Trading places
Voters shift to third parties
By Kara Morrison NICAR staff
As Bill Thompson watched friends and acquaintances in Maryland become more disillusioned with Republicans and Democrats, he wondered how widespread the sentiment was becoming.
Thompson, a graduate student at the University of Maryland College of Journalism, decided to turn his question into a computer-assisted reporting project for the school's Capital News Service, a wire service based in Annapolis.
Along with graduate student Kristina Schurr, Thompson used Access and Excel to analyze voter registration data and actual voting totals by county from the 1988, 1992 and 1996 presidential elections.
Minor explosion
Not only were people turning away from the two major parties, but minor political parties in Maryland appeared to be gaining force rapidly.
Their data showed large increases from 1988 to 1996 in the number of voters registering as Independents or in a minor party.
Overall, such registrations grew by more than 55 percent (104,868 voters), while registration for Democrats increased only 2.4 percent and Republican registrations increased 21.5 percent during the same period.
In addition, actual votes for minor party presidential candidates from 1988 to 1996 increased nearly 1,000 percent.
"The state of Maryland has been a Democratic stronghold as long as I can remember," said Thompson, a Maryland native. "The thing I was surprised most about is the Democrats are losing their stronghold."
By dividing their data into Maryland's five main regions, Thompson said they were able to report that the majority of the increase in minor party support was coming from the state's rural areas.
Minor frustrations
"It was an interesting story," said Barbara Sauers, managing editor of the 17,000-circulation Star-Democrat. Sauers, who ran the story the front page, said she knew readers in her area were interested in third parties, especially in light of the significant following Ross Perot's candidacy drew in the area during the 1992 election.
In all, the project Thompson and Schurr about two months. Three Maryland newspapers, including the Easton Star-Democrat, ran the story in December 1996.
Thompson and Schurr said the story did pose some challenges.
One of the biggest frustrations the pair encountered was an archaic record-keeping system at Maryland's State Administrative Board of Election Law. Thompson said the office kept only paper records. The result was a large chunk of time spent waiting for the records and then entering them by hand.
Schurr said there were other frustrations, such as designing a spreadsheet in Excel to perform the calculations as they envisioned.
Although both had taken a computer-assisted reporting course taught by U.S. News and World Report senior editor Penny Loeb, Schurr said working as a team helped them get through the technical glitches they encountered along the way.
"You have to really understand what it is you're looking for," Thompson said.
He added that a good editor is a great help. Their Annapolis bureau chief, Linda Fibich, reminded them to make sure the results couldn't be explained by population increases, which led them to an analysis of Census data in addition to voting records.
In the end, Thompson sent Shurr a Christmas card insisting it was a CAR reporter who said, "These are the times that try men's souls."
"That's how we felt sometimes," Schurr admitted.
Nevertheless, Thompson said the project wasn't overly difficult. Schurr said she's convinced CAR is a necessity.
"The notion that computer-assisted reporting is just for the Big Boys is silly and outdated," she said. "It's just something you ought to know."
Currently, Thompson, 34, and Schurr, 23, are interns at the Baltimore Sun. Both will graduate from the University of Maryland in May.
Kara Morrison can be reached at (573) 882-0684, or send e-mail to c684223@showme.missouri.edu