By the numbers

MONROE — Orange County Elections Commissioners Susan A. Bahren and David C. Green have certified the results of the Orange County Proposition for Monroe calling for the creation of the Town of Palm Tree.
Given that the vote was 8,852 in favor of the proposal and 1,820 against, the outcome was never in doubt.
But the breakdown by election districts within Monroe clearly shows the support the proposal had.
The referendum calls for the creation of the Town of Palm Tree out of what is now the Village of Kiryas Joel, including the 164 acres acquired through annexation, plus an additional 56 acres. Once the town becomes operational, the Kiryas Joel bloc vote would no longer be a factor in Monroe politics.
There are 39 election districts in the entire Town of Monroe, although districts 38 and 39 are not operational. There are 18 election districts in the Village of Kiryas Joel: Election districts 20 through 37.
The Palm Tree referendum was favored by 85 percent of those voting in Kiryas Joel - 4,123 to 634.
In the 19 election districts located in the unincorporated portion of the town of Monroe, plus those in the Villages of Harriman and Monroe, 75 percent of voters approved the referendum - 4,729 to 1,196.
A total of 11,521 people voted on the proposition. That's the second highest turnout in recent memory, topped only by the 11,942 people who voted in the 2013 supervisor's race that saw Harley E. Doles III defeat United Monroe candidate Emily Covers by 337 votes.
The difference then was that Doles secured nearly all his votes from Kiryas Joel while Convers swept the election districts in the rest of the town.
- Bob Quinn