Palm Springs Fuzzy Math In Election Results Reporting
Palm Springs City Council candidate Ginny Foat was re-elected with approximately 47% support from voters at the polls and Chris Mills, the other re-elected council member, received approximately 43%. Those figures appear different from the 23.96% and 21.64% ones reported in The Desert Sun. Which ones are correct?
The Desert Sun election result reporting is merely a copy of data from the county Registrar of Voters. The figures reported include percentages, provided by the Registrar, which can be misleading. In the Palm Springs City Council race the report indicates 13,612 votes cast! Also missing is a note pointing out the Registrar's percentage totals can be misleading, for each ballot represents up to two votes. In other words, the 13,612 vote total reported came from approximately 6,800 ballots cast. Therefore, the percentages reported need to be doubled in order to arrive at a better approximation of the support each candidate received.
Two letters in today's paper make clear how easily the vote percentage figures provided by the Registrar are misleading. One letter stated "neither incumbent could garner even one in four votes" and the other letter noted "each of them got fewer than 25 percent of the votes". In both cases it appears the writers are under the impression the numbers reported in the newspaper represented percentages of voter support. As noted above, that's not the case.
The Desert Sun would be performing a better service by providing a bit more detail and doing some analysis of information rather than simply copying data from the Registrar of Voters. Information about the number of ballots cast along with the actual percentage of voter support would both be helpful, not only in this race, but also in the Desert Water Agency and Desert Hot Springs election reports.
Bond Shands
Palm Springs
November 5, 2009
The Desert Sun election result reporting is merely a copy of data from the county Registrar of Voters. The figures reported include percentages, provided by the Registrar, which can be misleading. In the Palm Springs City Council race the report indicates 13,612 votes cast! Also missing is a note pointing out the Registrar's percentage totals can be misleading, for each ballot represents up to two votes. In other words, the 13,612 vote total reported came from approximately 6,800 ballots cast. Therefore, the percentages reported need to be doubled in order to arrive at a better approximation of the support each candidate received.
Two letters in today's paper make clear how easily the vote percentage figures provided by the Registrar are misleading. One letter stated "neither incumbent could garner even one in four votes" and the other letter noted "each of them got fewer than 25 percent of the votes". In both cases it appears the writers are under the impression the numbers reported in the newspaper represented percentages of voter support. As noted above, that's not the case.
The Desert Sun would be performing a better service by providing a bit more detail and doing some analysis of information rather than simply copying data from the Registrar of Voters. Information about the number of ballots cast along with the actual percentage of voter support would both be helpful, not only in this race, but also in the Desert Water Agency and Desert Hot Springs election reports.
Bond Shands
Palm Springs
November 5, 2009
Posted by Administrator at 11/5/2009 10:46 AM 
Categories: Opinion, City Council
Tags: Palm Springs City Council
Categories: Opinion, City Council
Tags: Palm Springs City Council
I completely agree with this article. The Desert Sun has evolved in to what appears to be a High School newspaper.
I know times are tough for newspapers, but by printing so much mis-information and leaving out so much from their articles, it might be better to shut the newspaper down, and go to the internet, like many newspapers have had to do, and hopefully employ fewer but better people to get the news out to locals here in the Coachella Valley.
I've written AND called the Desert Sun about my feelings, and I urge others to do the same. Quote specific
article(s) if you can to make your point more specific.
Reply to this
Good article. Yup, The Desert Sun can be very misleading, and quite honestly misses half the story at times. And of course they have their Gannett conservative slant to some of the articles. 9Don;t get me started on their inane editorials).
In relation to this election, and other recent ones, I can not understand why it takes so long to get election results out. According to the Registrar's site a whopping 17.xx% voted in Riverside county , for a total of 54,000 votes. At 8;10pm they released the first set of numbers which could only be the counted absentee votes, and then nothing for 3 hours ! NJ and Virginia were able to count millions of votes and declare winners in less time.
There seems to be real incompetence from Ms. Dunmore or she is just not up to the job. Riverside county is no longer a backwater but the fastest (?) growing county in California. We need someone who is up to the job.
Reply to this
02/16/2010
Last night I was hit with measure G I was going over my cell phone bill when I came across 2 new charges(a cell usage tax and a 400% increase in the 911 fee).This amounted to an additional charge of $5..00 on mt bill.
I call my cell company to question these charges and was told they are new taxes and that nothing can be done to remove them.
The interesting part of my story is that I live in in an unincorporated area of Riverside County not in any city.
I went on the internet to research this matter and this is where I came across Measure G. I called my Cell company back and explained to them that this is a city of Palm Springs tax. They in turn explained to me that the entire Coachella Valley is classified as the City of Palm Springs by the cell companies. Because of this the City of Palm Springs is now illegally collecting around $900,000 a month in additional taxes(from non resident) they are not entitled too.
In my opinion each and every City of Palm Springs was fully aware this would happen and should have criminal charge be brought against them by the states Attorney General. If I'm wrong about their knowledge then at the least they should be fired for be so incompetence.
Reply to this
I will believe ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING that happens to citizens of the United States today.
First, they elected a president who invaded a country that did not invade us and spent trillions of dollars doing so, and caused the deaths of over 6,000 of America's finest and hundreds of thousands of Iraqui citizens.
Secondly, they elected this idiot TWICE.
Third, the most watched channel is FOX NEWS, full of far right zealots who repeat the same lies over and over and over, and Americans are not smart enough to investigate anything for themselves as to what is true and what isn't.
Third, Americans overwhelmingly elected a new president who ran on a ticket of
'change', and within 4 months Americans are upset that EVERYTHING hasn't been corrected, and they form tea parties, and continue to listen to and believe the same lies. eg. 'The government is going to kill grandma.' The President elect is 'not an American born citizen'. And on and on.
NOW people are upset because taxes are going up, health insurance is going up, EVERYTHING is going up. Well, thanks to all of you this is what we all have to pay to try to get things back in order.
It sure is NOT going to happen over night, and it sure is NOT going to happen with 60% of the people we send to Washington D.C. to represent us, end up REPRESENTING THEMSELVES AND THE BIG HEALTH PROVIDERS THAT FUND THEIR RE-ELECTIONS..........
ONLY BY ELECTING REPRESENTATIVES, WITH TERM LIMITS, THAT TRULY REPRESENT US, WILL THIS EVER CHANGE.
I suggest we start with getting rid of Mary Bono Mack, WHO HAS VOTED LOCK STEP WITH REPUBLICANS EVERY STEP OF THE WAY, WHO HAS NO CLUE OF HER OWN WHAT TO DO, AND, like the rest of the Republicans who voted NO to the stiumulus package HAS TAKEN FULL CREDIT FOR EVERY DOLLAR THE PASSED PACKAGE GOT FOR THEIR CONSTITUENTS.
The word for these people is HYPOCRIT, and that is exactly what they are.
I am paying more more my health insurance, THANK YOU WASHINGTON FOR DOING NOTHING FOR 60 YEARS, as of this year, and I am paying taxes that are ridiculous THANKS TO THE POLITICIANS AND THE PUBLIC WHO HAVE NO CLUE AS TO WHAT THEY ARE VOTING FOR OR AGAINST.
AND UNTIL AMERICA WAKES UP, IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.
MOST OF YOU ARE VOTING AGAINST YOUR BEST INTERESTS IN ALL YOUR VOTES.
BUT YOU WILL NEVER KNOW IT UNTIL YOU ACTUALLY DO A LITTLE RESEARCH OF YOUR OWN ON WHAT IT IS YOU ARE VOTING FOR OR AGAINST.
In the meantime, YOU ALL KNOW WHO IS ON TONIGHT "DANCING WITH THE STARS", and when all is said and done, ISN'T THAT MORE IMPORTANT?
I THOUGHT SO.
LOSERS........................
Reply to this