Although voter turnout in Allston remains typically lower than the rest of Boston’s, the primarily Democratic section of the city might see higher turnout rates on Tuesday, a prediction some politically active Allston residents said is likely to happen.
“While voter participation was less in midterm elections, like 2006 or 2010, voter turnout in Allston was very high in 2004 and even higher in 2008,” said MassVOTE Co-Director Avi Green. “Our expectation is, based on the numbers of registration that have come in so far this year, is that actually 2012 is on track to be higher than 2008.”
The percentage of ballots cast in Allston has historically been lower than the percentage of ballots cast in Boston as a whole, according to Boston Election Commission records.
In the 2008 State Election, 52.98 percent of ballots were cast in Ward 21, which includes eight of Allston’s 10 precincts, in comparison with 62.10 percent Boston-wide.
Of 48,249 Ward 21 residents, 27,299 were registered voters.
“What we see is that in presidential elections, there’s high voter registration in Allston, and high voter turnouts,” Green said.
Ward 21 cast a total of 14,414 votes in the 2008 Presidential election, in comparison to the 3,658 votes cast for District 9 city councilor and 3,889 votes cast for Boston mayor in the 2009 municipal election.
Allston has a high student population, with 29.2 percent of residents between the ages of 20 and 24, the highest percentage of any age group, according to 2010 U.S. Census for the Allston-Brighton area.
Historically, Allston residents have tended to vote Democratic.
In Ward 21, Obama defeated McCain by 62.07 percent. Democratic Senate candidate John Kerry also defeated Republican opponent Jeffrey Beatty 82.12 percent to 13.91 percent.
Despite the lower voter turn out in Allston, a number of politically active residents in the primarily college-student area said they would vote Democratic, a pattern also conforming to Allston’s past voting records.
Allston resident and Boston University student Sean Donaghy said he will be voting Democratic on Tuesday.
“I know it’s only really a two-party system and that one of them is going to win, so I’ve gone with what I think is the lesser of two evils with Barack Obama,” said Donaghy, a College of Arts and Sciences junior. “He’s done a decent job over the past four years, and his policy going forward seems to be in line with most of my views.”
Allston resident Samantha Dell’Aquila, a student at the Art Institute of Boston, said around half of her friends in Allston are politically active.
“A lot of my friends, they seem to somewhat know about politics but they don’t really seem to care,” said Dell’Aquila, 20. “They haven’t even registered and they’re probably not going to vote.”
Dell’Aquila said she identifies herself as a Democrat or Independent, although she does not like the labels.
“This is my first presidential election,” she said. “I’ve already voted. I voted for Obama.”
Allston resident Gary Gossam, 55, said he favors Mitt Romney for president and Scott Brown for Senate in the upcoming election.
“Brown, he’s from Massachusetts, he knows the area,” Gossam said. “He’s from around here. Same with Romney. He lived in Belmont. They’re going to take care of Massachusetts.”
Gossam, who is unemployed, said he does not agree with programs that give the federal government more power such as Obamacare.
“I have health insurance, but there’s so many people ahead of me that don’t have health insurance, and we’re all waiting in the emergency room,” he said. “If they’re going to socialize medicine, they’re going to socialize everything else.”
Singer and songwriter Chick Graning said he does not support Romney’s policies.
“It’s everything that would be brought forward by the Republicans that kind of scares me,” the 46-year-old Allston resident said. “The foreign policy that he [Romney] has is terrifying. His policy towards women, it should be terrifying.”
Although he labels himself an Independent, Graning said Allston is fairly liberal.
“Allston seems to be a pretty Democratic-leaning area,” he said.
Another supporter of Independent candidates is Allston resident Vivienne Arango, a 22-year-old student at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
“I’m independent, and I’m voting Gary Johnson because I don’t believe in the two-party system,” Arango said.
Donaghy said everyone should vote to contribute to the election process.
“It’s part of the job we have as citizens,” he said. “You don’t vote, you don’t count.”
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