In this article Sui points that the voter turnout of local and precinct levels indicate how involved the specific population is intrigued by local referendums. The image above shows three different elections and the voter turnout that participated in those elections in College Station, TX. In the top figure, voter turnout was poor. In the second figure, more of the population participated in the election. In the third sigure, you can see that there was a higher voter turnout than the previous elections and there was a high concentration of voters in a clustered location. This clustering in voter turnout if cause by the possible effects the proposed referendums could have in that specific area. The controversy level raised concerns amongst eligible voters persuading them to get involved in the political process in order to vote for against these propositions that could have positive or negative affects to the individual and the area.
Sui, D. Z., & Hugill, P. J. (2002). A GIS-based spatial analysis on neighborhood effects and voter turn-out:: a case study in College Station, Texas. Political Geography, 21(2), 159-173.
It could be interesting to expand this and look at what issues effected certain communities the most and if there is was any overlap.
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