The Davis Square Community

has picked up a few more votes since last time...

From:

turil.livejournal.com

Didn't the Globe endorse him?

From:

ron_newman

Yes

From:

tober.livejournal.com

I have no party affiliation, am generally politically non-dogmatic, and lean conservative by Massachusetts standards. I am unsure whether I will vote in the Republican or Democratic primary although probably I will vote in the Democratic one for purely tactical reasons. If Republican, I will vote for Brown because of his greater political acumen and apparently less checkered past. If Democratic, I will vote for someone other than Coakley (for reasons that I have previously stated). Although Pagliuca is the most conservative among the Democrats and I might vote for him, it seems to me quite unlikely that he will win the primary. Furthermore, I am concerned that a lack of consensus among the anti-Coakley Democrat crowd will help her win. If, between now and the election, I develop a sense that there is a groundswell of support behind one of the other Democrats, I will vote for that person whether it is Khazei or Capuano (or Pagliuca, though my sense is that it won't be him). It is essentially certain that I will vote Republican in the general election, but I don't expect the Republican candidate to win.

From:

turil.livejournal.com

I voted other, because I don't get to vote in the primaries. When the actual election comes up, I'll check out the candidates. Right now I'd say I'd probably vote for Khazei and Capuano if you eligible folks put his name on the ballot. I don't know anything about another else other than Coakley, who I definite would not vote for.

From:

I don't get to vote in the primaries

You would get to vote in a Green-Rainbow Party primary or a Libertarian primary if they were having one (depending on which of those parties you're registered as affiliated with).

If you want to have a choice of all primaries to vote in, registering as an unaffiliated voter would enable you to do that.

From:

Actually, there will be three ballots: Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian.

From:

Not according to the state elections website (http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elespeif/senatorincongressma_can.htm). The Libertarian Party website is so confusing and out of date that I can't figure out what they think is going on.

From:

Well, what that website says is that there are no candidates, not that there won't be a ballot. I believe that is why the Green party isn't listed.

Edited Date: 2009-12-05 03:07 am (UTC)

From:

If the state of Massachusetts is issuing blank Libertarian Party primary ballots next Tuesday, the Massachusetts Libertarian Party doesn't seem to know about it.

From:

http://www.somervillema.gov/alert.cfm?alert_id=246

Blank primary ballots aren't actually that uncommon.

From:

ron_newman

From the Secretary of State's page Running for Office as a Sticker or Write-In Candidate:

"To be nominated in a primary, a write-in or sticker candidate must be the top vote getter among the other candidates for the office and the number of write-in votes for the candidate must at least equal the number of signatures required on nomination papers to qualify to be printed on the primary ballot as a candidate"

which means, for US Senate, at least 10,000 votes.

Edited Date: 2009-12-05 03:29 am (UTC)

From:

I suppose that's why Joe Kennedy is going directly for the "collect signatures, get on general election ballot" rather than running as a Libertarian--it gives them another month to marshal support?

From:

Huh.

Well, that's kind of a waste of money and time.

I sit corrected.

From:

Yeah, I'm sure there's some reason it happens, but I don't know exactly what. I bet Ron looks it up and posts within the next hours, though.

(I would have posted that link in the first place but it didn't occur to me until then to look for that info on the City web site.)

From:

ron_newman

It has something to do with being a "major party" if you got more than N% of the vote for a statewide office in the last state election. But I don't remember any of the details.

From:

ron_newman

Who are the Libertarian candidates? I did not list them above because I didn't know they existed. None are listed on the Secretary Galvin's website.

From:

There aren't any.

The person who's endorsed on the Massachusetts Libertarian Party website, Joe Kennedy, is running as either an "Independent" or "Liberty Party" candidate in the January general special election, if he gets enough signatures (http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/joe-kennedy-running-for-massachusetts-senator) to get on the ballot. I can't verify if he has enough signatures or not, because his website is a giant mess.

From:

I'm still for him.

From:

And this is a biased poll, I'd say that Khazei has a reasonable chance of winning! Good luck!

From:

ron_newman

In what way is my poll 'biased'? I thought I had posted as neutral a message as possible. The candidates are listed alphabetically.

Edited Date: 2009-12-07 11:34 pm (UTC)

From: