On election night have you ever wondered about the recurring phrase, “returns from a few scattered precincts,” which begins to be used almost simultaneously with poll-closings across the country? The speed with which the returns are available seems impossible.
Even more mysterious is the way these few instantly-reporting precincts seem to predict the final results that may not come in until hours later.
For Sue Tepas and Avis Carlson of the 6100 block on McPherson this past election did away with the mystery. One of the “key precincts” chosen by the ABC network was No. 1 of the Twenty-eighth Ward. It has been the practice of ABC to use members of the League of Women Voters as “special reporters.” The McPherson pair was chosen by the state League.
So as the polls closed the two were on hand, equipped with badges from ABC and a letter of authorization from the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners. The instant the first machine was opened one of the team ran to a telephone in the next room, gave the operator two long distance telephone numbers and within sixty seconds the Symington-Danforth vote figures were being fed into a waiting computer. When the second machine was opened, another telephone call went speedily through. First mystery solved.
The second turned out to be equally simple. It seems that certain political scientists have studied precinct returns in local areas across the country. In the course of the study they have spotted some precincts which, because of their particular mix of ethnic, economic, religious or other factors, are such good mirrors of opinion in the state that they can be used as predictors.
Precinct 1 is presently such a precinct. Before 1972 it and the others will be checked over again to see if its predictive power is retained.
Originally published in The Paper, December 1970.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1970_12.pdf, printed page(s) 6.
