This was posted to DU by Skinner there...
"From: XXXXXXX
To: <mail@democraticunderground.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 2:43 PM
Subject: Re: Cuyahoga County
I have looked at the data posted by the county, and saw something really unusual - different municipalities have the exact same number of "extra" votes.
I sent the following commentary to the author of the original article:
------------------
Looking over the posted turnout data, I have several observations that you may already have made:
- Typically, the "extra" votes appear in the totals for the municipality. Where the municipality is broken down by ward, the sum of the wards does not match the total for the municipality.
- If we use the sum of the wards as the turnout, the numbers are reasonable (about 60%). I suspect the ward counts are accurate.
- The sum of the wards and the reported total for the municipality DIFFERS BY THE SAME AMOUT IN MULTIPLE MUNICIPALITIES. That is to say, differnent towns have the exact same number of "extra" votes.
Examples:
Bedford
registered voters: 9942
votes cast - municipality: 14465 (145% turnout)
votes cast - (sum of wards): 5912 (59% turnout)
difference between ward and municipality: 8553
Warrensville Heights
registered voters: 10562
votes cast - municipality: 15039 (142% turnout)
votes cast - (sum of wards): 6486 (61% turnout)
difference between ward and municipality: 8553
Fairview Park
registered voters: 13342
votes cast - municipality: 18472(110% turnout)
votes cast - (sum of wards): 8524 (64% turnout)
difference between ward and municipality: 9948
Westlake
registered voters: 25627
votes cast - municipality: 25173 (98% turnout)
votes cast - (sum of wards): 15225 (59% turnout)
difference between ward and municipality: 9948..."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x33600