College poll has telling results

By Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer

Published on April 11, 2008

Public schools and the municipal budget were cited by many voters as top concerns in exit polling at the April 1 town elections completed by students in a statistics class at Hampshire College.

While the students only interviewed 58 voters at the Bangs Community Center and North Fire Station polls between 6 and 8 p.m. as part of the class exercise, they could have called the election with precision, as their interviews with voters revealed a preference for eventual Select Board winners Diana Stein and Stephanie O'Keeffe, both of whom were named on 35 ballots, compared to the 22 ballots cast for incumbent Hwei-Ling Greeney, seven for Irv Rhodes and none for David Keenan.

Brian Schultz, who teaches the Introduction to Statistics and Experimental Design class, said that because the four students surveyed fewer than 2 percent of the 3,695 voters, the sample is too small for real-world reliability. But the students still found interesting data, including that the average voter was 55 years old and there was no statistical difference between how old each candidates' supporters were.

Nealy Bowden, a first-year student at Hampshire, said the polling was seen as a way to bring a different kind of statistical data back to the class. Other projects have included surveying people on the taste of organic and non-organic raspberries.

"Some of the kids wanted to try something that was more with social statistics," Bowden said.

As would be expected, 21 voters said they voted for both O'Keeffe and Stein, with 12 residents voting for Stein and Greeney and seven voting for an O'Keeffe and Greeney combination.

Interestingly, while Amherst Taxpayers for Responsible Change endorsed Greeney and Rhodes, of the seven people who said they voted for Rhodes, only one also voted for Greeney. Four gave their second vote to O'Keeffe and two cast that vote for Stein.

Five voters admitted to so-called "bullet voting," or only using one of their two votes, with three choosing O'Keeffe and two Greeney.

Bowden said the students also learned the importance of media, with a large amount of voters saying they got their information about the candidates from reading the newspaper, with a secondary means being word of mouth from other voters.

While students worried they might not get enough data, Bowden said they found most voters accommodating.

"People on the whole were pretty willing to discuss with us," Bowden said. "It was a really good experience."

"The students actually did a great job in figuring out how to approach people, too," Schultz said. "All in all, this really worked out well as an exercise."

<h4>Board reorganization</h4>

The annual reorganization of the Select Board Monday made no changes to the board's structure, but efforts to promote more interaction between members and to be a little less formal have been implemented.

With O'Keeffe and Stein attending their first meeting following their wins in the town elections, the five board members, town manager and recording secretary sat in a "U" shape, rather than a gentle arc, at the front of the Town Room. This allows the board members to better make eye contact with each other while discussing items on the agenda.

Chairman Gerry Weiss announced he would be dispensing with referring to fellow board members by formal titles, meaning that Anne Awad and Alisa Brewer, for instance, would be called on by their first names, rather than "Miss Awad" and "Miss Brewer."

Meanwhile, Weiss, who has served for the past year as chairman, retained the position as the lone nominee. As chairman, Weiss works with Town Manager Larry Shaffer each week to set the board's agenda.

The Select Board also opted to continue the vice chairperson position in its current format. "I like it and I'd be in favor of continuing it," Weiss said.

Each member serves in that capacity for one month in an alphabetic rotation, with Awad being the vice chairwoman through April.

Brewer noted that when she first joined the board a year ago, she thought it was a strange idea not to have stability in the position. But she said she has come to appreciate it.

"I think the biggest job is to be there for discussion and agenda setting," Weiss said.

Weiss thanked both outgoing Select Board members Greeney and Rob Kusner for their service to Amherst.

"They served well, and they worked hard," Weiss said.

<h4>Meetings</h4>

MONDAY: Budget Coordinating Group Room, noon, Town Room, Town Hall; Board of Assessors, 4:30 p.m., First Floor Meeting Room, Town Hall; Select Board, 6:30 p.m., Town Room, Town Hall; Finance Committee, 7 p.m., First Floor Meeting Room, Town Hall.

TUESDAY: Community Preservation Act Committee, 6 p.m., Community Room, Police Station; Public Works Committee, 7 p.m., Bangs Center; Amherst School Committee, 7 p.m., library, Amherst Pelham Regional High School.

WEDNESDAY: 250th Anniversary Committee, 3 p.m., First Floor Meeting Room, Town Hall; Planning Board, 7 p.m., Town Room, Town Hall for public hearings on rezoning seven parcels to business village center 7:05 p.m., and construct a two-story building on Meadow Street, 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: 250th Anniversary Arts and Literature Committee, 4 p.m., First Floor Meeting Room, Town Hall; Kendrick Park Committee, 7 p.m.,Glass Room, Bangs Center; Human Rights Commission, 7 p.m., Bangs Center; Town Meeting Coordinating Committee, Select Board, League of Women Voters 7:30 p.m., Regional Middle School auditorium for Town Meeting warrant review.