UPDATE: Wednesday 10:00 AMSo I was almost perfect in my predictions yesterday. Amherst went W-A-Y overboard supporting all the Ds including the Governor, and voting "No" to all the binding ballot questions except for the non binding vote on taxing pot where we voted strongly in favor.
Turnout was 45%--a little more than half what we muster for a Presidential election and certainly twice what we normally muster for a local town election.
My only surprise on a state level was the repeal of the booze tax. Of course Amherst voted overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the tax. But considering what happened on a national level yesterday a lot of folks in Massachusetts will be crying in their chardonnay for the next two years, so I guess it makes sense they would want to repeal the tax on alcohol.
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Original Post: election day 10:00 AM
So it's not too hard to predict how the People's Republic of Amherst will vote today: All Ds all the way, as in the straight Democratic ticket will win by more than a landslide (somewhere in the vicinity of 80% of the vote.)
The binding Questions will be about the same: Nix sales tax on booze or reduce the overall sales tax to 3% will lose by the whopping margin, as will the Question to repeal 40-B the affordable housing state law. And of course the non-binding question to tax pot the same way we tax booze will pass handily.
Voter turnout will be half what we get for a Presidential election and more than twice the average turnout for an annual spring town election (where the candidates have far more influence on 'All Things Amherst'.)
Rolling back the sales tax is the dumbest of all ideas out there. Plenty of out--of-staters pay it every time they come through. If it rolls back you will still see the state get its money, because services need a funding source. Forget the fantasy of huge budget cuts. You will just get the shock of your life when you go to get your driver's license renewed, or pay any other soon to be skyrocking fee or permit. All of which will not have any out--of-staters to help pay. So the fees will be huge and more on your shoulders than ever before.
ReplyDeleteAbort Obama.
ReplyDeleteAmherst says what Barney Frank did last night is a beautiful thing.
ReplyDeleteSo, did you vote? That's all we ask. Just vote.
ReplyDeleteWell, that is my ballot you are looking at (before I filled it in)
ReplyDeleteTea party flag over Amherst town hall?
ReplyDeleteYou betcha'!
Yeah, when they start selling snow cones in Hell.
ReplyDeleteTravis Bickle lives on this blog.
ReplyDeleteActually, we are a town.
ReplyDeleteELECTION ALERT: Republicans Take Control of House of Representatives!
ReplyDeleteDown down Amherst!!!
Down down Amherst!!!
"With just a few hours before polls start closing around the country, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Democrats will keep their majority in the House.
ReplyDelete"The early returns show so far that a number of Democrats are coming out and we are on pace to maintain the majority in the House of Representatives," said Pelosi."
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS WE CAN!
But Congressman Olver, who lives in Amherst, was reelected handily.
ReplyDeleteOlver is a great congressman. He's not an attention seeker. Just quietly effective.
ReplyDelete"The Republicans won the House, the Democrats kept the Senate, and the GOP won the tiebreaker, capturing a majority of the nation’s governor mansions.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans on Tuesday wrested control of at least 10 statehouses from Democrats as they rode an anti-incumbent wave that will give them more than 30 governorships."
Oh yes we can!