Precinct Results: State Ballot Questions 4 and 6 - Anne Arundel County

Anne Arundel County is a pretty socially-liberal place. Even many of the Republicans are socially liberal, or at least more so than the average Republican voter in the US. So, I decided to test that theory by mapping out the results of the two socially-oriented state questions on the ballot in November: Question 4 (tuition for immigrants) and Question 6 (marriage rights for gays).

Question 4

Question 6

The biggest thing that surprised me was the stark difference between the Severna Park/Arnold area vs. the Pasadana/Lake Shore area. While both capes are reliably Republican, Lake Shore is far more socially conservative than Arnold. Nearly every precinct between the Severn and Magothy rivers voted in favor of marriage equality, while there were only three between the Magothy and the Patapsco.

Another fact that struck me from the maps was that Crofton is very similar in this way to Severna Park and Arnold. Every single Crofton precinct voted in favor of question 6, even though the town is a toss-up politically (49% Obama in 2012). In addition, no Crofton precinct voted for question 4 by less than 48%.

Voters in Maryland's 33rd legislative district and the 5th councilmanic district should take note. For a pretty socially liberal electorate, their elected officials are currently very conservative. 

The same cannot be said for Crofton's more reliably Democratic neighbor, Odenton. Over 57% of Odenton went for Obama in 2012, but it appears to be more socially conservative than Crofton. The Maple Ridge precinct (04-003) voted against question 6, and they were joined by King's Ransom (04-012) and East Piney Orchard (04-023) in their opposition to question 4.

Other than that, everything was as expected. West county and Annapolis vote liberal, south and northeast county vote conservative. The south continues its leftward trend, due to "spillover" from PG county and trends towards Democrats in Shady Side. However it will be quite some time before the south turns "blue."

Data file (CSV) from Maryland Board of Elections