Alderman at-Large Gripp more popular than Mayor-elect Matson
The results from the mayor race in Davenport indicates that people did not like the choices on the ballot.
How so you ask?*
Both the mayoral and the alderman-at-large positions are city wide elections. They are non-partisan in that party affiliation does not appear on the ballot and primaries are not determined by each party supplying a candidate. However unlike the mayoral contest the alderman-at-large position was unopposed – meaning there were only two candidates on the ballot for two positions. Voters were voting for two to fill those two positions. Voters were not in a position to eliminate one although they could decline to vote for one or both. Indeed other than to write in someone there was not a definitive reason to even vote the election as both were otherwise automatic winners.
We note that the two individuals for the alderman-at-large position combined received 15,518 votes. Kyle Gripp a registered Republican received the most with 8,702 of the votes cast (55,4%). The other person JJ Condon a registered Democrat received 6,816 votes (43.39%).
For the Davenport mayoral election, with two on ballot but with the option to vote for only one, there was a contest and people needed to vote to determine the winner. But there were only 12,070 combined votes cast. The winner Mike Matson, a registered Democrat received 7199 votes with Rawson another Democrat coming in at 4871.
So if people voted with knowledge of the players in the alderman-at-large contest which they presumably did as regards the mayoral contest then comparing the total vote spread between the two elections (~30%) might be of some significance. It is a sketchy proposition we admit because the alderman at large contest involved people voting for more than one and many might have liked both and voted accordingly. It is also arguable that the alderman-at-large positions should have had a total vote in the 24000 range instead of the 16000 range but that would assume all people voting liked both candidates enough to cast a vote for them both however predetermined the outcome was. HOWEVER the spread between the two candidates for the alderman-at-large positions at 12% more for Gripp indicates considerable selection going on in that race. Our instinct says people did not like the choices for mayor as much.
Alderman-at-large Gripp received about 1500 more votes than Matson. Again, in the Alderman-at-large vote you could vote for two without penalty, but you did not have to, and selectivity was clearly going on. It would appear Alderman-at-large Gripp is the most popular city-wide candidate in Davenport.
*this article was revised from the original posting to better explain our rationale.
