Off-Year Elections
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I did my civic duty and voted. It never ceases to amaze me how difficult it is to get basic election information when it comes to local offices - yet people complain about voter ignorance. Honestly, I’d know what was going on if this were a real election - the kind that gets actual news coverage.
If you try, you can find out where to vote and even discover your cryptic ward and precinct numbers. It’s not hard to determine who your current elected officials are. But if you want to know what’s on the ballot, information is far more scarce.
Oh, if it’s an election that matters, then the state will at least let you know what the ballot questions are. But if it’s a random off-year election, how do you tell who’s running, never mind figure out the difference between the candidates? My only hope of finding out seemed to be to go to the polling place and have a look at the ballot. Rocky, surprised that we don’t get sample ballots in the mail here in Boston, suggested checking the paper. The Metro is above local politics, and the Globe can’t distinguish between the umpteen Democrat clones running for any office, be it President or Councillor-at-Large.
In the end I had to root through my garbage for the fliers I’ve been throwing out all week, just to see who was running and for what. I discovered that my current councillor has a baby and was up for reelection. That was enough reason to hike all 100 yards to the polling place, where it turned out that there were no dog-catchers on the ballot, just the local councillor and a crowd of Clones-at-Large of whom I was supposed to choose up to 4 names.
If you’re looking for the kind of advice I was, I’m afraid I can’t help you. I still can’t tell the difference between them. But you have until 8pm to figure it out for yourself.
[Update] Here it is: proof that they were all clones.