Pontiac Election: A Perfect 
Example of Why Voter Turnout Matters
(Guest View by Kurt Metzger, Detroit’s Data Guru, Aug. 5, 2015)
Yesterday, voters in the Pontiac School District, which currently is under a consent agreement with the state to address a massive deficit, asked voters to allow for the creation of a special fund — called a sinking fund — that for five years would generate tax revenue and pay for building repairs
as well as safety and technology upgrades. Unofficial results show that the measure went down to defeat by just 116 votes. The details of that vote are quite interesting.
Pontiac city voters overwhelmingly supported the measure at a rate of 65.5 percent in favor, while district residents outside of Pontiac voted overwhelmingly No, at a rate of 79.2 percent.
In the end, however, it was a case of voter turnout.
Pontiac residents had a turnout rate of ONLY 7.6 PERCENT, while non-Pontiac residents turned out at 16.2 percent.
According to my calculations, it would have taken only 179 more Pontiac residents to turn out 
and vote at a 65.5 percent Yes rate to flip the vote. A Pontiac turnout of only 8 percent of registered voters could have made the difference.
Alas, only 7.6 percent took the opportunity to vote.
For more on the election results, see https://oaklandcounty115.com/2015/08/04/election-results-hp-police-millage-passes-losses-in-pontiac-and-madison-school-districts/
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