Courtesy The Seattle Times, here are the 2012 election results mapped precinct by precinct for Governor, charter schools, marraige equality and marijuana. While most Central Seattle precincts rallied together with 60%+ support on social issues and for the Governor, the charter schools initiative was a much closer race. And it’s interesting to see that even Seattle’s bastions of conservatism (hey there Broadmoor!) went all in for pot and marriage.
Click away for high-res views…
Governor: Inslee vs McKenna
Referendum 74 – Same sex marriage
Initiative 502 – Marijuana Legalization
Initiative 1240 – Charter Schools
Data via Justin Mayo/The Seattle Times.
Quick, identify Broadmoor using just the first map. Hint: Broadmoor is the gated community whose land deeds once read “No part of said property hereby conveyed shall ever be used or occupied by any Hebrew or by any person of the Ethiopian, Malay or any Asiatic Race…excepting only employees in the domestic service.”
http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/covenants.htm
Indeed. They’ve come a long way since those shameful days to now supporting gay marriage (60%+). Maybe it’s all the pot they’re smoking (60%+)?
Hah. Nice one Montlaker!
Kidding of course. Point is, the precinct maps show marriage equality and marijuana legalization are no longer liberal vs conservative issues — they’re now just mainstream.
Well…mainstream in SEATTLE. That’s definitely not the case across the state NOR across the country.
Actually, at least as far as marijuana legalization goes, it’s a lot more mainstream in more of the state than you might think:
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/initiative%20502
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/spincontrol/2012/dec/05/mapping-vote-final-count-i-502/
Also – on the Same Sex Marriage map, what’s the red blip down in the south? I’m not from here so my knowledge of surrounding geography is scant…
The red blip on the R74 map isn’t that far south — it’s bounded by Yesler on the north, I-5 on the west, S Dearborn (I think) on the south, and 12th Ave (I think) on the east. Which encompasses a good chunk of the eastern, “newer” part of the International District (sometimes referred to as “Little Saigon”) and the southern bit of Yesler Terrace. High immigrant / minority population. Maybe high evangelical, I don’t know (there are a couple of Korean churches in within that region, I think, and a couple of others whose affiliation I don’t know). A good chunk of that area is businesses, so it’s possible we’re not talking that many actual residents (so it wouldn’t take many to skew things).
Gotchya, interesting! I’m always curious as to what causes a voting discrepancy like that. We may not have the answer, but those all seem like reasonable hypotheses. Thanks for posting these!
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