Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2017 10:17:08 -0500
From: Raymond Gastwaite
Subject: We are a divided County – vote analysis by precinct
Several recent posts on the Chatlist discussed the 2016 elections. I looked at the Chatham County official results and did a bit of ciphering to see what they can tell us other than raw numbers.
If you break out the county into its 18 voting precincts you see some clear trends towards voting Democrat or Republican. In the table posted on my blog at https://
I counted the independent Holland candidacy in the GOP column as he was clearly not a Democrat candidate.
Across the board Republican-voting precincts
Albright, Bennet, Bonlee, Goldson, Three Rivers, Harpers Crossroads, and Hickory Mountain.
Mostly Republican-voting precints
Hadley Mills, New Hope, Oakland
Across the board Democrat-voting precincts
Bynum, East Siler City, Pittsboro, Manns Chapel, North Williams, West Williams.
*Mostly Democrat-voting **precincts*
West Siler City, East Williams.
Number of precincts who voted for candidates
President: 11 for Trump, 7 for Clinton
US Senate: 12 for Burr, 6 for Ross
US House: 12 for Walker, 6 for Glidewell
Governor: tied 9 for McCrory, 9 for Cooper
Commissioner 1: 12 for Stobbs, 6 for Howard
Commissioner 2: 10 for Holland, 8 for Dasher
SO WHAT, you ask? This analysis says that despite the individual votes which led to Democracts winning overall across Chatham County, there is a lot of political division across the county. While our current county commission has a solid Democrat majority, according to my analysis there is certainly not a solid Democrat majority support across the County.
Our politicians, at ALL levels of government regardless of party need to realize (and be reminded again and again) they work for the best interest of the citizens and NOT for the success of their party, and that for effective governing politicians need to follow the founding documents of our Constitutions and of our laws. Politicians are not just hired to do a job; they are hired to bring people together. Political parties make this difficult for our elected officials, as parties see politics as a contest to crush their opponents, not necessarily seeking the overall good of the voting public.
Our citizens, REGARDLESS of political leanings, need to realize that political parties are businesses that exist for the party members, and are not focused on the overall good of the citizenry. We all need to help and constrain our elected officials at all levels by gaining information from a variety of both left- and right-leaning news outlets. AND, we need to remember we are all neighbors and will eventually need each other.
For more posts visit my blog at https://
I’m a sucker for statistics and data, so I appreciated the work you put into this. We are indeed a divided county if the definition of division is based solely on party lines. I think we would all be very pleasantly surprised about how much we all really have in common. I long for a ‘facts based’ news outlet where we can get just the facts, not some anchor’s opinion. The problem I have found with tuning into both lefty and righty news is that both affirm my opinions about why one is wrong and the other is right. One question for you is on the Commissioners. Didn’t Howard and Dasher win? Do you have any more insight into the voter breakdown for the commissioner race? Maybe you did include it on your blog and I am just missing it?
Thanks!
Daniel