WEST HAVEN, CT—If the voters at Yale Field had their way, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry would be in the White House come January. But in the first-ever mock election held simultaneous at seven minor-league ballparks around the nation, baseball fans chose to keep President George W. Bush in charge.
At Yale Field, where Bush once played ball as a Yale University freshman, fellow alumnus Kerry won the mock election with 54% of the vote, which was done by selecting a promotional bobblehead of either candidate in a makeshift voting booth.
The voting took place as fans entered the stadium for the New Haven County Cutters’ Northeast League game against the Aces, a league-ran team that replaced a franchise that folded at the start of the season.
“We consider our vote final with no potential for a recount or dispute,” said Marie Heikkinen Webb, the Cutters’ assistant general manager, who supervised the West Haven voting.
Similar mock elections took place before games in Brockton, MA; St. Paul, MN; Charleston, SC; Fort Myers, FL; and Sioux Falls, SD, The Hudson Valley (Fishkill, NY) Renegades had a road game, but held its election up the road at the Poughkeepsie Galaria shopping mall. The six teams are owned by sports marketing company The Goldklang Group, which sponsored the event and invited New Haven County to participate.
“This appears to be an early indicator of how the public will vote in November,” Goldklang Group Senior Director Jeff Goldklang said. “Only, the public won’t leave voting booths with Bobblehead dolls on Election Day.”
Each club gave away a number of bobblehead dolls ranging from 1,000-2,500, half of which were Bush, and the other half Kerry. Bush was victorious in South Carolina, New York, South Dakota and Florida. Kerry took Massachusetts, Minnesota and Connecticut.
The event in Charleston included a write-in candidate. Insurance company Geico Direct sponsored the event there, and threw Gecko, the mascot of Geico Direct, into the race.
“Politics has tied itself to baseball over the years in many ways,” said New Haven County Cutters spokesman Ryan Smith. “We wanted to flip this around and let politicians know that baseball fans will have a say in the 2004 Election.”
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