Sunday, September 9, 2012

If you are running countywide expect some voter undervote in Wilmington

Candidates for offices other than mayor of Wilmington  may be disappointed if they don't anticipate some undervoting where people enter the voting booth and skip some contests on the ballot. While there is some undervoting everywhere it appears to occur more in the City of Wilmington than suburban New Castle County.

In 2004 the countywide undervote for County Executive was 782 out of  27,198, meaning 782 votes entered the voting booth and skipped that contest on the ballot. This represented a 2.88% undervote in the County Executive's race countywide. Since 7436 city voters cast ballots,but only 7043 voted in the County executive race a 5.3% undervote much higher than the county as a whole. The City of Wilmington , which supplied only 7436 of 27, 198 voters casting ballot or 27.3 % of voters participating , supplied 393  of the 782 undervotes in the County Executive's race or 50.25% of the undervote. Suburban New Castle County cast 19,762 of 27,198 ballots,but only accounted for 389 of the undervotes for an undervote % of 1.97%. While one in every 20 Wilmington voters skipped the County Executive's race while they were in the voting booth, only one in every 50 suburban voters skipped the County Executive.

While it wasn't a factor in the County Executive's race in 2004 since Chris Coons got more votes than his two opponents combined, it may have been a factor in the County Council President's race where the countywide undervote of 1456 far exceeded the154 vote  margin of victory for Paul Clark over Penrose Hollins. Since Hollins trounced Clark 64.4% to 21.5% in the city and lost to Clark 45.7 to 29.2 in suburban New Castle County, having higher undervote in the area where Hollins was the strongest may have decreased his chances of winning.



http://electionsncc.delaware.gov/2004p/undervote.pdf

http://electionsncc.delaware.gov/2004p/turnout_ed.pdf


For 2008 the New Castle County Elections Department does not breakdown primary voter tunrout by party or suplly undervote tallies,so I used the Governor's race as the considered total turnout (realizing some people did not vote in that race,but since it far surpassed turnout of any races it gives our best guess at total Democratic turnout)looked at undervoting based on that race as the starting point.

The suburban undervote was percentage wise about half as large as the Wilmington undervote. While 1 in 29 suburban voters cast ballots in the Governor's race and skipped County Executive, 1 in 13 Wilmington voters did the same thing.



Countywide Gov. 50,659 votes cast
Countywide County Executive 48,493 votes cast
Countywide undervote 2166 or 4.3% 
Wilmington Gov  10,927 votes cast
Wilmington mayor 10,515 votes cast
Wilmington County Executive 10,092 votes cast
Wilmington undervote County Executive race 835 votes or 7.6%
Suburban NCC Gov 39,732
Suburban NCC County Executive 38,401
Suburban undervote NCC County Executive 1331 or 3.5%

http://electionsncc.delaware.gov/2008p/2008p_ncc_ed.pdf




Here are the undervote numbers by polling place for the last 3 County Council President primaries:

2000

 

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY Turnout

Mayoral primary Jim Sills Vs Jim Baker

President County Council Chris Coons, Vince D’Anna, Dwight Davis and Martha Dennison      

 

ED         Mayor           President County Council

01-01       377                       341

02-01       332                        299

03-01       239                        216

04-01       335                        286

05-01       339                        304

06-01       351                        295

09-01        59                         45

12-01       238                        214

13-01       211                        185

1st RD     2,481                2185    (11.9% dropoff)

 

01-02       436                        362

02-02       363                        270

03-02        18                        16

05-02        30                        24

06-02       104                        91

08-02       205                        163

10-02       259                        212

11-02       191                        137

12-02       142                        115

2nd RD     1,748                  1,390  (20.1% dropoff)

 

05-03        23                        18

08-03       247                        204

09-03       210                        197

10-03       425                        313

12-03        45                        36

3rd RD      950                        768    (19.2 % dropoff)

 

01-04      225                        212

03-04      294                        288

04-04      321                        287

05-04      205                        185

06-04       67                        62

08-04      134                        120

09-04      217                        201

10-04      292                        278

12-04       58                        58

14-04       59                        58

4th RD    1,872                     1,749     (6.6% dropoff)

 

01-05      160                        148

02-05      284                        265

03-05      367                        327

04-05      143                        119

05-05      379                        290

06-05      344                        322

07-05       59                        54

08-05      197                        168

5thRD     1,933                        1693       (12.4% dropoff)

 

09-16      255                        240

10-16      114                        106

16thRD      369                        346        (6.2% dropoff)

 

Citywide 9,353                        8131      (13.1% dropoff)

 

 
http://electionsncc.delaware.gov/2000p/2000p_6400.pdf

 

 2008

MAYOR Jim Baker Vs Robert Bovell

President County Council Paul Clark Vs Bill Dunn

 

          Mayor                President County Council

01-01      469                 376

02-01      406                 317

03-01      358                 267

04-01      474                 346

05-01      452                 345

06-01      272                 195

07-01      107                 83

09-01      630                 499

11-01      325                 239

1st RD    3,493                 2667   (23.0% dropoff)

 

01-02      100                 77

02-02      480                 367

04-02        3                 3

05-02      186                 153

06-02      195                 151

08-02      310                 254

09-02      149                 110

10-02      316                 266

11-02      406                 292

12-02      165                 131

16-02      134                 107

2nd RD    2,444                 1911        (21.0% dropoff)

 

01-03      382                 299

02-03      368                 316

04-03      115                 92

05-03      244                 185

07-03      122                 103

08-03      365                 274

10-03      376                 275

3rd RD    1,972                 1544        (21.0% dropoff)

 

01-04      360                 304

03-04      437                 354

04-04      266                 213

05-04      242                 185

06-04      287                 218

07-04      225                 183

08-04      229                 187

10-04      241                 207

4th RD    2,287                 1851            (19.0% dropoff)

 

03-13      78                 60              (23.0% dropoff)

13th RD     78                 60

 

06-16      241                 188             (21.0% dropoff)

16th RD     241                 188

City TOTAL 10,515         8221            (21.0% dropoff)



 In 2004 there was no primary for mayor,so I used Democratic voter turnout. I got the Eds from the City Council At Large Race. I could not compare to that race because people can vote for 1,2 or 3 candidates in the At-Large race.While it is possible to count votes cast in that race,it is not possible to know exactly how many people voted in that race.

2004

                Democrat

                Voters                         NCC President

01-01           333                            322

02-01           266                            256

03-01           202                            197

04-01           266                            256

05-01           343                            322

06-01           170                            158

07-01           64                             59

09-01           408                            388

11-01           208                            204

1st RD          2,260                          2,162          (4.0% dropoff)                             

 

01-02           4                              4

02-02           353                            307

03-02           84                             73

04-02           3                              3

05-02           131                            121

06-02           139                            130

08-02           247                            209

09-02           99                             79

10-02           280                            260

11-02           283                            258

12-02           119                            109

16-02           122                            112

2nd RD          1864                           1,665           (10.0% dropoff)                             

 

01-03           388                            311

02-03           287                            269

04-03           78                             68

05-03           203                            185

07-03           109                            103

08-03           274                            253

10-03           292                            241

3rd RD          1631                           1430            (12.0% dropoff)                             

 

01-04           218                            206

03-04           289                            265

04-04          187                            172

05-04           139                            126

06-04           188                            173

07-04           142                            142

08-04           5                              4

09-04           200                            178

10-04           179                            172

4th RD          1547                           1438           (7.0% dropoff)

 

03-13           62                             57

13th RD         62                             57              (8.00% dropoff)

 

06-16           194                            170

16th RD         194                            170             (12.0% dropoff)

 

Citywide        7558                           6922            (8.0% dropoff)

 

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