election tomorrow

[cos]

Tomorrow, Tuesday May 15th, is the general election for the open seat on the Somerville Board of Aldermen. The two top candidates from last month's primary, Marty Martinez and Jack Connolly will be on the ballot.

Polls are open 7am - 8pm, and you can find your polling place at WhereDoIVoteMA.com. All Somerville voters can vote in this election (election info from the city).

Many people who voted in the primary will forget to vote again tomorrow, so both candidates need some new voters as well as many of their supporters from April as they can get. If you're supporting Jack, this is your chance to make a comeback; if you're supporting Marty, don't assume he'll win. Vote!

Comments

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

If you want limitations by length of residence, advocate for those.

Actually, from your post I thought you were advocating that. You keep talking about how long people live here.

You seem to be trying to imply that citizens are obviously from here, noncitizens are obviously not from here, and this is a good reason for noncitizens not to be allowed to vote. Not only is that not true (some noncitizens are more "from here" than some citizens), but it also completely ignores what I said, which is that it would be better for Somerville if noncitizens were allowed to vote, not that they have an expectation of voting or a right to vote.

Right now we've got a simple rule: you have to be a citizen to vote. What rule are you going to replace it with? Do you want a system where someone can come in, show an address, get registered, and vote the same day? You're down on length of residency requirements, so what's your alternative? Relying on the essential good nature of man?

If residency is good enough to vote, then what about local business people? If someone owns a business in Davis Square, but they live in Medford, should they be able to vote in local elections? If someone has had a business in Davis for 20 years, he'd likely to know far more about local politics than most of the people who're voting. So if residency is all that matters, why not him? Aren't his views just as valid as a non-citizen who's living here?

[turil.livejournal.com]

I would say that anyone who has an honest interest in Somerville should be able to vote on at least some Somerville issues. If you live here, do business here, have to travel through here, or even live a few streets away, you definitely have a good reason to care about what happens here.

I think the main thing that people are afraid of is that whole "us vs. them" thing. And I think the way to get around that is to create a more collaborative government that aims for the best solution to problems, rather than a less effective solution that benefits only the majority or even a minority.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

So would you limit who could vote at all? Or anyone who cared enough to vote in local elections would be all the qualification you needed?