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Election Day reports
By adamg on Tue, 11/04/2014 - 7:34am
In Coolidge Corner, a Kennedy and Election Day Munchkins. Photo by Rebecca Matthews.
What are you seeing out there?
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Tumbleweeds at Holy Name in West Roxbury
At 7:15 a.m., there wasn't a single candidate or palm carder getting in people's faces right at the steps. Was amazing. Also, the Baker signs way outnumbered the Coakley signs on the Wall.
What would improve Ballot wording, layout design and fonts?
What would improve Ballot wording, layout design and fonts?
Courier font
Definitely courier font.
Comic Sans
Let's give these candidates the font they deserve.
the font they deserve
Zapf Dingbats
Comic Sans?
Comic Sans?
Courier is a monospaced slab serif typeface
Courier is a monospaced slab serif typeface designed to resemble the output from a strike-on typewriter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courier_(typeface)
Cool story, bro.
Cool story, bro.
(No subject)
Oh God Yes!
I design surveys in my job and I'm always shocked at how bad the layout is on the ballots. Those response bubbles for the propositions are SO difficult to locate!
Holy Name was a bit better at 8:30
Went with the kids before bringing them to school, decent flow of people going in and out. Councilor O'Malley and Maura Healy outside with a bunch of other sign holders.
Oh and yes we got stickers.
similar tumbleweeds in charlestown
i was confused when i woke up this morning and looked out my window as i thought it was election day. turns out, it is, but no one seems to care? normally, there are signs lining the wrought-iron fence along the school on eden street that i can see from my living room, but there were just three out there this morning. weird.
also, there was no one in line when i voted at 7 am.
and i didn't get a sticker. i never get a sticker.
No stickers
I never get one either. What a ripoff.
I'm usually the only person at my polling place when I go vote and love going to vote. I chit chat with the old ladies who are checking off names and making sure voting goes smoothly. Some people complain that they're too slow or whatever but if it weren't for them, we wouldn't have well staffed polling places.
Now if I could only figure out if I'm supposed to vote yes or no on question one because it's worded in such a way that I could easily vote the opposite of my intention, I'll be all set.
(KIDDING! I read my red booklet and already know how I'm going to vote).
Will there be a UHub poll later in the day?
Edited to add one more random thought: I wish I could get munchkins from my Congressman, Steve Lynch, but he's running unopposed so his district does not have to run on Dunkin'.
Joe is running unopposed too.
Joe is running unopposed too. (source: http://www.brooklinema.gov/138/Election-Information )
slow
No line at st. Nec's in Rozzie. But it still took a while because the old ladies had trouble locating my street even after repeated spellings. Then just before handing me the ballot ar guy came over to get everyone's Dunkin order and I had to wait while muffins where debated.
No muffins
I always see people coming out with muffins but I never get one. Bummer. At least I got a sticker this time.
Minutes of most recent Public Meeting of Elections Commission
Minutes of the most recent Public Meeting of the Boston Board of Elections Commissioners available by email, request Minutes at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/?id=33
Trouble @ Allston-Honan Library
7 AM at the Allston-Honan Library on N. Harvard St:
Girl in line in front of me was told that she wasn't registered. She claimed that she registered to vote in person a few weeks ago. She was pretty mad.
Otherwise it was very easy and fast. I waited for maybe 5 minutes, but it was only because of that girl arguing with the people in charge.
20 days
If it was 2 weeks ago, she has a case. 3 weeks ago, she missed the 20 day deadline.
dyslexia can be a bi*ch
gets me all the time.
Touche
My B
Same Day Voter Registration
Really time for Mass to have same-day voter registration and early voting. Several states do, and there isn't any massive voter fraud. I lived in Minnesota and Maine and on the same day you had to go with properly-dated mail or have a registered voter in the precinct "vouch" for you. I think you then filled out a provisional ballot which, if there was a recount or very close election, would then allow them to verify your ballot beforehand. This business of making people go to a certain location at a certain time before the election is really silly. We really should make it easier to vote, not harder.
Disagree, we should make it
Disagree, we should make it harder to vote, not easier. If you can't make it your business to get your shit together I don't want you picking my leaders. I drove 50 minutes both ways to vote today.
I know, I know....whaa whaa whaa DON'T CARE
you drove 50 minutes both
you drove 50 minutes both ways? were you fraudulently voting where you do not live?
or I had a clinical rotation
or I had a clinical rotation away from my residence
What we also need is
one-time registration. This "oh, you didn't return your town census this year, so you're ineligible to vote unless you fill out these 57 forms first" is so idiotic and hardly condusive to encouraging people to vote.
?
"you're ineligible to vote unless you fill out these 57 forms first"
One form, takes 30 seconds.
personal responsibility just
personal responsibility just doesn't work for some people
Like town clerks
I had this happen to me - I had voted in all but maybe 2 elections in ten years. I also had paid excise tax on cars registered at that address, plus water and sewer bills.
Meanwhile, I almost missed the kindergarten registration date because they didn't bother to notice that I indicated a 5 year old in residence, and nobody was sufficiently competent to get back to me when I called.
The whole town census bullshit is real, it is bullshit, and it wouldn't be an issue if they bothered to look at town records that are available to them. Oh, but that means using computers and understanding data! Can't have that when you were a pity appointment after losing your admin job for not wanting to touch a computer!
You may have competent town or city government when it comes to these things - not everybody does.
Until a few years ago
our town clerk was very good at calling people who didn't return the census form. I got such calls a couple of times, and the clerk - after explaining why she was calling - usually asked only one question:
OK, has anything changed since last year?
What irritated me about the one time I forgot to return the census and didn't find out about it until I got to the polling place several months later (they had stopped the practice of reminder calls by then) was the fact they had still my name and address on an "inactive" list but I still had to fill out the special "mother may I" permission forms AND show my ID in order to exercise what many consider a basic Constitutional right.
And yet another reason
to discourage people from voting. Forgot to fill out a pointless bureaucratic form (the town census)? Well, then we'll shame you in front of the poll workers (and any of your neighbors who might be standing in line) by making you fill out even more pointless bureaucratic paperwork.
Great way to get people to exercise their Constitutional rights to vote.
Please show the class
Where is it required to fill out a census to be eligible in the State and Federal constitutions?
Take your time.
Um - The message seems to be clear
Forget to fill out the censuss form, and we'll make it difficult for you to cast a vote. Sounds a like impeding a person's constitutional right to vote. Especially when they demand you show an ID as part of the "mother may I" permission slip.
Um - the statement I've seen
on every town census I've filled out that reads "Failure to return this census will result in your removal from the voter list."
In other words - " Don't fill out the census, and we'll take away your right to vote (which is a Constitutional right)".
Clear enough for you now?
You're right is never taken away
If becoming inactive for not returning your census is somehow unconstitutional, what about being forced to fill out paperwork to be registered to vote to start with?
All the clerks are trying to do is make sure that those who are on the rolls should be there. If people cannot read the notices, perhaps they shouldn't be deciding who should be in government.
Fine with same day....
If you show ID.
Google Now
had a card reminding me of the voter registration deadline every day for the week leading up to it. It included a link to resources for voter registration.
Once the deadline passed, it had a card showing "People registered to vote at (your address) vote here (address, hours) and a little map.
Facebook also had voter information on their homepage.
That said, Massachusetts should send out the little "Your Polling Place" postcards like other states do. I always found it confusing that they did not.
Waited in line at Powers Apts
Waited in line at Powers Apts in Southie for 15 minutes at 7:15 this morning. Lots of people voting there. Only people outside holding signs were three Baker people.
Went to vote in Quincy and
Went to vote in Quincy and the mayor (who wasn't running in this election) was out front of the polling place holding signs. My polling place is usually pretty empty but there were a few people in there around 7:15
Small line at the Roxbury
Small line at the Roxbury polls right at 7AM this morning. Not because there were a lot of people, but because the ballot questions run for three pages, and at least one of them (*coughquestion1cough*) is phrased so weirdly that people are probably reading it twice.
But yeah, this is an unusually quiet election. I honestly didn't know Markey was up for re-election until I got an endorsement email for him late last week from a usually-apolitical group I'm involved with.
ballot questions
i'm worried about this too. three, for instance, which matters to those of us that come through sullivan square every day is worded so oddly i fear people voting in the wrong direction without even realizing it.
Multi-page ballot...
Had a 2 page ballot in Roslindale (450 poplar). The format changed from the thin voting columns to full pages of text between ballot questions. I could see people skipping question one unless they were specifically looking for it.
Just a wee awkward, that is all.
Oh and stickers were obtained... :)
Munchkins? George Washington
Munchkins? George Washington out gave gallons of rum, punch, hard cider and beer. People voted because elections were much more fun.
quiet morning
There was no one in line at the Taft School in Brighton when I voted around 7:45. Jackson Mann looked much more active when I rode by.
Massachusetts General Law Chapter 54 Section 100
Massachusetts General Law Chapter 54 Section 100
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleVIII/Chapter54/Sec...
If you vote in advance then pass away your vote isn't counted. The dead can't vote in Massachusetts.
Yup!
Even Mayor Menino's absentee ballot won't count. I wonder how he voted.
How do they know you're dead?
If you've already mailed in your ballot?
Not counted until election day
I am too lazy to track down the proper procedure, but on election day, in the morning before the station opens, they handle the mail in ballots. Of course, there is the whole issue of knowing exactly who has passed from this mighty coil between casting the ballot and election day, but I am sure that in a case like Menino, they know he is dead.
Assuming that he cast his ballot (which I will accept as true), pretty cool to have a personal civic spirit that lasts that long after you've stopped breathing.
Agree on civic spirit
But yah, if someone who wasn't a public figured died between the time they mailed in their ballot and election day, they are essentially voting after they're dead. I'm guessing this happens incredibly infrequently, but an interesting situation.
South End
5 people in line ahead of me, about 20 people filling out ballots in the South End when I arrived at 8:10am. Was asked to vote no on question 2 on my walk to the entrance and declined an exit poll walking home.
Tumbleweeds at 735 Tremont
Last presidential election, line around the corner and down the block at 8. Today, no line and saw a total of less than 10 voters in the time it took to vote.
only a handful at Fenway high
only a handful at Fenway high school this morning when I got there at 7:30. Sad, during Presidential elections the line at that time of morning is several hundred people long
@LaurenDezenski As one election ends, another begins.
@LaurenDezenski As one election ends, another begins. @AnnissaForBos stumping in Roslindale for '15 at-large CityCouncil run #bospoli
https://twitter.com/LaurenDezenski/status/529646861670703104
St Nectarios
Turnout was steady but light at 9am. Only two people out holding signs, both for ballot questions (no on the gas tax repeal and no on the bottle bill expansion). No candidate presence of any kind.
As always, it's always very disappointing to see no alternate candidate for Congress, State Rep or State Sen. The MA state legislature is just terrible because these hacks are barely accountable.
MA needs blanket primaries
Totally agree with your comment about alternate candidates. It is my biggest complaint about voting in MA. I miss the blanket primaries (top 2 advance, irrespective of party affiliation), which are prevalent in the West Coast states. What's the point of voting in the general election if there is only one candidate on the ballot?
All quiet in Hyde Park at
All quiet in Hyde Park at 7:15am. Half dozen signs outside of Boston Baptist College, no gauntlet to run in order to vote, very pleasant. Stickers for everyone. A box of assorted Munchkins would have been a thoughtful gesture.
there is a poll worker at BosBap...
..who has a whistle and blows it very loudly and announces when a citizen is voting for the first time; people stop and clap; pretty cool..but man, you jump out of your skin if you're not prepared for the whistle.
more cow bell and more of this kinda stuff
Also quiet in Brighton
I voted at 91-95 Washington Street in Brighton, and was one of only three people voting around 7:15 this morning. I know it was early and it is a heavily student-populated area, but still. There was no one outside holding signs - just a few Martha Coakley signs, all of which were coupled with the Thank You Mayor Menino signs. Smart move.
I got a sticker.
Same place a few hours later
Just before 9 AM, there was nobody in line but a few people working on their ballots in the little corrugated barrier tables. Almost missed question 1's checkboxes on the ballot. Theszak might be on to something.
Got a sticker.
Harvard-Kent School in Charlestown
No lines but a lot of confusion. The windowless gym doors were closed, leading to some confusion of where to go in. Then once inside, as I got there the poll workers realized that somehow people had been receiving two copies of the same page in some cases so they scrambled to get that sorted out. Then I overheard another poll worker tell a woman filling out a provisional ballot "Well, it's unlikely it'll even get counted, so it's up to you if you want to bother doing it."
All in all, a way more ... interesting? experience than what I was used to at Moreville House in the fenway.
But I got a sticker.
Voted in Dot
I voted at the Henderson School at Dot Ave & Centre St this morning at about 8:00. Not super busy but not dead either. Nobody campaigning outside. A few signs up outside, a few Baker, a few Coakley, also a few Falchuk, but mostly they were old Menino signs from years gone by displayed as a tribute to the late mayor. I got my sticker! Thanks to the nice ladies selling coffee & bagels.
Surprisingly busy at the voting station on Spring St West Rox
Didn't expect many people first thing in the morning. And, really, PENS? Took way too long to fill in the ovals on the ballots. But, it worked better for my write in candidate for governor....
Pens
Where I vote, in Malden, there are no pens just felt-tip markers. That way, you can't write in anybody.
You're allowed to use your own pen
just sayin'
Pen?
Who owns pens in Malden?
Question 6?
There were about 15 people at the Beethoven in W. Roxbury about 9:30. 429 had voted in my precinct by then, but I think that's double; the machine counted each page of the 2 page ballots.
Does anyone know what Question 6, a non-binding referendum question, asking about Constitutional rights for "natural" persons only is really about? It included a separate question about political contributions.
Unnatural persons don't have rights?
Citizens United
That "unnatural persons" thing means that corporations are not "people" with the same rights. Thus the free speech of Exxon (not a natural person) should not be given the same protection (i.e. allowed to donate millions against legislation they don't like) as you and I.
Didn't get an question 6
Just the big 4 - and we're in Rosi. Hows that possible? Aren't referendum questions either state or municipality-based?
The non-binding ballot
The non-binding ballot questions are done by legislative district, and this Question 6 is a non-binding ballot question. Certain binding questions, including most notably the Community Preservation Act, are municipal, and initiative petitions are statewide.
+1 Mass absentee ballot
Writing from afar, I just want to give big ups to the Boston absentee ballot, which was emailed to me about a month ago, Then I just had to print, fill in, scan, and email it back by today. So much easier than the old-style ballot, especially as mail from my location can take weeks or get "lost" forever. The person responding to the absentee ballot emails is quick to reply to questions and very helpful. Definitely a model voting method.
https://www.cityofboston.gov/elections/voter_reg.asp
Christmas
Today is like Christmas morning, the day I've looked forward to for a long time.
The end of the endless, irritating, negative, barrage of ads on TV.
Thank you, Santa.
Ward 2, Salem
I've never seen so many people show up as I have today. The only campaigners were holding signs for Seth Moulton.
I tried to vote in Salem
and was told I wasn't registered. Even though I registered to vote at Boston city hall on October 15th, apparently Salem didn't receive my registration form until after it was too late. I'm not sure if I should be mad at Boston, Salem, or the postal service for this screw up.
So now I'm at home rooting for everyone I would have voted against to win, just out of spite.
I voted at the Thomas Crane
I voted at the Thomas Crane Library in Quincy around 11. There was a two person line when I was there and a back up at the machine because one of the ballets would not be accepted and they had trouble finding an address.
On the plus side, they had
On the plus side, they had stickers!
St Marks in Dorchester
Was much busier than usual at 10 am. Parking lot was completely full and people were parking in non-spots.
Weird that there was no one out front though. Usually 3-4 people out with flyers. I didn't look closely, but don't recall any Baker signs.
Ward 21. precinct 11, 1pm
I cast ballots #405 and 406, so I'm assuming I was the 203 voter.
I got a sticker.
I'm in 13-7 at Catherine
I'm in 13-7 at Catherine Clark Apts in Dorchester (which also serves 13-8, I think?), and it was super crowded with voters but nobody was out campaigning. Pretty odd, actually, since there's usually a ton of people from the Frank/Joe Baker camp out supporting whoever they're supporting
Ward 15 precinct 9 Dorchester
Ward 15 precinct 9 Dorchester House-already 167 voters by 9 am, a short line, but it warmed my cockles to have to use my own pen because all provided were in use. Also good to see interpreters (Vietnamese and cape verdean), but they were struggling to explain the questions and some elderly voters just left them blank.
Stickers were available, donuts were not, and not a single campaigner outside coming or going...
Baker reverting to cocky self
Wow, Baker is so smug, he has already asked for a transition meeting with Patrick. This isn't the republican primaries Baker, voters do actually get to vote:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/11/04/baker-camp-seeks-transition-...
From what I've seen, it might be a wise move
Running my usual Roslindale/Hyde Park route last night, Baker signs outnumbered Coakley. Yes, signs don't vote, but the enthusiasm factor is there. This morning, the precincts at the Roslindale Branch had but one signholder- Baker.
I wouldn't call these bellwethers per se, but this is "kind of progressive" Roslindale we are talking about.
Signs = money, its not like
Signs = money, its not like the homeowners put the signs up, the campaigns do, and of course in more conservative areas like Roslindale/Hyde Park/West Roxbury there will be support for Baker. I don't know how you Bakerites can say it makes sense to act like a spoiled brat instead of waiting for the voters to decide. I get that Baker has much more money, that its a woman with less money versus a white guy with lots of Wall Street money and it will be a tough battle, but as much as republicans might hate it, the wealthy don't get to buy the election, voters still get to vote. In the primaries I understand its different for republicans in this state, where they really only let 1 person run.
However
You can't just put signs on people's property. I mean, you could, but they can also take them down just as quickly. And I'm guessing you don't know anything about Roslindale, either. Trust me, Hyde Park is probably centrist for Massachusetts. West Roxbury- I only run there for the Corrib.
Nice going on the Democrat bingo. Woman. White. Wall Street. I was reading about how the redistricting in Alabama is being challenged under the Voting Rights Act, even though the African American representation in Montgomery will remain the same. The issue, in essence, is that the Dems can't appeal to white voters (while Reps, let's be honest, just don't care.)
All of that said, he could have at least waited until 8 to set up the meeting with Patrick. And you do realize that in the end the voters decide? Coakley might learn that lesson the hard way for the second time in 5 years tonight. Shame, as I was thinking about voting for her.
is it just me?
but why does Charlie remind me of every khakied, dock-sidered, polo-shirted frat boy I have met over the years....of course I mean not to stereotype or dabble in hyperbole or anything like that, but if there was a poster boy for inauthentic smarm....reminds me of the frat guys I tried to convince about the merits of rent control in Bezerkely in the '80 Reagan election during a "get out the vote" effort...they rode me out on a rail, but in a boozy smarmy sorta way...they smothered me with condescension and i may have deserved it...
It's the look
And yes, we shoudn't get hung up on a candidate's looks, but my guess is that Charlie belonged to either a frat or a "house" back in his college days.
I saw him giving out water at the Corrib Road Race this year. He seemed stunned when a runner wanted to slap him 5.
Sadly, he probably has my vote. It's the competence thing.
party discipline, brother!
and all that...stuck with Coakley but without a lot of feeling....
Re:high 5: he probably thought he was a secret handshake from a competing frat?
party discipline, brother!
and all that...stuck with Coakley but without a lot of feeling....
Re:high 5: he probably thought he was a secret handshake from a competing frat?
So it was a choice between a
So it was a choice between a frat house guy or someone from a coven.
ha! right!
who says the choices aren't clear?...just not always clear in the way we need them to be
Remember when Romney had
Remember when Romney had fireworks ready to go in 2012? (and when Boston.com wasn't a listicle?)
This story almost made me go out and canvas for Coakley. Almost. Then I realized eff Coakley. Had Berwick won I would have probably taken the day off today.
Spouse and I just voted in Rosi...
...at the Bates School. No one outside, a few signs tacked up on the wall (a nice change from the typical throng). About a dozen or so people voting inside, and coming and going we passed more neighbors who were clearly doing a mid-day vote trek as well.
Oh yes - we each got a sticker and baked goodies from the bake sale table!
Lady brought her dog to vote......
So my voting place is at Government Center, and got there just before the after work voters. There was a lady sitting at the voter check in table with her large poodle nearby, and a city clerk/policeman talking with her saying 'the dog HAS to go, and get out of here'. When I assess the situation, I see what was really going on. She was sitting waiting for a plastic bag because there under the chair she was sitting in was a large steaming pile that her dog just made.
Seriously, why even bring the dog into a public building, to an election site*, where there are policemen and lots of people? I didn't take a picture because I wanted to get on with my voting and ignore it altogether.
The dog was looking for an exit trying to leave and she was busy sitting in a chair the entire time it took me to vote and was starting to clean it up when I left.
You can't make this stuff up.
Waited in line to vote in Somerville
specifically ward 6, precinct 1. I got there at 6 pm and waited about 8 minutes to check in, and another few minutes to check out after filling out the ballot. I saw lots of people walking to and from this polling place.