Voting results in NH

[Don Levey]

 wrote:
> The US Census Bureau reports that there were 926,224 persons over the
> age of 18 in NH in the 2000 Census.
> http://fastfacts.census.gov/servlet/CWSFacts?geo_id=04000US33&_sse=on/
>
> The Associated Press reports that about 200,000 people voted in the NH
> primary yesterday
> eg. http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040128_982.html.  They say
> it "easily eclips[ed] the record 170,000 turnout in 1992".  The AP
> does not mention anything about how poorly that turnout represents the
> population of NH.
>
I made those numbers to be about 217,000.


> We can simply deduce that 22% of persons over the age of 18 voted
> yesterday in NH.

More accurately, we can deduce that 23.4% of persons over 18 voted in the
Democratic primary.  I don't know how it works in NH, but in many places
only
registered party members can vote in that party's primary.  Anyone know the
party breakdown in NH?

> If NH is the "Live Free or Die" state, I guess 78%
> would rather let Democracy die than cast a ballot for President of the
> United States "The Greatest Democracy in the World".

Or perhaps they're Republicans?  Or all candidates were equally
(un)suitable?  Also note that these ballots were not
for President of the United States, but for one party's candidate for
that office.  November will tell us who's willing to vote in the
presidential election.

> John Kerry
> received 84,229 votes which made him the winner.  Put another way, by
> convincing fewer than 10% of eligible voters to vote for him, he
> 'wins' with a 38% share of the ballots cast.  Regardless of your like
> or dislike of the candidates, they ARE the candidates.  Democracy and
> your freedom are the casualty of a system that no longer can be called
> 'representative government'.
>
Are you willing to cast your vote for someone you do not support?
Or are you voting against someone else when you vote?

> If you live in NH and didn't vote, you missed your chance to
> participate in Democracy.  Please urge everyone you know to vote.

 -Don