Ballot Questions 4 - 7

[missdimple.livejournal.com]

Please pass this on to Somerville residents, too.

You can find the information about questions 4 - 7 at the Somerville Elections Office's web page. Here's a direct link to their handout http://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/BallotQuestionsBrochure2012.pdf

Question 4 is binding, and is about the Community Preservation Act.
(Disclaimer: Info from the Invest In Somerville web site) "By implementing a small surcharge on commercial and residential properties (average surcharge is just $35 per year for homeowners), Somerville will join the 148 cities and towns who qualify to receive annual matching state funds. We’ll raise millions of dollars to improve parks, open spaces and playgrounds, preserve historic buildings, and keep our neighborhoods affordable."

Questions 5 - 7 are non-binding and relate to how the state senator and representative should be instructed to vote on specific issues. (My opinion here: I think these are meant to indicate to these politicians exactly how the voters in their district feel.)

Please vote today. Your vote always matters.

Comments

[squirrelitude]

I started a discussion of these questions a few days ago, with full text:

http://davis-square.livejournal.com/3047290.html

[missdimple.livejournal.com]

I remember, but someone posted info today again about 1-3, so I thought it prudent to remind folks about 4-7. (Unless your intent was to remind folks of the longer discussion elsewhere, then I send many thanks for the link!)

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Not so important given the "non-binding" nature of 5,6,7, but does anyone know whether "the state senator and representative" mean that the people being instructed are our reps in the State House and the State Senate, or our Senator and Congressional Representatives? It seems doubly pointless to tell the people who are tasked with developing Massachusetts laws about what we wish would happen at the federal level... but that's how I read the wording of these and other similar non-binding questions.

[ron_newman]

State rep and state senator. This page on the Secretary of State's website explains the purpose and format of such questions.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

That is what I thought from the wording and format of the questions, but I just don't see the point when the question is a not even a state governmental matter. (I guess they do word it so that it's "the state house should pass a resolution calling on Congress / calling on Congress and the President to ____" but still. The number of layers of non-binding are... non-binding.)

[cos]

It's just pro forma. Sometimes advisory questions like this are indeed used to influence state legislators, but much of the time they're used to get voter sentiment on the record as part of a larger statewide or nationwide advocacy effort, but state law still requires that the questions be worded in this form.