The Right Side of Hope in Rhode Island
March 21, 2013
Who's Being Served By Single Party Voting?
Who gets the most benefit of the "master lever" as Ken Block has been calling it (or single party, or straight ticket or straight party). For consistency, we'll call it the master lever (ML). Some of those elected to the Statehouse have even been so brazen to come right out and admit that they like the ML because it helps them to stay in office and they oppose its elimination. What if we take a look at this self-serving attitude by the numbers.
The last column shows what percentage of that legislator's vote total came from the master lever. Looking at these numbers shows the correlation between getting high numbers of master lever votes and being opposed to eliminating the master lever. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."
| House District |
Winner | For/Against | Dem Lever /Total Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Almeida | For | 71.4% |
| 9 | Williams | Against | 62.6% |
| 11 | Diaz | Against | 62.6% |
| 56 | Silva | Against | 61.1% |
| 3 | Palangio | Against | 58.3% |
| 10 | Slater | For | 56.8% |
| 58 | San Bento | Against | 51.8% |
| 13 | Carnevale | Against | 49.7% |
| 8 | Lombardi | For | 48.7% |
| 59 | O'Neill | Against | 48.2% |
| 60 | Coderre | Against | 46.9% |
| 7 | Cimini | For | 46.0% |
| 62 | Messier | Against | 37.8% |
| 2 | Blazejewski | Against | 37.6% |
| 64 | Melo | Against | 36.7% |
| 5 | DeSimone | Against | 35.7% |
| 14 | Lima | For | 35.1% |
| 49 | Baldelli-Hunt | For | 33.5% |
| 57 | McLaughlin | For | 32.9% |
| 6 | Hull | For | 32.7% |
| 61 | Johnston, Jr. | Against | 28.8% |
| 73 | Abney | Against | 26.5% |
| 4 | Fox | Against | 23.6% |
| 55 | Corvese | Against | 22.3% |
| 1 | Ajello | For | 22.1% |
| 63 | Kazarian | Against | 22.1% |
| 25 | Nunes | For | 21.7% |
| 50 | Csey | Against | 21.5% |
| 75 | Martin | For | 21.2% |
| 51 | Phillips | Against | 20.8% |
| 42 | Ucci | Against | 20.0% |
| 18 | Handy | For | 19.0% |
| 65 | Amore | For | 18.7% |
| 54 | O'Brien | Against | 17.4% |
| 43 | Fellela | Against | 16.9% |
| 20 | Bennett | For | 16.4% |
| 17 | Jaquard | For | 15.8% |
| 16 | Palumbo | For | 15.5% |
| 45 | Ackerman | For | 15.1% |
| 21 | Naughton | Against | 15.1% |
| 37 | Azzinaro | Against | 15.0% |
| 70 | Edwards | For | 14.1% |
| 69 | Gallison, Jr. | Against | 13.8% |
| 71 | Canario | Against | 13.8% |
| 27 | Serpa | Against | 13.7% |
| 26 | Morgan | For | 13.7% |
| 22 | Ferri | For | 13.2% |
| 74 | Ruggiero | For | 13.0% |
| 28 | Guthrie | Against | 12.9% |
| 19 | McNamara | For | 12.3% |
| 46 | O'Grady | For | 12.2% |
| 52 | MacBeth | For | 12.1% |
| 47 | Keable | Against | 11.8% |
| 24 | Trillo | For | 11.4% |
| 66 | Hearn | For | 11.4% |
| 29 | Tomasso | For | 11.3% |
| 38 | Kennedy | Against | 11.3% |
| 34 | Tanzi | For | 11.0% |
| 23 | Shekarchi | Against | 10.7% |
| 67 | Malik | For | 10.5% |
| 68 | Marshall | Against | 10.2% |
| 33 | Lally | Against | 10.2% |
| 39 | Valencia | For | 10.1% |
| 53 | Winfield | Against | 9.9% |
| 44 | Costantino | For | 9.5% |
| 72 | Finn | For | 9.5% |
| 31 | Costa | For | 9.3% |
| 48 | Newberry | For | 8.8% |
| 36 | Walsh | For | 8.6% |
| 35 | Dickinson | For | 8.4% |
| 32 | Craven | For | 8.3% |
| 15 | Mattiello | Against | 8.3% |
| 40 | Chippendale | For | 7.4% |
| 41 | Marcello | For | 7.3% |
| 30 | Giarusso | For | 6.8% |
Just looking at those numbers, the 27 of the top 50 (54%) are opposed to eliminating the master lever. Only 7 of the bottom 25 (28%) are opposed to eliminating the master lever.
On the Senate side, we have similar numbers. Among those in the top half for getting master lever votes, 62% more of them are opposed to eliminating the master lever than the bottom half.
| Senate District |
Winner | For/Against | Dem Lever /total vote |
| 6 | Metts | Against | 62.9% |
| 2 | Pichardo | Against | 59.3% |
| 16 | Crowley | For | 57.8% |
| 1 | Goodwin | Against | 52.0% |
| 5 | Jabour | Against | 49.6% |
| 7 | Ciccone, III | Against | 41.4% |
| 15 | Nesselbush | For | 40.7% |
| 14 | DaPonte | Against | 31.6% |
| 8 | Doyle, II | Against | 31.3% |
| 24 | Cote | For | 29.2% |
| 18 | Conley, Jr. | For | 25.1% |
| 3 | Goldin | Against | 22.9% |
| 4 | Ruggerio | Against | 21.9% |
| 20 | Picard | For | 21.3% |
| 25 | Lombardo, III | For | 20.7% |
| 28 | Miller | Against | 19.6% |
| 12 | DiPalma | Against | 16.8% |
| 13 | Paiva-Weed | Against | 16.2% |
| 9 | Satchell | Against | 15.6% |
| 10 | Felag, Jr. | Against | 15.2% |
| 32 | Bates | For | 14.8% |
| 26 | Lombardi | Against | 14.5% |
| 38 | Algiere | For | 14.4% |
| 11 | Ottiano | For | 14.3% |
| 31 | Lynch | Against | 14.0% |
| 19 | Pearson | Against | 13.4% |
| 29 | McCaffrey | Against | 13.3% |
| 33 | Raptakis | For | 12.5% |
| 22 | Archambault | Against | 11.8% |
| 27 | Gallo | Against | 11.2% |
| 17 | O'Neill | For | 10.6% |
| 30 | Walaska | For | 10.1% |
| 37 | Sosnowski | For | 9.8% |
| 34 | Rumsey | For | 9.7% |
| 36 | Sheehan | For | 9.5% |
| 23 | Fogarty | Against | 9.3% |
| 21 | Kettle | For | 8.8% |
| 35 | Hodgson | For | 1.1% |
Yes, there are outliers on both ends, there are in just about any data set. But is the purpose of the master lever to keep the incumbents elected? I've never heard anyone say that is the purpose of having the mechanism. Actually, I'm still yet to hear a good reason for keeping it. Then when you add on to that the fact that having the master lever as an option disenfranchises voters, we don't need much more evidence to show that this needs to go immediately.
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