I’ve had a sense that Cambodian-American voters in Lowell have played a key role in the outcome of the 2011 city council election, the 2012 US Senate election, and the 2013 US Senate special election. Now, with the assistance of Dr. Sengly Kong, the chair of the Lowell Cambodia Town Committee, we have gone through the roster of Lowell voters and have identified those with Cambodian or Southeast Asian last names. It is an inexact method but I believe it is the best one available to help explore this issue. Here is what we found:

Of the 54,955 registered voters of Lowell in January 2013, 7038 had Cambodian surnames. That’s 13% of the electorate.

The Cambodian voters are not spread evenly throughout the city. Instead they live mostly in the Highlands and the Acre. Very few live in Belvidere, Centralville or Pawtucketville. The following is a breakdown by precinct showing the Ward-Precinct, the number of registered voters, the number of voters with Cambodian/Southeast Asian surnames, and the percentage that group represents of all the voters in that precinct. To find the location of each precinct, see my post on Lowell’s Wards and Precincts:

1-1 All voters = 1540; SEA voters = 110; percentage SEA voters = 7%
1-2 All voters = 2465; SEA voters = 49; percentage SEA voters = 2%
1-3 All voters = 2285; SEA voters = 41; percentage SEA voters = 2%

2-1 All voters = 1221; SEA voters = 86; percentage SEA voters = 7%
2-2 All voters = 1760; SEA voters = 203; percentage SEA voters = 12%
2-3 All voters = 1944; SEA voters = 47; percentage SEA voters = 2%

3-1 All voters = 1518; SEA voters = 187; percentage SEA voters = 12%
3-2 All voters = 1390; SEA voters = 458; percentage SEA voters = 33%
3-3 All voters = 1422; SEA voters = 474; percentage SEA voters = 33%

4-1 All voters = 1730; SEA voters = 602; percentage SEA voters = 35%
4-2 All voters = 1279; SEA voters = 520; percentage SEA voters = 41%
4-3 All voters = 1629; SEA voters = 377; percentage SEA voters = 23%

5-1 All voters = 1618; SEA voters = 72; percentage SEA voters = 4%
5-2 All voters = 1433; SEA voters = 122; percentage SEA voters = 9%
5-3 All voters = 1833; SEA voters = 94; percentage SEA voters = 5%

6-1 All voters = 1960; SEA voters = 103; percentage SEA voters = 5%
6-2 All voters = 2073; SEA voters = 98; percentage SEA voters = 5%
6-3 All voters = 1924; SEA voters = 89; percentage SEA voters = 5%

7-1 All voters = 1416; SEA voters = 243; percentage SEA voters = 17%
7-2 All voters = 1516; SEA voters = 379; percentage SEA voters = 25%
7-3 All voters = 1243; SEA voters = 597; percentage SEA voters = 48%

8-1 All voters = 1504; SEA voters = 179; percentage SEA voters = 12%
8-2 All voters = 1815; SEA voters = 462; percentage SEA voters = 25%
8-3 All voters = 2062; SEA voters = 252; percentage SEA voters = 12%

9-1 All voters = 1684; SEA voters = 81; percentage SEA voters = 5%
9-2 All voters = 1941; SEA voters = 105; percentage SEA voters = 5%
9-3 All voters = 1726; SEA voters = 86; percentage SEA voters = 5%

10-1 All voters = 1590; SEA voters = 249; percentage SEA voters = 16%
10-2 All voters = 1170; SEA voters = 142; percentage SEA voters = 12%
10-3 All voters = 1160; SEA voters = 131; percentage SEA voters = 11%

11-1 All voters = 1551; SEA voters = 215; percentage SEA voters = 14%
11-2 All voters = 1780; SEA voters = 102; percentage SEA voters = 6%
11-3 All voters = 1703; SEA voters = 83; percentage SEA voters = 5%