year, the runoff takes place two days before the Thanksgiving holiday, just as it did four years ago, so absentee ballots could play a key role.

As of Friday afternoon, the elections board had processed 1,792 absentee ballots, and officials were expecting to receive 400 to 500 more a day through Nov. 25.

Mr. Young, who mailed out 24,000 absentee ballot applications for the general election, said he sent out 33,000 last week.

Mr. McIntyre said he is concentrating his efforts and his money on advertising to encourage his supporters to return to the polls. He lost the 1998 runoff election with 45 percent of the vote to Mr. Young's 55 percent.

Political experts say Mr. McIntyre's biggest strength is his ability to drive voters to the polls, something that likely will prove to be Mr. Young's toughest challenge.

"Ed McIntyre does an extraordinarily good job at turning out voters," Dr. Walker said. "I've never known anyone to turn out the vote like Ed does."

Reach Heidi Coryell Williams at (706) 823-3215 or heidi.williams@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Sunday, November 17, 2002 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle