Occasionally, the claim is bandied about that the Newburgh Teachers' Association has a lock on Newburgh School District Board of Education elections, because the NTA selects candidates to recommend, actively informs union members of the recommendations, and the union members vote.

Interesting theory, but please consider a few facts from the last election on May 15, 2007 at which board members Bowles, McAfee, and Woodhull were elected from a field of six candidates.

• There are on the order of 18,000 taxed residential property parcels in the district.
• There are on the order of 12,000 students in the Newburgh School District.
• There were 2,453 voters in the May 2007 budget vote and school board election.
• Somewhere between 559 and 1,677 voters did not make the full selection of three Board of Education candidates that they were allowed.
• The number of votes required to win a BOE seat was 1,172.
• Less than one half of all voters followed the union recommended BOE slate fully.

These margins seem very slim. Results could change with only a small increase in voter participation. Results might even be different with no increase in participation but simply greater motivation to vote for a particular candidate.