2023 Town Election - Looking closer at some of the vote totals

How many voters actually came out in our “snow event” this past Town election day on the 14th of March?  

After taking a look at the data provided publicly by our Town Clerk, the following breakdown of the results on contested races, where there were only two candidates (where only one vote was called for) as well as either a Yes or No vote on Warrant Articles…it reveals interesting patterns on who and what voters...voted for or against...or simply chose not to vote on.  Please note that on the data released to the public, via the Town website after Election Day, there was no reporting provided on the complete number of "write-in" votes that were cast and how many "undervotes" were recorded (an undervote usually occurs when a voter doesn't cast a vote where it's called for...for example, when someone chooses to not vote for Candidate "A" or "B" when there's just two candidate's on the ballot for one position or if a voter is asked to vote for more than one candidate, for example..."vote for not more than 2 [or 3]" and they vote for less than what is called for).
 

Select Board - 915 total votes*       Tibbetts-565  /  Thomas-350

Planning Board - 718 total votes*     Sudak-464  /  Titcomb-254

Zoning Board - 846 total votes*    Hojaboom-486  /  Scully-360

Town Articles 

2    917 total votes*       Yes-777   No-140

3    910 total votes*       Yes-723   No-187

4    894 total votes*       Yes-647   No-247

5    901 total votes*       Yes-673   No-228

6    922 total votes*       Yes-656   No-266

7    910 total votes*       Yes-636   No-274

8    912 total votes*       Yes-689   No-223

9    923 total votes*       Yes-672   No-251

10  928 total votes*       Yes-620   No-308

11  910 total votes*       Yes-557   No-353

12  924 total votes*       Yes-556   No-368

13  925 total votes*       Yes-603   No-322

14  923 total votes*       Yes-777   No-146

15  911 total votes*       Yes-791   No-120

16  921 total votes*       Yes-776   No-145

17  912 total votes*       Yes-774   No-138

18  916 total votes*       Yes-682   No-234

19  923 total votes*       Yes-455   No-468

20  911 total votes*       Yes-579   No-332

21  922 total votes*       Yes-652   No-270

22  897 total votes*       Yes-531   No-366

23  918 total votes*       Yes-680   No-238

24  907 total votes*       Yes-678   No-229

25  933 total votes*       Yes-801   No-132

26  932 total votes*       Yes-762   No-170

27  929 total votes*       Yes-719   No-210

28  931 total votes*       Yes-680   No-251

29  969 total votes*       Yes-344   No-625

30  921 total votes*       Yes-387   No-534

*=unknown how many "Undervotes" occurred

​

It was inquired of our Town Clerk, on the evening of the vote recount at Town Hall of the School Moderator's race, to what the total voter count was on the 14th?  It was mentioned by one of the vote count observers there that evening, that given the total of Yes and No votes totaling 969 on the Town's Warrant Article 29, it appeared that may have been the approximate number of voters that showed up on our Town Election Day.  Our Town Clerk said the numbers on the “ballot sheet” uploaded to the Town website…are the numbers she’s given by the folks that actually do the ballot counting (after the polls close) in an effort to match up with the ballot count the vote tabulating machine produces, along with adding in the write-ins, etc.

Doesn't it seem odd there were a total of 969 "Yes" and "No" votes shown as cast for Town Warrant Article 29 and the next closest Warrant Article vote totals were in the neighborhood of 933 to 928…some 36 or more less votes cast on other Articles and many more less on other races and so on. 

So…just how many voters were counted (both in-person and by absentee ballot) on Tuesday March 14th…well, that's a good question.  

In any event, at the hand recount at Town Hall regarding the School Moderator’s position the results came to a 441 to 441 tie…which was resolved by a flip of a coin (agreed to by both candidates) and Mr. Munguia was the victor.   Originally, on the vote tally sheet, provided by our Town Clerk, the vote on the 14th had Mr. Munguia with 442 votes and Mr. Vose with 439…a total of 881 votes.  After the recount that evening, Mr. Munguia lost 1 vote and Mr. Vose gained 2 votes…now showing a total of 882 overall votes cast in that race.   

What the Town Clerk told everyone in attendance that evening at the recount, was there were 952 ballots attributed towards the School races and School Warrant Articles…which would translate in to 70 “undervotes” in the race for School Moderator.  So if this were the case, with using a total of 952 voters on School races and School Warrant Articles...the following would be the vote totals plus "Undervotes" per School Warrant Article:  

  School Articles  

1   865 total votes    Yes-513   No-352     Undervotes-87

2   921 total votes    Yes-546   No-375     Undervotes-31

3   865 total votes    Yes-486   No-379     Undervotes-87

4   915 total votes    Yes-565   No-350     Undervotes-37

5   861 total votes    Yes-536   No-325     Undervotes-91

6   845 total votes    Yes-710   No-135     Undervotes-107

7   844 total votes    Yes-591   No-253     Undervotes-108

8   832 total votes    Yes-446   No-386     Undervotes-120

​

So...if there were 952 voters, according to the Town Clerk...who cast votes on School races and School Warrant Articles and approximately 969 voters who cast votes on the Town races and Town Warrant Articles, there appears to be a high of at least 12.5% of voters who choose to not cast a ballot on School Warrant Article 8 and about 3.3% of voters that chose to do the same on School Warrant Article 2.  

​

On the other side, with Town races and Town Warrant Articles, knowing that there were at least 969 voters (using the total of Yes and No votes on Town Warrant Article 29), it appears there were nearly 6% of voters that didn't cast a vote in the Select Board race; almost 35% that didn't cast a vote for Planning Board; nearly 8.4% that didn't vote in the Zoning Board race...along with many of the other races and Warrant Articles.  

Either way you look at it...there appears to be a great need of an increased level of interest from the voters of our Town to engage in researching the value of casting their votes towards candidates and Warrant Articles who will benefit the majority.  For as much as elections seem to always gravitate towards a recognizable name and/or a popularity contest of sorts...or just reelecting those that want to hold elected positions, just for the sake of 'themselves' wanting to hold the office/title but not really willing to take the time and effort to serve...or always voting for Warrant Articles for this or that...because we always vote to pass 'that'...can not continue...as we are taxing ourselves in to oblivion.