Looking backward over the shoulders of Culver City voters, a statistical analysis of last Tuesday’s School Board election inspires fascinating theories and
explanations for why The Kid and The
Old Man, Scott Zeidman and Steve Gourley, distanced themselves from the other three candidates.
The two new Board members, who will be seated next month, triumphed because they spreadeagled the field. By far, they had the widest and most consistent appeal.
They did well in nearly all13 precincts, and they did not fare poorly in any.
Hard-luck Roger Maxwell was the only other contender to win a precinct, capturing Vets Park, home territory for him, by a hefty margin over the runnerup Mr. Zeidman (180 to 116).
The Other Candidates
Fourth-place Mike Eskridge’s best showing was at El Rincon School. He was a remote third (135) behind Mr. Gourley who won the precinct (223) and Mr. Zeidman (214).
The peak showing by Alan Elmont, the fifth-place finisher, came at the Rotary Plaza. With 130 votes, he ran fourth, ahead of Mr. Eskridge.
The runnerup Mr. Gourley had one edge, winning the most precincts, five, to Mr. Zeidman’s four. They tied in one other.
Biggest Proves Best
Mr. Gourley as the most popular candidate (1173 votes to 1144), though, because he appealed in the most vote-rich precincts.
With a muscular assist from colleague Garth Sanders, here are further ruminations:
You will notice that the biggest voting percentage came from the El Rincon School area and the Rotary Plaza area, 19.12 percent and 19.07.
Between these two precincts, 880 votes were cast, equating to almost 32 percent , one-third of the total vote.
Not accidentally, this is where Mr. Zeidman and Mr. Gourley showed strongest.
The Home Balloting
Mr. Zeidman carried Sunkist/Lindberg, with Mr. Gourley and Mr. Maxwell virtually tied. Lindberg Park includes many Farrugut School voters, who figured to be among Mr. Maxwell’s chief supporters. Mr. Elmont, who lives in the Lindberg Park area, did well there, too.
Mr. Gourley carried El Rincon (Culver Crest and the streets around the school), with Mr. Zeidman a close second. Mr. Maxwell lost here by more than 100 votes, which looked crucial to the final result. .These 100 votes could have been the difference. He ran 68 votes behind Mr. Zeidman overall, with 1076.
Grace Lutheran Church, with 294 votes, was the fourth busiest polling location. Mr. Zeidman expected to carry both Grace Lutheran and City Hall/Carlson Park, which he did, but by slender margins, 214 to 199 for Mr. Maxwell and 176 for Mr. Gourley.
Votes Evenly Distributed
Studio Estates and the LaBallona area had 222 voters, but didn’t play much of a role as the top three scored 82, 82 and 77 votes respectively. Mr. Eskridge attracted 75 votes.
As expected, Mr. Gourley did remarkably well in Raintree, Lakeside, and the Fox Hills properties, no doubt owing to his long enduring name recognition.
With School Board member Saundra Davis of Blair Hills as a supporter, Mr. Maxwell was named on 40 of the 59 ballots in Blair Hills. Mr. Gourley, competitive nearly everywhere, was second with 30 votes.
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*Total Ballots does not equal total votes, as voters could vote for as many as 2 or as few as 1.