When is 9% actually 25%
In a recent phone conversation with Steve Alesch he brought up an interesting point.
His race for township trustee involved something like 5500 voters casting ballots. Each voter was allowed to cast votes for more than one candidate, with the top vote getters being elected. By taking all the votes cast and dividing that by the number of votes he got, you come to the 9% figure…but…
Since Steve won 1405 votes from a pool of 5500 voters, close to 25% of that township’s voters cast votes for him.
So…he got 9% of the votes cast by the voters, but close to 25% of the voters gave him one of their votes.
Either way, Steve is an engaging and dedicated Green who is not even close to giving up. It’s clear to me that he will be heard from again.
Steve is one of the most ardent GP campaigners in the state. As his campaign manager for both his campaigns, I have seen this up close. We’ve been out walking precincts in a foot of snow and slop in late January, collecting signatures in oppressively hot days in August (and Steve always a suit on the campaign trail). On Sunday and Monday before the election, it was bitterly cold, windy and raining and Steve was still out there going door to door. I hope Greens reward this kind of dedication to party building by making donations — or better yet, helping out. Steve is probably one of the most enthusiastic and dedicated people in the party and yet, it has been difficult rounding up volunteers to help him.