How did proponents of a ban on dog racing in Massachusetts go from a 2-point loss in 2000 to a 12-point victory last week? A higher voter turnout may have helped. The votes against a ban totaled 1.32 million when the idea was last on the ballot, and they slipped only a bit to 1.29 million this year. But the “yes” vote jumped from 1.28 million to 1.66 million.

Geographically, the big shift came in the western part of the state, as the map below shows:

The biggest change was in the town of Phillipston, in the western part of Worcester County. It went from a 282-425 vote against the ban eight years ago to a 667-254 approval this time — or from 40 percent to 65 percent “yes.” There were double-digit percentage-point increases in the “yes” vote just about everywhere in the western third of the state. Among places casting more than 10,000 votes, the biggest increases in the “yes” vote were in Holyoke (from 55 percent to 70 percent), Chicopee (from 53 percent to 68 percent), and West Springfield (from 55 percent to 69 percent). I’m not sure why this is so. Did the campaign to ban dog racing concentrate on the western third of the state — and perhaps fly under the radar of the greyhound racing industry, which is pretty much limited to two tracks in eastern Massachusetts? Or have western Mass. residents lost interest in dog racing thanks to the nearby casinos in Connecticut?

Not surprisingly, opposition to the ban remained high in the southeastern part of the state, near the Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park. (The other track, at Wonderland in the city of Revere, does not have as much of an economic impact on its surrounding communities.) West Bridgewater, the bright red dot on the map, was the only place where the “yes” vote declined significantly, from 35 percent to 30 percent.

The “yes” vote last week is shown on the map below:

Among communities casting at least 10,000 votes, the vote in favor of a ban was highest in Northampton (79 percent), Amherst (77 percent), Pittsfield (73 percent), and Holyoke (70 percent). The “no” vote was strongest in Bridgewater (69 percent), Taunton (68 percent), and Easton (64 percent).