Voter turnout in this historic election was the highest our nation has seen in almost fifty years.  New Brunswick was no exception, overcoming a history of low turnout to cast almost 12,000 votes on November 4th.

It's tough to tell precisely how much we helped increase turnout, but along with the RU Voting Coalition, we undoubtedly helped thousands of New Brunswick voters excericise their civic duty.

Without further ado, an unofficial election analysis compiled by EON...

TOTAL VOTES CAST FOR PRESIDENT: 11,913
84% for Barack Obama - 10,012 votes for change!

TOTAL CITY COUNCIL WRITE-IN VOTES FOR EON MEMBERS: 92
This is impressive considering we did not campaign at all.  Every vote came from frustrated supporters of wards who were protesting the absence of EON's ward question from this year's ballot.  In addition to EON's accidental candidates, "None," "Ward-System," and "Ward-Reform" also received write-in votes for City Council.

WARD-BY-WARD TURNOUT: 2004 vs. 2008
Every ward improved turnout by over 20% since the last presidential election.

(Note: All numbers do not include absentee and/or early votes.)

WARD 1: 1,953 up to 2,676 (+37%)
WARD 2: 2,435 up to 2,996 (+23%)
WARD 4: 1,703 up to 2,074 (+22%)
WARD 5: 1,185 up to 1,430 (+21%)
WARD 6: 2,209 up to 2,737 (+24%)

DISTRICT-BY-DISTRICT TURNOUT: 2004 vs. 2008
Four districts had lower turnout.  Twenty-four had higher turnout.  Seventeen districts improved turnout by double-digits, two by triple-digits.

The increase in turnout in some districts this year was simply phenomenal.  Districts are sorted by polling place.

New Lord Stirling School (2,374 votes)
1-1 311 up to 380 (+22%)
1-2 305 up to 392 (+29%)
1-3 212 up to 541 (+155%) (Note: Rockoff Hall didn't exist in 2004)
2-1 464 up to 770 (+66%)
2-2 263 up to 291 (+11%)

Lincoln Elementary School (1,963 votes)
6-1 291 up to 382 (+31%)
6-2 256 up to 275 (+7%)
6-3 459 up to 727 (+58%)
6-6 442 up to 579 (+31%)

St. Mary's Church (1,328 votes)
2-4 298 down to 293 (-2%)
2-5 349 down to 325 (-7%)
2-7 584 up to 710 (+22%) (Note: Fulton Sq. condos didn't exist in 2004)

Board of Education (885 votes)
2-3 202 up to 323 (+60%)
2-6 275 up to 284 (+3%)
4-3 287 down to 278 (-3%)

Woodrow Wilson School (882 votes)
1-4 291 up to 404 (+39%)
1-5 450 up to 478 (+6%)

Senior Citizen Resource Center (764 votes)
6-4 285 up to 288 (+1%)
6-5 476 up to 486 (+2%)

Schwartz-Robeson Community Center (659 votes)
4-2 621 up to 659 (+6%)

First Reformed Church (552 votes)
5-1 389 up to 552 (+42%) (Note: One Spring St. didn't exist in 2004)

Hungarian Heritage Center (550 votes)
5-2 172 up to 306 (+78%)
5-4 341 down to 244 (-28%)

Labor Education Center (481 votes)
1-6 384 up to 481 (+25%)

New Brunswick High School (395 votes)
4-4 364 up to 395 (+9%)

Roosevelt School (373 votes)
4-1 125 up to 373 (+198%) (Note: Heldrich condos didn't exist in 2004)

Dept. of Public Works Garage (369 votes)
4-5 306 up to 369 (+21%)

Providence Square (328 votes)
5-3 283 up to 328 (+16%)

Largest increase: +198%, 4-1 (downtown, Livingston Ave.)
Second largest: +155%, 1-3 (downtown, George St.)
Largest decrease: -28%, 5-4 (Brookside/Birchwoods)
Second largest: -7%, 2-5 (Remsen/Commercial)

And, finally...
OVERALL TURNOUT: 9,485 up to 11,913 (+26%)

Way to go, New Brunswick!