March 14, 2017 Boca Raton Municipal Election Precinct Vote Analysis

This article provides an analysis of voting results to the precinct level from the March 14, 2017 Boca Raton Municipal Election. The information used in the analysis is provided in spreadsheet format by the Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections (PBCSOE) ¹ for each of the three contests and is sorted by precinct number. With 37 voting precincts in the City of Boca Raton, it is difficult to analyze results from the spreadsheets. BocaWatch has summarized the three spreadsheets in graphical formats for easier study.

The three contest voting results are in Boca Raton precinct map format and are included as attachments at the end of this article. The method used to display results for each contest is to show the margin of victory between the candidates in each precinct. In the Mayoral and Seat A contests, there were only two candidates in each contest, so the number in the circle represents the difference in votes cast for the two candidates in each precinct. The color in the circle represents the top vote getter in each precinct and the small table labeled “Total Votes” in each graphic show the color assigned to each candidate.

There were three candidates competing for Seat B, so the number in the circle for that contest represents the difference in votes between the top vote getter in each precinct and the next highest vote getter. Attachment 3 shows Seat B results. Note that the two highest vote getters tied in precinct 4150, so the results for all three candidates are shown in the circle for that precinct for the Seat B contest.

An interesting metric that the PBCSOE reports for each precinct is the number of over and under votes. An over vote in this election occurred when a voter voted for more than one candidate in a contest; whereas an under vote occurred when a voter did not vote for any candidate in a contest. There were very few over votes and a large number of under votes as shown in the following table.

In summary, this article analyzed the three contests in the March 14, 2017 Boca Raton Municipal Election to the precinct level. To make it easier for readers to understand the election results we provided them in a graphical format.

Attachment 1

Attachment 2

Attachment 3

Footnotes

1. The raw PBCSOE information can be obtained in the following link: http://www.pbcelections.org/GetDocument.aspx?id=1154 Open the Boca Raton links to view the detailed election results. When this information was downloaded for analysis there were still a few provisional votes that the PBCSOE had to confirm, so the final vote totals might differ slightly between the PBCSOE spreadsheets and the graphics attached to this article.