Report: DC officials lower turnout estimate for Inauguration Day

Officials in the District of Columbia are lowering their turnout projections for President Obama’s second inauguration.

Chris Geldart, the director of the District's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said Sunday that they now expect between 500,000 and 700,000 people to attend the Monday events, according to a report in The Associated Press. 

That figure is below the original 600,000-to-800,000 estimate, which itself was well below the 1.8 million estimated to have watched Obama being sworn in on Jan. 20, 2009.

The report said that city officials are basing their revised number on the number of charter buses that have arrived in Washington as well as an accounting of hotel and restaurant reservations.

But Geldart said that officials are not making any alterations to their security or transportation plans.

President Obama’s second term officially began shortly before noon on Sunday, when he was sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in a short ceremony at the White House.

But because the inauguration date set by the Constitution falls on a Sunday, organizers are holding the ceremonial public swearing-in and inaugural parade on Monday. 

Vice President Biden was also sworn in earlier Sunday, by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

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