As the midterm primary elections took place Tuesday, voters in New York state and across America decided which candidate could address major issues most effectively.

Although the on-campus voting at Syracuse University was incredibly low, The Post-Standard reported a greater voter turnout in the city overall on Tuesday.

In comparison to 2007, the last midterm election year, there was a 30 percent increase in votes, according to an article published on Tuesday.

Experts said voter turnout is usually lower in midterm elections, especially primaries, than during a presidential election. But the country is still facing a sluggish economy, a record-breaking national debt and a war in Afghanistan, along with other major issues.

Voter reaction has even led to the rise of alternative political activism in the form of the tea party, an extreme right-wing movement.

The Daily Orange asks the experts, ‘What are the major issues voters should be thinking about in the upcoming election?’

—Contributing writer Bianca Szklaruk contributed reporting to this article.

Meet the Expert: Tina Nabatchi, assistant professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs

‘The U.S. faces numerous policy challenges at the federal, state and local levels. Instead of being issue-specific, I think voters need to ask themselves: Of the candidates, who is the best situated and most likely to cross the aisle and help break the gridlock that is paralyzing government from taking meaningful action on a range of issues?’

Meet the Expert: Norm Keim, former professor in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and E.S. Bird Library volunteer election inspector

‘There apparently weren’t any major issues since there were so few voters. The interesting thing will be if the outsiders win. (Carl) Paladino is an outsider. If he beat (Rick) Lazio — Lazio is the GOP man — that shows people are disgruntled.’

Meet the Expert: Susan Greenman, Bird Library volunteer election inspector

‘I think the economy. If I had to narrow it down: jobs and the economy. That’s nationally. There’s a lot of issues: The growth in size of the federal deficit, the tremendous burden we put on our children and grandchildren because of the debt.’

Meet the Expert: Jeff Stonecash, professor in Maxwell

‘Voters should be thinking about what they really want out of government — more or less regulation, more or less services, more or less taxes — and which candidates will best represent those concerns.’

Published on September 14, 2010 at 12:00 pm