By Ward Peck

Editor

    An analysis in last week’s Sentry regarding Cape
Elizabeth election results contained several interpretations that,
while correct, were confusing and potentially misleading.

    The story contained results for Town Council and
School Board races expressed in an ineffective way. The methodology
used to convert the number of votes into percentages of votes cast for
all candidates in these two races could lead to the impression that
none of the winning candidates were elected by a majority of Cape
voters. A more accurate analysis of the results demonstrates that is
not the case, although a completely accurate analysis could not be
performed for reasons described below.

    In order to clarify the discrepancy, an analysis of the original methodology is warranted.

    In all races, the percentage of votes received by a
particular candidate is determined by dividing the number of votes
received by the candidate by the total number of votes cast for all
candidates. This methodology produces the proportion of votes cast for
all candidates that a particular candidate receives. This is an
inaccurate way to determine percentages because it does not account for
ballots left blank (under votes) or write-in candidates. A more
accurate way to determine the percentage of the vote a particular
candidate receives would be to divide that candidate’s votes by the
total number of ballots cast.

    In most races, the inaccuracy is minor, due to the relatively low number of undervotes and write-in votes.

    When a contest involves more than one seat, as was
the case with the council and school board elections, the inaccuracy is
magnified. This was not recognized in last week’s story.

 Because each voter could vote for up to three candidates, a vote
for one candidate does not necessarily mean no vote for another
candidate. The methodology used assumes all candidates are pursuing a
single seat.

    Exacerbating the inaccuracy is the relatively high
number of under votes in these races. Any one voter could vote for
three, two, one or no candidates, or write in his or her own choices.

    In the race for town council there were 5,271
ballots cast representing a total of 15,813 potential votes (three
choice per ballot). Of these 15,813 potential votes, 3,994 or 25
percent were left blank.

    Due to some minor irregularities in Cape Elizabeth
resulting in the over counting of a small number of ballots, some votes
in the town council and school board race were likely counted twice,
making it impossible at this time to determine the exact percentages
(see story).

    Based upon all current information the percentage of
votes for candidates in the Cape Elizabeth town council and school
board races are as follows.

    Town Council: Greg Altznauer, 1,714 votes (32.5
percent); David Backer 3,371 votes (64 percent); Sara Lennon, 3,223
votes (61 percent) and Jim Rowe, 3,524 votes (67 percent).

    School Board: Karen Burke, 3,588 votes (68 percent);
Peter Cotter, 2,535 votes (48 percent); Piotr Stamieszkin, 2,296 (44
percent) and Kevin Sweeney 3,062 votes (58 percent).