Politics & Government
Exit Poll: Two-thirds of Voters Combined Votes in Trustee Election
Overall, the majority of voters understood the cumulative system, and survey results credit voter education efforts, media coverage and TV spots for voter familiarity with the new system.
More than two-thirds of voters in last month's historic trustee election combined their votes, according to a report released this week.
The report estimates "between 68% and 80% of Port Chester voters plumped their votes to some degree," using the political term for casting more than one vote for a candidate.
More than one-third of voters reported casting all six of their votes for a single candidate.
The report was based on exit poll data taken during the election. That data was analyzed by a pair of political science professors -- David Kimball of the University of Missouri, and Martha Kropf of the University of North Carolina.
Find out what's happening in Port Chesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Neither Kimball or Kropf could be interviewed directly. Aldo Vitagliano, an attorney for Port Chester, said inquiries must be submitted through the village.
Among voters who split their votes among six candidates, only eight percent said they didn't realize they could combine their votes. The rest said they wanted to support six candidates and intentionally split their votes evenly.
Find out what's happening in Port Chesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
More than 3,300 people voted in the election, and organizers received high marks for voter education efforts and ease-of-voting among those who took the time to fil out surveys. More than 1,900 voters filled out exit polling surveys.
The survey breaks results down by demographics and race, differentiating between white, black and Hispanic voters, and their experiences at the polls. Black and Hispanic voters reported they learned about the cumulative voting system mostly through voter education forums and pamphlets.
Most white voters also learned about the specifics from community forums, but were more likely to familiarize themselves with the new voting system by reading reports in local media, according to the survey.
Included in the report are break-downs according to language spoken, with the above categories broken down by language and ethnicity.
Click the link on the right to view the report in PDF format and to view charts detailing voter responses to the exit poll surveys.
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