Centers And Squares
Cambridge Election Day
Campaign Signs are Everywhere Around Cambridge
The other night the long line of sign waving supporters for Cambridge City Council candidates on Mass Ave gave me pause. Was it Election Day? I was sure it wasn’t but it *was* Tuesday after all. With so many days to vote this fall – the Boston mayoral primary, the special election to fill Markey’s seat, even the election that Corey Booker won in NJ – it’s been difficult to figure out when the Cambridge election day is. If you’re still wondering it’s next Tuesday, November 5th. Turns out the crowd of campaigners on Tuesday had gathered outside the candidates forum at the Senior Center.
Next Tuesday, November 5, 2013, Cambridge residents will vote to elect City Council and School Committee members. Twenty-five(!) people are running for nine seats on the City Council and there are nine candidates for the six seats on Cambridge School Committee. No wonder there are so many election signs around town.
My intention was to link to all the candidates’ websites but instead I found an excellent page with a list of candidates that links to their interviews, statements, websites, etc. It’s well worth checking out before Election Day. It’s too easy to walk into the voting booth knowing little about many of the candidates. Since Cambridge residents can vote for more than one candidate, we’ve got more homework to do than many voters.
Cambridge uses a system of proportional representation for both the City Council and the School Committee voting. You rank your choices with your vote for your number one candidate your most valuable choice. Even your number two choice matters. You have to wonder, with this many candidates, if your third or fourth place vote might matter more this year.
And last, in case you missed it, here’s a link to the Boston Globe article about the 11-year-old campaign manager for one of the Cambridge School Committee candidates. Love this!
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2012 Election Results
2012 Election Results
I think it’s fascinating to compare how towns and cities vote so here are the 2012 election results for Centers and Squares territory as compared to results for the state vote overall. And what about home town advantage? Elizabeth Warren lives in Cambridge and Mitt Romney’s from Belmont.
Though the percentages varied, election results in Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge, Medford, Somerville and Watertown aligned with state-wide results with Obama and Elizabeth Warren winning in each town or city in our neck of the woods.
There were three ballot questions that appeared on every town or city’s ballot. We voted for flexibility in car repairs (Question 1) and in favor of medical marijuana (Question 3), questions that passed state-wide. Question #2, to allow physicians to prescribe medication to the terminally ill to end life, failed state-wide by 51-49% but passed in every Centers and Squares municipality except for Medford.
In Somerville, Question 4, a vote to adopt the Community Preservation Act, passed by a large margin.
For more information check out each city or town’s website. Here are the preliminary 2012 election results:
Massachusetts 2012 Election Results:
Obama 61% Romney 38%
Warren 54% Brown 46%
Question #1 “Right to Repair” passed 85% to 15%
Question #2 “Die with Dignity” failed 51% to 49%
Question #3 Medical Marijuana passed 63% to 37%
Arlington 2012 Election Results
Obama: 18,580 72%
Romney: 6,659 26%
Warren: 17,501 68%
Brown: 8,265 32%
Question #1 Yes – 19,668 No – 2,455 Passed 89% to 11%
Question #2 Yes – 14,352 No – 10,648 Passed 57% to 43%
Question #3 Yes – 16,876 No – 7,961 Passed 68% to 32%
Belmont 2012 Election Results
Obama: 9,108 65%
Romney: 4,728 34%
Warren: 8,480 60%
Brown: 5,577 40%
Question #1 Yes – 10,662 No – 1,565 Passed 87% to 13%
Question #2 Yes – 7,622 No – 5,853 Passed 57% to 43%
Question #3 Yes – 8,883 No – 4,592 Passed 66% to 34%
Cambridge 2012 Election Results
Obama: 41,991 86%
Romney: 5,340 11%
Warren: 41,127 85%
Brown: 7,463 15%
Question #1 Yes – 35,841 No – 4,716 Passed 88% to 12%
Question #2 Yes – 30,909 No – 14,639 Passed 68% to 32%
Question #3 Yes – 36,063 No – 9,564 Passed 79% to 21%
Medford 2012 Election Results
Obama: 18,613 68%
Romney: 8,294 30%
Warren: 16,808 61%
Brown: 10,580 39%
Question #1 Yes – 12,705 No – 1,666 Passed 86% to 14%
Question #2 Yes – 12,588 No – 13,445 Failed 52% to 48%
Question #3 Yes – 16,678 No – 9,070 Passed 65% to 35%
Somerville 2012 Election Results
Obama: 28,467 82%
Romney: 4,865 14%
Warren: 27,412 80%
Brown: 7,038 20%
Question #1 Yes – 26,787 No – 4,486 Passed 86% to 14%
Question #2 Yes – 21,210 No – 11,904 Passed 64% to 36%
Question #3 Yes – 25,733 No – 7,357 Passed 78% to 22%
Question #4 – Community Preservation Act Yes – 24,358 No – 7,714 Passed 68% to 32%
Watertown 2012 Election Results
Obama: 11,878 71%
Romney: 4,516 27%
Warren: 10,773 64%
Brown: 5,938 36%
Question #1 Yes – 12,705 No – 1,666 Passed 88% to 12%
Question #2 Yes – 8,821 No – 7,080 Passed 55% to 45%
Question #3 Yes – 10,884 No – 4,921 Passed 69% to 31%
Voting Hours in Massachusetts
Polls are open for voting in Massachusetts on Election Day from 7 am to 8 pm
Voting Hours in Massachusetts
It all comes down to this. Months of political chatter, the hours and hours of political TV that are the backdrop in my house every night, debates, rallies, phonecalls, tweets, fundraisers – it all comes to an end tomorrow when we vote.
It always boggles my mind that it all comes down to what happens on just one day – Election Day. The tension and excitement is almost unbearable.
Make sure you get out and vote tomorrow. Voting hours in Massachusetts are from 7 am to 8 pm.
See you at the polls!
What is Question Four in Somerville?
What's Question Four in Somerville?
What is Question Four in Somerville?
Inquiring minds want to know after seeing signs in favor of question 4 all over Somerville.
Turns out that Question 4 on Somerville ballots for Tuesday’s election asks if Somerville residents want to adopt the Community Preservation Act.
If the Community Preservation Act is adopted, a 1.5% surcharge would be added to Somerville property tax bills for funding to acquire, create, preserve and restore:
- Open space for parks, recreation and conservation
- Historic resources such as historic community buildings and artifacts
- Land for recreational use including parks, playgrounds and athletic fields
- Community housing to help meet local families’ housing needs
You can read more about Question Four in Somerville in this brochure on the City of Somerville website.
Voter Registration Deadline
Voter Registration Deadline is October 17th
The deadline to register to vote in Massachusetts in November’s election is October 17, 2012.
Here are links to local towns’ and cities’ voter registration info:
The big day, Election Day, is Tuesday, November 6, 2012. See you at the polls!
Watertown Election Results
Watertown Election Results
Watertown has posted the results of the town election of November 8, 2011. 16.65% of the 21,061 registered voters in Watertown cast ballots in yesterday’s municipal election.
Watertown Town Council Election Results
Incumbent councilors from Districts A, B and C ran unopposed and all were reelected. Angeline Kounelis, Cecilia Lenk and V.J. Piccirilli will be returning to the council. They will be joined by Kenneth Woodland who ran, without opposition, to fill the seat representing District D, currently held by John Lawn.
Incumbents also won the four council-at-large seats. However, write-in candidate Michael Mandel, who ran an anti-Walmart campaign (this is the first I’ve heard about the possibility of Walmart coming to Arsenal Street – if I lived in Watertown Mandel would have had my vote), came in just 91 votes behind the next highest vote getter, Stephen Corbett. According to the Watertown Tab, Michael Mandel is considering filing for a recount. You would think his strong showing – given that he entered the race just a couple of weeks before the election – is a reflection of many residents’ sentiment about Walmart. Here’s what the town council members and candidates have to say about Walmart.
Watertown School Committee Election Results
Three seats were up for grabs on the Watertown School Committee. Eileen Hsu-Balzer won reelection. She will be joined by two new school committee members: Michael Shepard and Julie McMahon. Christopher Beach did not win reelection.
Medford Election Results
Medford did have an election yesterday but you wouldn’t know it if you went to the city website. No results have been posted. November 2011 Medford election results were available on the Medford Transcript website however:
Mayor McGlynn won a 13th term. Given that his opponent Anthony D’Antonio didn’t seem to be a proponent of the Green Line extension I’m relieved that McGlynn won.
Medford will have one new face on the City Council – Richard Caraviello was elected to the council. Councilor Mark Arena failed to win reelection, falling short by just 37 votes. Incumbents Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Robert Maiocco, Paul Camuso, Frederick Dello Russo, Michael Marks and Robert Penta were all reelected.
Turns out you can get a better sense of the Medford City Council on Youtube than you can on the city website. Search “Medford City Council” on Youtube and you’ll pull up quite the collection of videos, some hilarious, with titles like “Medford City Council – What Year is This?”, “Joe Viglione tells Medford City Council Off” or “Medford City Council Calls for a Battle”. Watch ’em and weep – or laugh.
By far the most popular Medford City Council video is this one of City Councilor Paul Camuso, titled “Perfect Boston Accent“. It’s been viewed over 650,000 times. Now I have to say – Councilor Camuso’s accent doesn’t really leap out at me. I hear worse (better?!) all the time. See what you think.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbK4cL3QSc0[/youtube]
Somerville Election Results
Nov 8, 2011 Election results in Somerville
There were a lot of sign waving supporters on Somerville street corners on election day. Wondering who won the Board of Alderman and school committee races? Here are the preliminary Somerville election results for the municipal election on November 8, 2011.
Somerville Election Results
Somerville publishes the unofficial election results. Races aren’t final until the absentee, overseas and other provisional ballots are counted. The posted unofficial results are based on the 9,071 votes cast and counted at the polls.
Since most seats were not contested, however, there’s not a heck of a lot to report. Mayor Curtatone and all seven members of the School Committee ran unopposed and were reelected.
Somerville Board of Alderman Election Results
The Board of Alderman races resulted in just one new face among the eleven members.
All four of the Board of Aldermen members with at-large seats won re-election: John Connelly, Dennis Sullivan, William White and Bruce Desmond. William Roche (Ward 1), Maryann Heuston (Ward 2), Sean O’Donovan (Ward 5) andRebekah Gerwitz (Ward 6) ran unopposed and were re-elected.
Thomas Taylor was re-elected to represent Ward 3, beating Stephen Delani.
In a bit of a squeaker in Ward 7, Robert Trane was re-elected, beating challenger Katjana Ballantyne by 40 votes, 1068 to 1028, according to the unofficial tally.
In Ward 3, Alderman Walter Pero did not run for re-election. The unofficial tally shows Tony Lafuente beating Christine Barber in that race by 857 t o 623.
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