Lance Davis declares victory in Ward 6 alderman race

[keithn.livejournal.com]

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lancedavisforward6/posts/1125063967522358

EDIT: The Somerville Journal has more details: http://somerville.wickedlocal.com/article/20151103/NEWS/151108457

Davis took 66% of the vote. All of the at-large incumbents won re-election.

Comments

[ron_newman]

These percentages (but no actual vote totals) are on the VoteSomerville.com website. I went to City Hall in hopes of receiving a paper spreadsheet with vote totals (as in September), but they instead took my e-mail address and sent me home. When I receive the e-mail, I'll post those numbers here.

[keithn.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm interested in seeing how close the last at-large alderman seat actually was. Those numbers on that website don't make sense. You vote for 4 candidates, there were 5 total, and it only shows the candidates getting 15-16% each. They must have divided each candidate's vote by the total sum of votes for all candidates, but it still seems off.

[ron_newman]

Yeah, they sum to 76.2% instead of 100%. I don't understand that.

[francescadavis.livejournal.com]

Some folks didn't use all four votes for the at-large candidates...only voting for the candidates they knew and/or liked.

[mem-winterhill.livejournal.com]

There is a voting strategy called a "bullet" [not to be confused with any weaponry, it's an old political term].

If you vote for your candidate, but not for others, your candidate gains but none of the others do. Of course, you could also do 2/4 or 3/4.

I did less than 4. But I'm not saying what....

Edit to add my evidence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_voting

[keithn.livejournal.com]

I did exactly this today. What isn't clear is how many times abstentions are being counted. I get the feeling that since the percentages sum up to 76.2%, the remaining 23.8% are people who completely abstained in the at-large election.

[ron_newman]

Unofficial election results:

Ward 6 Alderman
Lance Davis - 867 (63.3%)
Liz Weinbloom - 458 (33.4%)
Write-in - 6
Blank - 37
Total - 1368

Registered voters, Ward 6 only - 7344
Total ballots cast, Ward 6 only - 1368 (18.6%)

(Compare to September preliminary results here)

Alderman-at-Large, vote for up to four
Dennis Sullivan - 4350
Mary Jo Rossetti - 4128
Bill White - 4035
Jack Connolly - 3670
Sean Fitzgerald - 3512
Write-in - 130
Blank - 6408 (I assume this represents all uncast votes in this race)

Registered voters, citywide - 46314
Total ballots cast, citywide - 6559 (14.2%)

[gruene.livejournal.com]

Your assumption about blank votes is correct. We record a "bullet vote" as one vote for that person and three blanks.

[ron_newman]

I put a copy of the city's unofficial election result spreadsheet at this Dropbox link. Once the city puts the results on the Election Department home page, I'll link to them there instead of to my Dropbox.

EDIT: The city has placed the unofficial election results on its own website now.

Winners of the contested School Committee races: Steven Roix (Ward 1), Lee Erica Palmer (Ward 3), Andre Green (Ward 4)

[ron_newman]

No, the 23.8% are all the votes that could have been cast, but weren't (see gruene's comment below)

So, on average, each voter cast approximately one blank vote for alderman-at-large.

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

What is the most current "official" city population? Well maybe a better question is how many are 18 and older; I ask because obviously more people should be registered to vote - or at least I hoped more were. I guess it a personal thing I just wish everyone would vote

[ron_newman]

2010 US census data say that Somerville's population was 75,635, with 12.1% under 18. That gives us 66,483 adults. However, that total includes non-citizens who are not eligible to vote, and probably also some college students who are registered in their home towns instead of here.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Somehow I only just now noticed that his last name is the name of our square. I wonder if he is related to Person Davis at all...