Ward 6 Precinct 1 polling place moving out of VFW? (And out of Ward 6 entirely?)

[ron_newman]

A tweet from the Somerville Journal (@VilleJournal) reads, in full:

City Hall planning to move Ward 6 Precinct 1 polling station out of Dilboy VFW, to Kennedy School. #Somerville

I know nothing more. The Somerville Journal (Wicked Local) web page has no story on this subject, nor could I find any official press release or statement on the city's web site. (Dear local journalists: Twitter is not a good substitute for actual news reporting.)

The Kennedy School is not even in Ward 6. It's on Elm Street in Ward 5, past the Shaw's shopping center.

(The Massachusetts presidential primary will be Tuesday, March 6. With contests only in the Republican and Green-Rainbow parties, I expect to see a record low turnout in Somerville.)

Comments

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Boo :(

Granted, a 10 minute walk to the polling place instead of a 3 minute walk isn't egregious, but I'm still going to whine about it.

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

I have enough of a hard time getting my partner to vote as it is.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile the Ward 5 folks who vote at the Brown School are actually voting in Ward 6.

There is one important reason for Democrats to turn out this primary - party ward committees! Every 4 years the members of the ward committees are determined by vote, while between years it's all down to the chair of the committee appointing people. As you can imagine this means that it's only every 4 years that anyone living in Ward 7 who is not a Trane acolyte can get themselves on the committee. I am one of the candidates in Ward 7. And yes it is fun that I will be on the same ballot as Obama!

[ron_newman]

Four years ago, there were two contending slates (a full "official" slate, and a partial "progressive" slate) running in Ward 7. As I recall, all of the progressives were elected alongside most of the official slate. Is this happening again this year?

Also last time around, there were small-scale write-in campaigns to fill out incomplete slates in other wards. Do you know if that is happening again this year?

[elements.livejournal.com]

This year, there is just one slate in 7 - led by progressives but including many of the longer-time committee members including some who may not identify as progressive. The intention as I personally see it is to build a well-rounded committee of the people who have been most invested in participating over the past several years.

That doesn't mean the vote is a done deal though - as you say there are always write-ins etc. We are hoping that the slate will carry the day and I think there are more positions open than people on the slate so write-ins ideally will round out the committee back to full membership (it's had some openings going a-wasting for a while).

Back in '08 I was one of those write-in folks (I was still living in 6 then and hadn't gotten onto the slate cos only prior members were on it I believe) and was proud that I got in with a pretty high number for a write-in who did basically zero campaigning. Were you on that slate that year?

I don't know about write-in campaigns for other wards besides what I know about 7, but I imagine it will be the same as before, just harder to convince people to bother going to the polls. OTOH those Dems who do will be invested and likely going primarily just for this reason.

Might be worth asking your ward chair about what the slate is that was submitted, if you want to be on the comm (or if you're already on, if all the incumbents were submitted as a slate).

Also don't forget caucuses are Feb 13 but I or someone else will make a top level post as those get closer.

[ron_newman]

I believe I am on the Ward 6 slate, as Jack Connolly asked me to sign some paper for it a few months ago.