I looked at the precinct by precinct NC amendment votes in a county I know well.

[yardwork]

Last edited Fri May 11, 2012, 04:46 PM - Edit history (1)

The day after the amendment passed in North Carolina, DU experienced some disruption from people attempting to blame this vote on minorities. We saw that kind of disruption after Prop 8 passed in California, and many gay DUers were unfairly blamed for the behavior of trolls.

We had relatively little of this disruption here on DU this past week, but some questions were raised.

As a long-time resident of North Carolina, my impression is that the vote for or against the constitutional amendment in North Carolina broke along rural-urban lines and whether or not a person belongs to a fundamentalist or conservative Christian church. To test this theory, I took a look at the precinct results in Durham County. They can be found here, scroll almost to the end of the document:
http://www.co.durham.nc.us/departments/elec/Election_Results_Archive/2012_Elections/Primary/Binder1.pdf

Durham County voted against the amendment by 70%. Thirty percent of Durham County residents voted for the amendment. Who are the people who voted in favor of this amendment? If my theory is correct, they are mostly white, rural residents who belong to fundamentalist Protestant churches.

I know Durham County well enough to scan the names of the voting places in each precinct and recognize where they are located. My informal scan of the precincts reinforces my guess about who voted for the amendment. It also reinforces my contention, which I've made several times here on DU, that African American voters in urban centers in North Carolina voted against the amendment in large numbers, just like their white neighbors. In Durham County, the only precincts where a majority of voters supported the amendment are located in rural areas on the edge of the county, where the population is majority white and conservative.

The results are rather remarkable, actually. If you know Durham County well enough to recognize the precinct polling places, take a look. If you disagree with my assessment, jump in!

Edit - to make it easier to see my point, I boldfaced the few precincts where the amendment passed in Durham. They are all predominately white communities on the rural edges of the county. In every other precinct the amendment was defeated, including precincts where nearly 100% of the residents are black. Durham County is 38% black. Demographics here: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/37/37063.html

(Nonpartisan)
VOTES PERCENT
Constitutional Amendment OVER17
Select 1
01 = For 22,359 30.24
02 = Against 51,591 69.76
------------
01 02
------------
0001 01 BROGDEN MIDDLE SCHOOL 52 217
0002 02 GEORGEWATTS ELEMENTARY 82 411
0003 03 E K POWE ELEMENTARY 52 448
0004 04 SCHOOLOFSCIENCEANDMATH 74 552
0005 05 PATTERSON REC CENTER 59 172
0006 06 LAKEWOOD SCHOOL 52 438
0007 07 SCHOOL OF THE ARTS 22 387
0008 08 MOREHEAD MONTESSORI 90 373
0009 09 FOREST HILLS CLUBHOUSE 168 723
0010 10 C C SPAULDING SCHOOL 32 107
0011 12 MONUMENTOFFAITH CHURCH 47 89
0012 13 BURTON ELEMENTARY 56 111
0013 14 Y E SMITH SCHOOL 151 217
0014 15 GOOD SHEPHERD CHURCH 97 133
0015 16 HOLY INFANT CATHOLIC 176 542
0016 17 COUNTY MAIN LIBRARY 110 284
0017 18 FIRST UNITED ANTIOCH 119 221
0018 19 AMERICAN LEGION POST 7 233 423
0019 20 CNTY AGRICULTURAL BLDG 52 424
0020 21 CLUB BOULEVARD SCHOOL 111 427
0021 22 VFW POST 2740 322 563
0022 23 THE RIVER CHURCH 489 787
0023 24 DPS STAFF DEV CENTER 513 597
0024 25 NORTHERN HIGH SCHOOL 504 314
0025 26 BAHAMA VFD - ROUGEMONT 334 189
0026 27 CREEKSIDE ELEMENTARY 228 833
0027 28 BAHAMA RURITAN CLUB 601 506
0028 29 GLENN ELEMENTARY 625 445
0029 30-1 OAK GROVE ELEMENTARY 568 675
0030 30-2 SOUTHERN HIGH SCHOOL 652 834
0031 31 BETHESDA RURITAN CLUB 543 436
0032 32 NEAL MIDDLE SCHOOL 384 266
0033 33 LOWES GROVE BAPTIST 332 672
0034 34-1 PEARSONTOWN ELEM 224 605
0035 34-2 IVY COMMUNITY CENTER 318 745
0036 35.3 PARKWOOD VFD 608 1511
0037 36 YATES BAPTIST CHURCH 193 502
0038 37 COLE MILL CHURCH 726 932
0039 38 HOPE VALLEY BAPTIST 298 985
0040 39 ST. STEPHENS EPISCOPAL 383 1031
0041 40 ROGERSHERRMIDDLESCHOOL 64 417
0042 41 WHITEROCKBAPTISTCHURCH 144 288
0043 42 SHEPHARD MAGNET SCHOOL 106 257
0044 43 FOREST VIEW ELEMENTARY 534 1655
0045 44 NORTH REGIONAL LIBRARY 768 857
0046 45 TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH 713 811
0047 46 EDISON JOHNSON CENTER 276 393
0048 47 HOLMESRECREATIONCENTER 167 334
0049 48 CHRISTTHEKING MORAVIAN 177 513
0050 50 MCMANNEN UMC 315 779
0051 51 SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY 348 1237
0052 52 EVANGEL ASSEMBLYOFGOD 339 370
0053 53-1 TRIANGLEPRESBYTERIAN 231 616
0054 53-2 TRIANGLE CHURCH 241 910
0055 54 SOUTH REGIONAL LIBRARY 334 1016
0056 55-11 WEAVERSTREETCENTER 122 278
0057 55-49 NCCU STUDENT UNION 27 55
0058 OS BOE 1296 6616
0059 OS ERL 1156 1257
0060 OS NRL 2208 2839
0061 OS SRL 1385 4932
0062 OS DUKE 214 3847
0063 OS NCCU 444 930
0064 ABSENTEE BY MAIL 70 257
0065 PROVISIONAL TRANSFER 0 0

[Zorra]

1. Thanks, yardwork.

This is very interesting, and constructive. nt

[myrna minx]

2. Thank you for putting this together. K&R

[ellenfl]

3. thank you for your effort in explaining this vote. i hope we have more people like you

providing context as we head towards the november elections.

ellen fl

[William769]

4. Thanks yardwork

For your work on this.

[mitchtv]

5. good post

It might be useful as an anti troll device
k&r

[yardwork]

6. kick because the media is perpetuating this divisive lie.

[EFerrari]

9. This might be a good time to take note of the media outlets that run with

this NOM strategery.

Great work.

[DURHAM D]

7. I am pleased to see the results of my precinct.

Thanks for posting this. I have been voting in the same place for over 20 years. It used to be on the edge of town, in fact when I moved in it was in the county not the city. When I went to vote I had to stand in line and the first thing I noticed was the number of people under 35. Until the past few years it seemed I was usually the only person under 75 and my precinct always voted R. The demographics have changed and the number of young families has increased dramatically.

In my small neighborhood (33 homes) seven houses had "Vote Against" yard signs and no "Vote For". In the past the only house with a yard sign was mine. However in 2008 one old neighbor had a McCain sign. That is it - in the past no outward expression of preference. I noticed that of the houses with the "Vote Against" signs five of them were young couples with children. One of the families with two young boys had a Vote Against sign and it made me smile because they can not even vote because she is from Poland and he is from the Ukraine.

But back to your point. Good analysis and you are spot on. This needs to get out there.

[yardwork]

8. That is wonderful news! You helped to change your neighborhood, I have no doubt.