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<br /> ;;.6/V <br />Demographic and Statistical Methodology / Page 2 <br />for candidate Jones, we would first compute, for each voting precinct, the percent <br />of the precinct Place 7 vote going to Jones and the percent of the precinct voting <br />age population in each racial/ethnic group (Hispanic, Black, and Anglo-plus-Other). <br />Applying the ecological regression procedure to these sets of percents provides a <br />way to statistically determine the overall (citywide) vote distribution for candidate <br />Jones by racial/ethnic group. While we cannot observe this outcome for anyone <br />voting precinct, since we have only votes by candidate and voting age population <br />by race/ethnicity for each precinct, we can average this information across voting <br />precincts (weighting each precinct by its total voting age population) to determine <br />what percent of the overall Hispanic, Black and Anglo-plus-Other vote Jones {and <br />any of his opponents} received. Ecological regression is, in essence, an averaging <br />scheme that allows us to determine demographic support by candidate for a group <br />of voting precincts, combined, when for each precinct, we have only total votes by <br />candidate and total persons of voting age by race/ethnicity. <br />Despite the smaller number of voting precincts available for analysis in the City, we <br />were able to obtain statistically reliable estimates of Hispanic and Anglo support for <br />candidates in virtually all the elections we examined. In the case of Black support, <br />however, we were able to obtain statistically reliable estimates in only about 60% <br />of the elections we examined. The problem results from the combination of fewer <br />precincts available for analysis and the relatively small Black population of the City. <br />Under these circumstances, where there is not that much information for analysis, <br />the ability of ecological regression to discern statistically reliable voting patterns is <br />diminished. We have inserted the label "NSR" (Not Statistically Reliable) in the ac- <br />companying Appendix Table for those {predominantly Black} vote shares which did <br />not meet statistical standards and could not be converted to a percent basis. <br />Our election analysis results are reported for three racial/ethnic groups: <br />0 Hispanic <br />0 Non-Hispanic Black (referred to simply as Black in this report) <br />0 Non-Hispanic White (Anglo), non-Hispanic Native American, non-Hispanic <br /> Asian American and non-Hispanic other races -- all combined into a single <br /> group in this report and labeled Anglo-plus-Other {see explanation below}. <br />The third category was necessary for the application of the ecological regression <br />framework to San Marcos, because the three non-Hispanic populations combined <br />with non-Hispanic White were all too small to be analyzed separately. Since this <br />"composite" (Anglo-plus-Other) category is dominated statistically by non-Hispanic <br />White population, voting patterns attributed to this group by ecological regression <br />are effectively, and for all practical purposes, those of Anglo residents. We have <br />noted this qualification on the accompanying Appendix Table. <br />