Vote early and not very often

Here's a quiz for you.

How many votes does it take to get elected to the Flint City Council? The answer is not that many. Delrico J. Loyd won the 1st Ward seat in August with just 745 votes. Eric Mays came in second with 702. According to the City of Flint website, each councilperson for the city's nine wards represents approximately 15,640 people.

It makes it sound like an enterprising young politician could start a career in Flint. Of course, getting elected would be the easy part.

UPDATE: A reader asked for the election results of the 2007 mayor's race. Here they are via USA Today:

Dayne Walling 11,853 (49%)

W -- Don Williamson* 12,434 (51%)

Williamson, a 73-year-old multimillionaire businessman, dipped deeply into his own account to fund his campaign. Williamson overcame criticism of his criminal distant past — he served more than three years in prison in the 1960s for crimes related to bad checks. Walling, a 33-year-old Rhodes scholar with multiple degrees who worked in the District of Columbia government, had promised to revitalize the city.

The Flint Journal provides an unofficial breakdown by wards:

		Dayne Walling	Don Williamson
	1st WARD
	1	240	217
	2	216	222
	3	77	169
	4	162	205
	5	151	203
	6	99	164
	Total	945	1,180
	2nd WARD
	7	186	214
	8	223	255
	9	143	173
	10	143	211
	11	154	150
	12	175	156
	Total	1,024	1,159
	3rd WARD
	13	146	224
	14	80	134
	15	122	194
	16	29	34
	17	88	147
	18	93	126
	19	74	135
	Total	632	994
	4th WARD
	20	110	202
	21	112	188
	22	235	317
	23	104	162
	24	27	36
	25	224	308
	Total	812	1,213
	5th WARD
	26	133	164
	27	104	181
	28	135	190
	29	211	242
	30	2	7
	31	7	29
	32	87	110
	33	29	41
	Total	708	964
	6th WARD
	34	398	260
	35	196	195
	36	163	149
	37	345	181
	38	290	184
	39	87	125
	40	24	26
	Total	1,503	1,120
	7th WARD
	42	466	225
	43	305	191
	44	250	143
	45	390	144
	46	234	216
	47	424	294
	Total	2,069	1,213
	8th WARD
	48	189	238
	49	166	223
	50	283	281
	51	97	115
	52	15	13
	53	443	265
	54	192	234
	Total	1,385	1,369
	9th WARD
	55	108	218
	56	15	17
	57	169	132
	58	54	71
	59	224	264
	60	186	171
	61	280	254
	Total	1,036	1,127
	Absentee	1,739	2,095
	TOTAL	11,853	12,434