Town Clerk's computer 5:08 PM: 5,634 votes cast (about 1/3 UMass students) out of 22,294 bottom number is time until Tuesday election
Well I for one am willing to declare "early voting" a ballot box landslide success as Amherst already processed 25.3% of the registered voters in town. Northampton did almost as well with 22.7%
So that means if Tuesday we have an average Presidential election turnout (around 65%) more than one third will not be clogging up the system because they already voted.
Unfortunately it will take an act of the state legislature to allow for early voting at our local annual election in the spring. And with those more important elections only drawing an average turnout of 15.5% over the past ten years maybe early voting will stimulate a better turnout.
The Charter change in government question will be on the local ballot in the spring of 2017 and charter change questions always double the turnout, so early voting would still come in handy.
Nick Grabbe presentation to Charter Commission: local election turnout fell from 29% in the 1970s to only 15.5% in the past ten years. Pathetic!
If there's a negative spin to put on this story, we will find it here after a few days. I would cautiously say that the early voting adventure in Amherst has been a success. This is due to the civic spirit of the Town and a Town Clerk who thinks through things carefully.
ReplyDeleteRich Morse
You have as much faith in my Blog as you do the Town Clerk.
ReplyDeleteI like that. (At least I'm in good company.)
This is a REPUBLIC, not a democracy.
ReplyDeleteWe don't want everyone voting, instead we want those who have some idea what they are voting on be voting.
There should be a constitutional amendment disenfranchised Ed!
ReplyDeleteHey Larry. Turn your phone horizontally to shoot pictures and video. Rookie mistake.
ReplyDeleteActually not.
ReplyDeleteFor some odd reason Facebook live only allows camera/phone in vertical position.
"Anonymous Dr. Ed said...
ReplyDeleteThis is a REPUBLIC, not a democracy.
We don't want everyone voting, instead we want those who have some idea what they are voting on be voting."
Who is the "we" Ed? Last I looked it's unconstitutional to give a test to determine fitness to vote. This is the 21st century not the 19th century. Everyone that's a U.S. citizen over 18 gets to vote. No qualifications necessary.
In order to have slaves, you must have guards. In order to have guards you must pay them. The best way to pay slave guards is to tax the slaves. The best way to get slaves to pay is make them think they are in charge. The best way to let them feel they are in charge is to let them vote, even though basic math shows how little votes are worth. Once a slave votes, they agree to loose. Once they loose, they will go back to work amd be more than willing to give up 50...60..70% or more of their labor and productivity, struggle by on the rest as it shrinks and most of all they will teach their kids the system, invest and force their neighbors to pay for such training and it can perpetuate.
ReplyDeleteThose of us in power thank you for your vote.
There are also TWO votes that matter in our republic. To quality for the real vote (the 2nd one) you need to be voted in on the first one by the slaves (general votes). Ed called it, this is not a democracy, you vote on people to vote for you, basic civics in a Republic. Republics are designed to mitigate how dumb most slaves aka citizens are.
Very sharp observation -think about it-boing is really an I.Q. test -it's " trick"-in reality you disenfranchise yourself-a re-affirmation of society's right to enslave and abuse you-just Say'n !!!
Delete"Who is the "we" Ed? Last I looked it's unconstitutional to give a test to determine fitness to vote. This is the 21st century not the 19th century. Everyone that's a U.S. citizen over 18 gets to vote. No qualifications necessary."
ReplyDeleteDo people in Amherst really have this poor of an understanding of our government. Ed is right, we do live in a republic. There are only a few referendums every few years, that is what you have of democracy. What you decide is where you have liberty. The rest is decided through the republican system and you do not vote on those issues, you have not passed the test. The test is being voting in as a senator or representative, they are the ones who make 99.999% of the votes and you don't have very little say once you vote them in, and only if they give it to you.
This is there because people are generally not that bright and you all know this. You accept this on countless levels, right down to your kid's teacher, the planning board, the cop that pulls you over. You don't get many votes and most of those do not matter because you are only the smallest of fraction of the vote anyway....and most of all, for the most part you don't vote on issues, you vote for people to decide and vote on real issues for you....most of all, because you are NOT QUALIFIED UNDER OUR REPUBLICAN SYSTEM. Also worth noting, most of us are also not qualified to interpret the constitution, we reserved that to a very small supreme group. Everyone who is voted in by citizens gets to actually vote, one of those people voted in gets to pick a group of people that will tell you if you the law applies to you at all.
We live in a representative democracy.
ReplyDeleteWhat does Rock the Vote even mean? I prefer jazz.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are nuts. People live better than anyone has lived in history. Things are pretty darn good. Our political system has brought prosperity unimaginable just a few hundred years ago.
ReplyDeleteWow. You mean were better off now than a few hundred years ago??
DeleteJust a side note. A Trump sign appeared in our neighborhood this past week. My husband and I joked about how long it would last. We actually liked it and were so pleased to see it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, due to the "tolerance" of our Amherst neighbors, it did not make it through the first night. Guess the person/persons who removed it must believe in the "Hypocritic Oath"....Do no harm, as long as others believe as you do!
I am sure whoever removed it professes to be soooo very PC and claims to care soooo much about others. In reality, they are intolerant of Free Speech or equality. They do not have respect for others. Acts such as this are disgusting.
Hypocrite(s)!!!!!
TRUMP/PENCE 2016.
DeleteElectoral College is ‘vestige’ of slavery, say some Constitutional scholars
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/electoral-college-slavery-constitution/
"Trump’s Big Bet on Less Educated Whites" -NYT
ReplyDeleteHere is the great irony: The Trump followers think they are getting a better deal with Trump, who is betting on his followers not having the smarts to see through his scam. And it's working. Trump could care less about the working person as is evident in the number of trades people who have had to sue him to get any of the money they are owed. And like most developers who are actually criminals looking to get something for nothing, Trump hires people to work on buildings and then simply doesn't pay them. Obviously this does not include all developers, only the criminals.
Any trades person who has been in the game a long time has experienced this kind of scam artist who cares nothing about the worker and only about stealing from them to lower his costs.
And. Here's the kicker Trump supporters. He knows that he can scam you by simply saying he is on your side. He isn't on your side. He sees you as stupid, easy to manipulate, that you will believe whatever he tells you about career politicians. And you have proven him right. What you don't see is that he is a career scammer. He is unAmerican. He doesn't pay taxes. If you didn't pay taxes, you'd go to jail. He does not support the military because he does not pay taxes and tax dollars are what pays the soldiers. He does not support any part of this great country. He wants to get everything for nothing. Of course, that sounds good until one thinks about it. If all of us didn't pay taxes we wouldn't have any defense because there wouldn't be any money for it.
If you had more education you would be better prepared to see through Trump's thin disguise. But you don't so now you'll call me names for pointing out how you've been scammed. And so it goes.
I thought the Charter Commission's original time frame called for the Commission to bring their recommendations to the voters at a later election than in spring 2017.
ReplyDeleteFrom the FAQs posted on the town web site:
(www.amherstma.gov/2253/Frequently-Asked-Questions)
Q. Who gets the final say?
A. The commission's recommendations must be approved by voters to take effect.
Q. When will that vote be?
A. It isn't clear yet. The commission must submit a preliminary report by July 31, 2017 and a final report by Sept. 29, 2017. The vote must be at least two months after the final report is submitted.
..........
Has that timeframe changed now?