Somerville election results, and general post-election open thread

[ron_newman]

Unofficial Somerville election results, broken down by precinct and ward, are here. I don't think you'll find any great surprises. Citywide:

Total votes: 35062
Obama-Biden: 28467 (81.2%)
Romney-Ryan: 4865 (13.9%)
Stein-Honkala: 747 (2.1%)
Johnson-Gray: 543 (1.5%)
Write In: 108 (0.3%)
Blank: 332 (0.9%)

Local question 4, the Community Preservation Act property tax surcharge, won overwhelmingly, 24358-7714 (with 2990 blanks). I hope this will bring much-needed repairs and restoration to the West Branch Library and the Prospect Hill Tower.

I'd love to compare this year's local results to 2008, but I can't find them online anywhere. If you know where to find these, please link to them in the comments here. The pages linked from my 11/7/2008 post no longer work. ETA: Tom Champion e-mailed me an Excel spreadsheet from which I extracted these citywide results for 2008. I also converted that 2008 spreadsheet into a Google Doc which you can find here.

This post is an open thread for any discussion whatsoever about yesterday's election (Somerville-related or otherwise).

Comments

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Salute to the hundreds (thousands?) of fellow voters who patiently waited their turn in the looong line at Ciampa Manor yesterday morning in the cold. When I joined the line at 7:40AM it was snaked two blocks back from College Avenue, and maybe it got even longer as the morning progressed. This was a much bigger turnout at that hour than I remember from 2008, and in spite of a lot of freezing feet and fingers (after a while I was physically unable to text anymore), it was great to see so many neighbors brave the cold for their turn!

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

There was a jackhammer hard at work across the street from the line. Best morning quote, from the guy behind me to his girlfriend: "Is this voter intimidation?" :-)

[thespian.livejournal.com]

When I was giving out coffee at Teele Square, I went to post a one line thing to facebook and found that my fingers were no longer warm enough to be recognized by my phone.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

That is SO awesome what you did, by the way. I meant to say so yesterday on Facebook, but I had like 12 browser windows open all day and I didn't get a chance. America needs more cool Canadians! :-D

[ron_newman]

Denise Provost and Joe Lynch came by with coffee and donuts for the 6-1 line, which people greatly appreciated.

[ron_newman]

I volunteered for the city at 6-1 (Kennedy School) from about 9 to 1:45 yesterday. When I first arrived, the line was all the way to the end of Sartwell and continued some distance down Cherry Street. I think it was over 2 hours long at its peak.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Yup, it was over 2 hours long at its peak! (We got there a bit after 10am, and didn't get out until almost 12:30.) My three year old daughter did an amazing job of holding it together while we waited, and I was impressed at how few people abandoned the line.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Is there any official word as to what caused the unusually long lines at 6-1, or was it just bad luck of everyone showing up at once?

[ron_newman]

I think we need two or three check-in tables in the future, though I'm not sure how that can be done logistically. The 'gating' factor was the check-in line, not waiting for a booth or feeding the ballot into the machine.

[somgirl4.livejournal.com]

It was like that everywhere. Most places said they've never seen so many voters not even in 2008. I also think most people seem to go at the same times. In the morning before work. In the afternoon on lunch break and in the evening after work. Then you have large groups of people who want to avoid the morning, afternoon and evening crowds who try to go on off hours.

[ron_newman]

Tom Champion must have seen this post, as he e-mailed me an Excel spreadsheet with the unofficial 2008 Somerville election results. I don't see a good way to paste it in here without wrecking the format of this page (it has 30 columns). So I'll just include the citywide results from 2008:

Total votes: 32815
Obama-Biden: 26450 (80.6%)
McCain-Palin: 5197 (15.8%)
Nader-Gonzalez: 295 (0.8%)
Barr-Root: 200 (0.6%)
McKinney-Clemente: 153 (0.5%)
Baldwin-Castle: 52 (0.2%)
Write In: 160 (0.5%)
Blank: 308 (0.9%)

We had 2247 more voters in Somerville this year.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

Could you put it in a Google doc and link to it? I am curious to see precinct by precinct turnout numbers.

Thanks!

[ron_newman]

Sure, here it is.

Cool

[gruene.livejournal.com]

Every single precinct gained voters from the last go, ranging from 10 more in (already high turnout) 6-2 to 360 more in Tufts centered 6-3. I suspect the Warren campaign, which was actively registering and turning out voters, had a lot to do with this. Good work!

[keithn.livejournal.com]

Were you the guy walking down the line with the enrollment book?

[ron_newman]

Most likely, though several of us were doing that at different times. I'm about 5'4", on the thin side, and I think I was wearing a black hoodie.

[keithn.livejournal.com]

I found a picture of you - I definitely met you, however briefly!

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i volunteered at the brown school and when i got there at ten the wait was an hour and a half, but they told me that earlier the wait was two hours. evidently people started out waiting outside, but by the time i got there the line was all inside the building. (up and down the stairs and down a couple hallways, but inside.)

[fangirl715.livejournal.com]

I got to the Brown School around 7:50ish, and didn't get out until around 9:20, so it was an hour & a half then. The line started out the door, down Josephine, and then took a sharp right into the parking lot, but sometime after 8 the officer on duty started moving people inside so we wouldn't all freeze, although it wasn't a whole lot warmer until you got down to the lower level and away from the door. (BTW, I brought along a batch of brownies for the poll workers--were any left when you got there? :-)

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

there were! and i ate one and it was yummy! i thought one of the other volunteers had brought them. thank you!

i figured everyone moved inside because it was (theoretically) warmer than standing outside. i admit i was really surprised when i got there at ten and there was NO ONE waiting outside, and then i was surprised again when there was this long line snaking up and down the hall inside and up the stairs.