The Transcript published a letter (Wednesday, July 2) expressing disappointment in the results of the recent special election. Dedham rejected a proposed senior center by a 55 to 45 percent margin. A few statistics provide valuable insights.
Dedham had 15,236 registered voters on Election Day. Only 3,500 (23 percent) filed a ballot. Recent estimates indicate that 8,700 senior citizens live in town. It is likely that most are registered voters (possibly 57 percent of all voters). If seniors had favored the center and voted, the proposal would have passed.
Assume that seniors cast the 1,572 “Yes” votes (10 percent of all voters). Only 357 additional senior votes were needed to approve the project. The 1,929 votes needed for passage represents 22 percent of all seniors or 13 percent of all voters. My conclusion is that seniors did not support the proposed center in large numbers.
On the contrary, if we assume that seniors voted in the same pattern as the final result, it becomes clear that many seniors voted against the center. Assume the 3,500 voters include 1,995 seniors (57 percent of total). If every "Yes" vote were cast by a senior, 423 seniors voted “No” (21 percent of the senior vote). Once again, this is hardly an endorsement of the senior center.
I believe that the final vote shows that the majority that opposed the senior center includes a significant number of senior citizens,
