Some random statistics from the recent Wantagh School Board election. [All figures taken from Patch]
1. Only about 15% of eligible voters actually bothered to vote;
2. Only Kera McLoughlin received greater than 50% of votes cast. The second place finisher, who was also elected, received only 30% of the vote; 3. 5,430 votes were cast for board members whereas 5,968 (two times the number cast on the budget) could have been cast, a difference of 538 votes.
Are there some inferences to be drawn?
· I guess we’re not really as overtaxed as we think since if the school tax is really so onerous more people would have come out to vote “no”. With several polling places it certainly was convenient enough to do so; · Do the missing 538 votes lend support to the view that school board elections are essentially popularity contests, i.e. you vote for a candidate with whom you are acquainted and not bother to vote for anyone else? Ms. McLoughlin has a high profile due to her prior community and school involvement. Mr. Mountanos may have profited as being a recent graduate known to many newly minted voters Moreover, an incumbent and a former school board member were defeated while the budget itself passed by a wide margin. One might reasonably have expected that at least the incumbent would have been re-elected.
