Political science professor Pat Sellers studies a computer screen with students election night at the Davidson College union. (David Boraks photo)

By LAURIE DENNIS
and DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

Can’t stop thinking about Election 2008? Neither can we. We’re looking at early voting, the below-average turnout reported at Town Hall, how Davidson grads fared Tuesday, and which candidate scored the most votes in Davidson (hint – it wasn’t the president-elect).

Here are some fun facts to keep you from getting back to work anytime soon.

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Early voting

It appears that Davidson residents cast almost 2,900 votes at Early Voting polling sites around Mecklenburg County, which means about half of the Davidson votes were in before Election Day.

Davidson’s early voting leaned more Democratic, following the big push by the Obama campaign to get out the vote early.

President-Elect Barack Obama opened with a tight race in Precinct 127, garnering 48 percent of the early voting totals, but then faced the tide of Election Day Republicans in the River Run and McConnell neighborhoods, who preferred Sen. John McCain by 64 percent at Hopewell Baptist Church polling machines.

The same trend was visible for the Precinct 206 voting place of Town Hall, where early birds went 69 percent for the Obama ticket, while Election Day voters gave Obama/Biden a 58 percent edge.

Partisanship

Not a single candidate listed as a Democrat on the ballot won in Precinct 127. At Town Hall, Precinct 206 almost canceled out those votes, preferring Democrats with one exception – Republican Pat McCrory. The Charlotte mayor lost his bid to become governor, but impressed Precinct 206 voters, who gave him a 53 percent edge over Bev Purdue.

The biggest margin

The candidate with the highest percentage win among any race was Pat McCrory, who was preferred by a whopping 82 percent of Election Day voters at Precinct 127. Across town, the the highest percentage win prize goes to Roy Cooper, who garnered 70 percent of the total Precinct 206 vote in the Attorney General’s race. Go figure.

The Wildcat Effect

Davidson College grads were favored in particular by Town Hall voters. Precinct 206 gave Mary Fant Donnan, Wildcat Class of 1984, 60 percent of their vote in the race for Commissioner of Labor. This wasn’t enough, as incumbent Cherie Berry narrowly retained her office, squeaking by with 50.4 percent of the statewide vote.

Dan Murrey, Davidson Class of 1987, was favored by 21 percent (the second highest in a six-way race for three at-large seats) for a new seat on the Mecklenburg County Board. That’s higher than Mr. Murrey’s county-wide average of 19 percent, which was enough to get him onto the new board.

Across town, Precinct 127 voters noticed that these two were Democrats and preferred their opponents, regardless of college affiliations.

Sam Ervin, Davidson Class of 1978, was favored by the entire town, receiving 61 percent of the Town Hall vote and 57 percent of the Hopewell vote, even though he was endorsed by the Democrats. That percent was higher than the overall 53 percent margin which will put Mr. Ervin onto the District Court.

The Libertarian candidate for governor, Mike Munger, might be a Class of 1980 Wildcat, but that didn’t help against the local preference for the Charlotte mayor (see above). Still, Mr. Munger got 40 votes in Precinct 127 (or two percent), and 88 votes in Precinct 206 (or three percent).

Judge that

Among the endless judicial races on the ballot, which did not list party affiliations, most voters in Davidson preferred incumbents.

The exceptions to that rule were Elizabeth Thornton Trosch for both precincts, and then Cheri Beasley and William Erwin Belk in Precinct 206, but Bob Hunter and Daniel Powers Roberts in Precinct 127. Incumbents mostly prevailed, with the exception of District Court judges Fritz Mercer (who lost to John Totten), Todd Owens (who lost to Kimberly Best), Theo Nixon (who lost to Elizabeth Thornton Trosch) and Ben Thalheimer (who lost to William Erwin Belk), and Appeals Court judges John Arrowood (who lost to Bob Hunter) and Doug McCullough (who lost to Cheri Beasley).

Among open seats, Davidson preferred Wildcat Sam Ervin at both precincts for the Court of Appeals, while Precinct 206 liked Charlotte Brown-Williams (the eventual winner), while Precinct 127 preferred Stephen Kearney for the District Court.

Weak turnout at Town Hall? Maybe not

Political junkies in Davidson are puzzling this week over lower-than-expected turnout at Davidson Town Hall. Precinct 206 typically has a better-than-average turnout in local and national races. But it was well below the countywide average Tuesday, at least according to data posted on Mecklenburg County Board of Elections website, which gave the precinct a turnout rate of only 59 percent.

As we looked for an explanation, we were reminded that the data are still unofficial, and in some cases incomplete. So it’s hard to pinpoint the reason. Based on additional information from the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections and a conversation with county elections director Michael Dickerson, it appears that an above-average absentee vote could have made the difference in Precinct 206.

Precinct-by-precinct turnout figures on the county elections website do not include absentee votes, Mr. Dickerson said Wednesday. That means the unofficial turnout percentages for all precincts are underreported, Mr. Dickerson said.

The Town Hall precinct had a reported turnout of 2,878, or 59.4 percent (including those who voted early and those who voted in person on voting machines Tuesday.) That was good, but well below Davidson’s other precinct, 127, at Hopewell Baptist Church, where 2,468 people, or 71.3 percent of registered voters, cast ballots.

It also was below the countywide turnout of 65.8 percent, which unlike the precinct-by-precinct numbers does include absentee ballots.

So why was 206 below expectations, and different from historical trends? The low reported turnout at 206 “could have been (because of) a big absentee number,” Mr. Dickerson said Wednesday.

Mr. Dickerson provided an unofficial figure for absentee ballots in the precinct: 357. That’s about 6 percent of total votes cast. Countywide, absentee ballots were around 6 percent of total votes cast, according to unofficial results.

Elizabeth Martin, a poll worker at 206, said the 59 percent figure appeared low. She said poll workers’ own calculations put the turnout at more than 70 percent.

The turnout was running above average even before the polls opened Tuesday: Ms. Martin said early voting was 47.9 percent for the precinct. She added that precinct officials were hoping to learn more about the turnout figure. “We absolutely think this is something we should find out,” she said Wednesday.

The question might not be fully answered until final official election results are posted, after the election is certified on Friday, Nov. 14.

Mr. Dickerson offered other caveats in looking at the data on the county elections website. For one thing, the data is still unofficial.

He said the county this year became part of a new statewide vote tallying system. In calculating turnouts, the state used older registered voter figures – not the most current – because of a need to gather data early as it set up the website.

Also, Mr. Dickerson said poll workers may have been trying to calculate turnout using incomplete registered voter figures. Poll workers were given a total of active voters only. The county and state system uses uses a registered voter total that includes both active and inactive voters. (Precinct 206 was given a registered voter total of 4,304 on Tuesday. But the county says the precinct has 4,775 registered voters, including 471 inactives, Mr. Dickerson said.)

Still need more?

Then you really are an election junkie. County election results can be found online at www.meckboe.org, while statewide results can be found at www.sboe.state.nc.us.