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2008 Referendum Profiles

The 2008 referendum historically had the lowest voter participation in memory.  Moreover, the percentage of voters approving the Budget was the lowest in years.

 

referendum reg voters # voters % registered voters # approved Budget % registered voters
2003 2nd 8,202 2,928 36% 1,712 21%
2004 1st 8,443 2,414 29%    
2004 2nd 8,443 2,774 33%    
2004 3rd 8,443 3,486 41% 2,025 24%
2005 1st 8,995 2,444 27% 1,377 15%
2006 1st 8,850 2,250 25%    
2006 2nd 8,850 2,843 32%    
2006 3rd 8,850 3,087 35% 1,576 18%
2007 1st 8,965 2,518 28%    
2007 2nd 9,015 2,683 30%    
2007 3rd 9,091 2,784 31%    
2007 4th 9,153 3,183 35% 1,846 20%
2008 1st 9,215 1,579 17% 1,185 (a) 13%

Looking deeper into the public records shows some interesting patterns.  In general, voters in 2007 and 2008 approved the same mill rate.  Yet, 2008 showed 1,604 people chose to stay home.

 

  2007 4th 2008 1st (a) change
Yes 1,846 1,185 (661)
No 1,337 394 (943)
       
Total 3,183 1,579 (1,604)

(a) average of Town and Board of Education votes

 

Who were those voters that decided to stay home?

There are two wonderful public documents that answer this question.  The Town Clerk (for a fee) will provide a copy of the voter check off list.  This details who voted for the referendum.  The registrar's office has an electronic file that has a lot of detail for each registered voter.  This includes name, address, gender, date of birth and party affiliation.

Based upon these records, the following demographic trends resulted.

Men            (738)

Women      (866)

 

Unaffiliated        (737)

Democrat           (497)

Republican         (368)

Other                   (    2)

 

60 and over        (384)

45-49                   (289)

30-39                   (273)

40-44                   (273)

50-54                   (192)

55-59                   (144)

18-29                   (  49)

 

party code sex age groups # voters 2007 4th ref 2008 1st Change
U F 30-39 482 169 64 (105)
U F 40-44 368 161 71 (90)
D F 60 and over 417 184 96 (88)
D M 60 and over 303 163 80 (83)
U F 60 and over 404 134 56 (78)
U M 60 and over 355 132 58 (74)
U F 45-49 327 139 65 (74)
U M 40-44 323 104 38 (66)
U M 30-39 368 97 37 (60)
D F 45-49 216 102 42 (60)

Clearly, unaffiliated, young voters chose to stay at home the most.

Why?

 

 

Studies show low voter turnout is the effect of three circumstances; contentment; indifference or disenchantment.

One could argue older voters stayed at home because there was no tax increase.  For younger voters, however, there is nothing in the data to substantiate one affect was more prevalent than the others.

 

Want to get involved to increase voter awareness? 

There is a group forming to public debate regional, local, state and national issues.  These moderated debates will be open to the public and elected officials.  These will not be gripe sessions or one sided efforts to promote any agenda.  If you are interested in more information please send an email to editor@Colchestertalks.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Last modified: 08/06/08