davis_square | So, any idea what a ward committee is?

From:

abilouise.livejournal.com

The ward committee is the most basic unit of the party, like the party organization just for your ward of the city. If the state party was a pyramid scheme, ward committees would be the base.

From:

zmgmeister.livejournal.com

I don't think I've ever seen one on a ballot before.

Anyway what was with "group A" and "group B"? Was the larger list the incumbents?

From:

ron_newman

This was discussed a bit in an earlier post. Group 1 and Group 2 were only in Ward 7. Group 1 was an 'establishment' Democratic list while the much smaller Group 2 was a list from the Progressive Democrats of Somerville. You could, if you wished, vote for all of Group 2 and then select additional names from Group 1.

From:

zmgmeister.livejournal.com

Maybe it got lost under the folded comments ;)

Anyway the way I remember the ballot, there was some limit of 30-someodd names you could pick. You could _not_ fill in the top line in each group to vote for everybody, because it was a few too many.

Another source of amusement was I think the "State Assemblyman" and "State Assemblywoman" positions. The ballot actually had them listed as separate offices. It looked like something you might see in Sweden or someplace. But no, you couldn't vote for both of them.

From:

ron_newman

That was State Committee Man and State Committee Woman. Two totally separate contests. You could vote for both.

From:

zmgmeister.livejournal.com

That's bizarre. But maybe something else was filled in wrong on the ballot, because when I put it in the machine it made a noise like the ghost just got me in Pac-Man.

From:

zmgmeister.livejournal.com

Hmm. I was only Democrat-for-a-day. Is is possible if you do that you can't vote for the ward committee? i.e. is a box checked off on the Democratic ballot when it's given to an independent?

From:

ron_newman

No.

From:

lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com

If you take a Democratic ballot, even for the day, you can vote for the Ward Committee. If you lived in Ward 7, the Ward Committee slates were on the back side of the ballot. You would have had to turn your ballot over to find them. However in my precinct 7-3 at Capen Ct., the Poll workers were informing voters that there were two sides to the ballot and in each voting booth they had placed a sign that told voters to turn the ballot over to vote on both sides.

From:

ron_newman

I briefly visited 7-2, the Teele Square fire station, where a friend was working the polls. That precinct also had signs in every booth telling voters to look at both sides of the ballot.

From:

lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com

The State Committee Man and State Committee Woman are two separate races. The Massachusetts Democratic Party does this because in its rules there is an equal number of men and women on the State Committee. So each Senate District gets one man and one woman.

In all wards and precincts in Somerville (except Ward 1 Precint 1 and Ward 2 Precinct 1) there were two men running for State Committee Man and you could vote for only one of the two. There was one woman running for State Committee Woman.

Also on the Ward Committee race on the other side of the Ward 7 ballot you could vote for up to 33 names. 37 people were running, so 33 people won and 4 people lost. If you voted for either Group 1 or Group 2 rather than individuals, your vote was counted for everyone on that slate.

If you filled in the arrow for both Groups, your ballot would be rejected by the machine for overvoting by 4 and you would have received a new ballot to re-vote and your old ballot would be destroyed and replaced by your new ballot.

From:

ron_newman

I hate LJ's folded comments. For the earlier discussion, see here and here and here.

From:

ron_newman

These are on the ballot during presidential primaries only -- thus, only once every four years.

From:

ukelele.livejournal.com

That was your JSB I saw on the ballot, I take it?

From:

ron_newman

What is a JSB?

From:

ukelele.livejournal.com

My attempt at saying something

abilouise will understand while leaving it up to her whether to reveal more personal information.

From:

ron_newman

OK, I get it now, never mind ;-)

From:

abilouise.livejournal.com

Yes it was!

From:

zenala.livejournal.com

So, if there were only write-in spots on my ballot, does that mean I could've been on the ward committee, or a candidate for such, if I'd written myself in? Or would I actually have to be a registered member of the party the ballot was for?

(I didn't actually write myself in, just wondering...)

From:

lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com

A person can write their own name in for Ward Committee but there are requirements in order for you to actually win.

1) You must have been registered as a Democrat by December 31, 2007 in your Ward.

2) You must receive a minimum total of 5 votes.

3) You must receive more votes than other write in candidates if there are more write in candidates than slots available.

From:

zenala.livejournal.com

1) You must have been registered as a Democrat by December 31, 2007 in your Ward.

I assume you meant to say "registered as a [insert party name here]"... Right?

From:

ukelele.livejournal.com

Nah, Somerville's so liberal even the Republicans have to be Democrats. ;)

From:

ron_newman

The Republican party appears to have no local organization whatsoever in Somerville. In all seven wards, the entire list of Ward Committee candidates were write-in blank spaces.

From:

somertricky.livejournal.com

What happened to the guy who owned the house next to the Caning Shoppe? He used to have all sorts of handmade Republican signs hanging out in front.

And for 50 Cambriville bonus points: what was the Caning Shoppe before it was a Rent-a-Center?

From:

ron_newman

The south side of Elm Street, from Russell Street east to White Street, is in Cambridge. Which means that the West Somerville Church of the Nazarene is not in Somerville, and neither is that house.

I don't remember what predated the Rent-a-Center. It's been two days now, so please tell us.

From:

ron_newman

OK, it's been almost a month -- what's the answer?

From:

lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com

Each Party may have different dates you must be registered by. Republican and Green-Rainbow. The parties can have their own rules for how you are qualified for the Ward Committee. I don't know what the other party's rules are, but both probably have a website where they tell you. And no, I don't know what the link to those websites are.

From:

ron_newman

From what I've heard, a write-in candidate must get at least five votes in order to win.

(And if you saw only write-in blanks, you took either a Republican or a Green-Rainbow ballot.)

From:

chenoameg.livejournal.com

When will we know who the ward committe members are?

From:

ron_newman

That will probably take a while because Progressive Democrats of Somerville (and maybe other folks, too) mounted a small write-in campaign in wards where the official slates had fewer members than the slots available. Write-ins have to be counted by hand. I used my own pen, and still had trouble fitting the names and addresses into those tiny little blank spaces.

From:

marylu.livejournal.com

Hi! I'm a Ward 4 Committee member.

From:

ron_newman

Congratulations!

From:

bobobb.livejournal.com

Since people are posting on the topic, I thought I'd put in my two cents on how the elections went from a poll workers position in the Davis Square area.

Voters come in with a great amount of nervous energy which is wonderful to see. I love seeing voters engaged with the process. Please keep in mind though that your poll worker is underpaid, overwork (6:30am - 10 pm) and really there because they believe in the voting system, so treat them nicely. They are not just another bureaucrat, they are community members who are brought in solely for the election.

With that said, there are voting irregularities that do occur, namely it is not uncommon to have your name switched to the inactive list. About 5 percent of the people in my ward had this happen to them, which required them to just fill out some paperwork -- they were still able to vote. It can be due to any number of things. It happens to many people OF ALL PARTIES and to people of all races, genders, sexual orientations etc. It is not a personal attack on a voter's life choice. Keep in mind that poll workers are there to help you vote, not keep you from voting, so we will do everything possible to get things sorted out.

Because 5% seems like a high amount to me, if you did have to jump through some hoops to vote, please contact the election board and *nicely* complain and correct the issue with them so it won't happen again for the november elections. Also I recommend in September calling the election board to ensure you know where you are voting (might not be closest polling location) and how you are registered.

How did people find the polls near them? Were things organized? Were their problems that could be remedied? Was there a cute red head handing out ballots with a monkey on her shoulder?

From:

closetalker11.livejournal.com

I was someone who was switched to the inactive list. The people at my polling place were extremely helpful and efficient in fixing the problem, even at 7:30 at night. Thanks to the people in 5-2!

From:

ms-info.livejournal.com

Yay! I was clerk at 5/2 this time around. Nice be work close to home and see all of my neighbors get out to vote.

From:

boblothrope.livejournal.com

"It happens to many people OF ALL PARTIES and to people of all races, genders, sexual orientations etc. It is not a personal attack on a voter's life choice."

Did anyone accuse you of those kinds of discrimination?

From:

bobobb.livejournal.com

Yes, that is why I mentioned it. It's hard to work those long hours and then be accused of discrimination against party affiliation.

From:

gruene.livejournal.com

Yeah, I worked the polls as well. There was one Gentleman with a Nevada Driver's License and no proof of Somerville Residency who was on the inactive rolls and started screaming and swearing when we told him that he wouldn't be able to vote.

From:

winterhill.livejournal.com

Things were great at the Winter Hill Community School. Super friendly volunteers, pens with ink, and a functioning ballot box. That's really all I ask. Oh, and a sticker.

I just heard that schools in other communities have BAKE SALES on election day to raise money for school programs. Why doesn't Somerville do that? God knows we could use the ca$h.

Oh, and before you flame me, I'm not just saying this because I love cupcakes.

From:

elements.livejournal.com

I used to vote in 6-3 at the College Ave UMC, and at least back then the church had a bakesale on election day - excellent stuff! Other places I've voted in Somerville are 2-3 (Lowell St. firehouse) and now 6-2 (Ciampa Manor) and I guess neither of those institutions is as well suited to bake sales as churches and schools. I totally second your call for election day goodies fundraisers! Even though it's not my polling place, I live near the Brown School, and I'd absolutely stop by to buy something if they had a bake sale.

PS, my voting experience at 6-2 this election was as usual smoothly efficient, friendly, and overall lovely, though there were no stickers by the time I voted.

From:

zmgmeister.livejournal.com

"It happens to many people OF ALL PARTIES and to people of all races, genders, sexual orientations etc. It is not a personal attack on a voter's life choice."

Sheesh, has Somerville gotten so P.C. we have to include that disclaimer? Or is it only this LJ community?

I think in my case it was ink printing through to the other side of the ballot, confusiing the machine. I'd been filling in all the little rectangles like I was taking the SAT.

From:

lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com

In Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 all people listed on the ballot won. In addition to that a number of people won with small scale write in campaigns. Ward 7 was different with a contested race.

A write in candidate for Ward Committee must receive a minimum of 5 votes in order to win

Here are the Vote Totals for all of the Write in Candidates in the city. They were all elected. You might think it easy to get 5 write in votes, but you can't get them if you don't ask.

Ward 3
Suzanne W. Bremer – 19 Votes
Hayyim Feldman – 11 votes
Chistine Guererro – 8 votes (I may have spelled her last name wrong)
Jane Fair Bestor – 7 votes
Bob Nesson – 7 votes
William Gage – 7 votes

Ward 4
John Lister – 16 Votes
Mary Lu Mendonca – 10 votes
Christine Barber – 8 votes
Brenda (Dvora) Jonas – 6 votes

Ward 6
Christopher Shabsin – 39 votes
Erica George – 35 votes
Todd S. Kaplan – 34 votes
Dr. Michael Haniff Butt – 33 votes
Ashraf Hegazy – 20 votes
Mark Stern – 11 votes

Congratulations All of YOU!!