Election 2012: Non-Binding Ballot Questions Pass, Election Statistics

Depending on where you live in Watertown, you could have voted on two or three ballot questions in Tuesday's election — and all three got more support for the "Yes" side.

Question 4, which asks the state senator - Will Brownsberger - to do a variety of things, including prevent cuts to government programs such as Medicaid, close federal tax loopholes and redirect military spending to domestic programs, passed with more than 78 percent of the votes.

Question 5 in precincts 10-12, which asks the state representative - John Lawn - to take the same steps as Question 4, passed with nearly 76 percent of the vote.

In precincts 1-9, the same question was number 6, and was directed to the state representative for that area, Jonathan Hecht. The measure passed with 81 percent of the vote.

Question 5 in precincts 1-9 asked the state representative and the state senator to vote in favor of a resolution to ask Congress and the president to affirm that corporations are not entitled to the same rights as human beings, and limit political spending - a measure aimed at reversing the Citizens United decision. The question passed with 79 percent of the vote.

That question was not on the ballot in precincts 10-12, Town Clerk John Flynn said, because the rest of John Lawn's district, the 10th Middlesex, has a different state senator.

Facts & Figures

Voter turn out was very high in Watertown, with 16,816 people – 75 percent of registered voters – casting their ballots. 

The highest number of ballots cast were in precinct 7, where 1,665 people voted. Precinct 4 had 1,596 votes cast and 1,588 ballots were cast in precinct 8. The lowest number was in precinct 9, where 1,175 voters came out.

The highest proportion of voters coming out Tuesday was seen in precinct 7, where 79.22 percent of voters cast ballots. Next was precinct 10, where 79.01 percent of voters came to the polls.

The lowest proportion was seen in precinct 9, with 68.87 percent of voters going to the polls.

The Democrats fared well in Watertown, winning races from the presidency to the state house to Governor's Council. Republicans were stronger in some areas of town than others. 

Scott Brown got around 42 percent of the vote in the race for senator in precincts 10 and 11, both on the West Side of town. His poorest showing was in precinct 4 (the neighborhood between Watertown High School and the Oakley Country Club) where he got just under 27 percent. 

Mitt Romney did not fare as well as Brown, but he also had his best showing in precincts 10 and 11, where he got close to 33 percent of the votes. The lowest portion of votes for Romney came in precincts 3 and 4, where he got around 21 percent of the tallies.

Watertown Republican Steven Aylward, who ran for state senate against Will Brownsberger, got more than 30 percent of the vote in precincts 8, 10, 11 and 12. The most was in 11, where he got over 34 percent of the ballots. He got the lowest portion of the votes in precincts 3 and 4, where he got around 21 percent.