More history of referenda results -- blank votes

I previously posted all referenda results from 2002 to 2010. Now here's another look at the results. Below is a brief analysis of the "blank votes" cast on each referenda. I define a "blank vote" as any issue or candidate race for which a voter was in the booth, but chose to abstain from voting on that issue or candidate race.

Here you can see the percentage of blank votes for each referenda:The most obvious conclusion I draw from these results is that when we changed to the new ballot in 2007, more people began voting on the referenda. My guess is that many people probably didn't notice the referenda in the old voting booths. But there is another trend I'm seeing.

Without doing any detailed review, it seems to me that the referenda with the least support -- i.e. 2008 Mixville pump station, 2009 school energy improvements -- also seem to have the most blank votes in their respective years.

Tim White