Four Precincts Reporting

Thanks to my friend Carol, I got a sweet gig tonight: vote reporting! I never knew this before, but after the polls close they post the results on the door. Since I live one block from my polling place, I just walked down there. I waited for a while chatting with Deborah Langhoff’s brother-in-law. When they posted the numbers I texted them to a certain local TV station. For this I’m supposed to get $50. Easy money.

Here’s the numbers:

Precinct 04/05 Clarkson 5 Lewis 23
Precinct 04/06 Clarkson 21 Lewis 10
Precinct 04/07 Clarkson 49 Lewis 6
Precinct 04/08 Clarkson 107 Lewis 10

(They only wanted numbers for the Council At-Large race.)

Xy and I are in the 4th ward, 5th precinct — as you can see it’s the only one of the four that went to Lewis. I’d venture to guess it’s also the “blackest” of these four precincts. Someone told me the 8th precinct is full of “DINKs and yuppies,” and note their turnout was four times ours. So even this little statistical slice gives a flavor of the larger picture.

Earlier, I was at the laundromat, talking to a guy hanging out front. I asked him what he thought about the election. He replied that he didn’t vote, and cited two reasons: 1) politicians say one thing and do another and 2) the counting of votes is all rigged anyway. I wonder if seeing the numbers posted outside the door would have done anything to bolster his faith in the system.