Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I just voted

Sun, 20 Oct 2024 20:23:55 GMT

One of the early voting locations in Boston is this weekend at the main library. I wanted to vote early rather than absentee, in part to get an "I voted" sticker. When I checked in to vote, the clerk noticed that they'd sent me an absentee ballot, which she said I should shred when it arrived. I asked for a chair, because the little tables people were supposed to use to fill in the ballots are at a bad height for me to use standing up.

I then returned a library book, and walked over to Newbury Street, because there's a branch of JP Licks near the library, and I wanted to try the caramel apple ice cream.

When I looked at the board, it said they had caramel apple, a couple of other flavors they announced this month, and cucumber. I asked for a sample of the caramel apple, and asked the guy behind the counter "does that say cucumber?" because that's usually a summer flavor. He thought I meant "is cucumber really an ice cream flavor?" so I explained that I know I like it, and asked for two pints, which I brought home.

The caramel apple ice cream is also good, and I bought a cup of that to eat right away,

I am very pleased with my timing, which was pure luck: I don't go to that branch of JP Licks very often, because it's down a flight of stairs, but my joints were (and are) feeling OK.

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voted

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 19:16:10 GMT

I just went downtown and dropped my postal/early ballot in a dropbox outside the main library, and am feeling accomplished. This is a bit later than I'd intended, but in plenty of time; Election Day is next Tuesday, Nov. 8th.

Part of why I didn't do this sooner is I was trying to decide how to vote on one of our ballot questions, which is about how many store liquor licenses one company can have. I thought it over, decided that I didn't have an opinion, and abstained on that.

I voted yes on the other three ballot questions -- for a higher state income tax rate on annual income over $1 million; new rules for dental insurance (I wasn't sure, but it seemed like a good idea); and to keep the new state law giving driver's licenses to otherwise-qualified drivers regardless of immigration status.

Unsurprisingly, I voted for all the Democratic candidates, including a couple of incumbents with no opposing candidates. One of those is my state senator, who I actively like; we were in his district in Belmont as well.

Things I found mildly surprising: there are five candidates for state auditor, more than for any other office, including a Workers' Party candidate; and there are two candidates for state treasurer, but neither is a Republican.

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text banking

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 19:01:52 GMT

Yesterday I got Zoom training on how to do text banking, and sent a bunch of texts to encourage people to vote by mail. A lot of people ignored the texts, of course, and quite a few asked us to stop texting them, but several people thanked me for the information. Mostly routine, but I also tracked down contact information for the Florida board of elections for someone who needed their ballot sent to Virginia.

Today, cattitude dropped off our ballots at Belmont Town Hall. Text banking is easier than phone banking for me psychologically, but harder on my hands. I have sent some texts this afternoon, haven't decided whether to do more; make phone calls; or neither.

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tracking your Massacbusetts mail-in ballot

Fri, 21 Aug 2020 22:23:25 GMT

If you voted by mail in Massachusetts, you can check whether the state has received your ballot at https://www.sec.state.ma.us/wheredoivotema/track/trackmyballot.aspx

Mine shows as "accepted" and that it arrived on August 17 (they sent it to me on the 10th).

(I found this while wondering how to use the in-person early voting if I had asked for and been sent a postal ballot.)

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more political email, local division

Sun, 21 Oct 2018 21:36:10 GMT

I just sent my alderman an argument in favor of ranked choice voting (a.k.a. instant run-off, or in some corners of fandom "Australian ballot")"

I'd looked at the Somerville website a couple of hours ago and found an article about proposals to expand local voting rights, introduce ranked choice voting, and several other things in similar directions, like having municipal and state elections at the same time.

Having a bit of free time, I wrote to my alderman, Mark Niedergang, asking him to support expanding the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds (that's the first proposal that's been sent to the board of aldermen, who will vote on whether to send a "home rule message" to the state legislature asking them to pass a law saying we can do it). I added that I'd also like him to support instant run-off voting, if/when that gets to the aldermen.

He wrote back, saying he is strongly in favor of expanding the franchise, both to 16- and 17-year-olds and to let non-citizen parents vote in school committee elections. He also asked why I support instant run-off, which he thinks is complicated and unnecessary, the latter because there's been significant turnover on the board of aldermen in the last five years. My reason, which I told him, is that it's not just about amount of turnover. It's about letting more positions be represented, rather than having to choose between two candidates I disagree with when there's one I support.

(I used the obvious example on this year's Massachusetts ballot, difficult as I find it to sympathize with someone who is thinking "I like Ayyadurai, but Diehl isn't as bad as Warren so I'll vote for him." [That's not just because Ayyadurai is a Trump supporter, it's because, as I commented to gingicat a few days ago, he has only a loose relationship with consensus reality, and is still claiming to be the real inventor of email.])

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voter registration

Tue, 16 Oct 2018 23:50:21 GMT

Tomorrow, October 17, is the Massachusetts voter registration deadline for the upcoming election. You can check your registration status, and if necessary register/update your registration, online. (I got a text message reminder about this from the ACLU, and an emailed one from Freedom for All Massachusetts, today, but I suspect the people who most need the reminder aren't on all those email and text lists because you're busy with other things or don't want that many political texts and emails.)

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signal boosting: rides to the polls

Sun, 26 Aug 2018 12:28:28 GMT

Signal-boosting rydra_wong's post:

Lyft are going to be providing half-price or free rides to the polls on Nov 6 for those in need:

https://twitter.com/lyft/status/1032666321551544321
https://blog.lyft.com/posts/2018/8/22/get-out-the-vote

Across the country, we’ll give away 50% off promo codes with our partners that encourage voter turnout. We’re thrilled to be working with Vote.org, Nonprofit Vote, TurboVote and more to help distribute codes to those who need them. We’ll also have a product integration to help passengers find their polling location.

For underserved communities, we’ll provide rides free of cost through nonpartisan, nonprofit partners, including Voto Latino, local Urban League affiliates, and the National Federation of the Blind.

(Like Rydra, I am not the biggest fan of ride-sharing apps, but even here the T may not go to your polling place, rather than several hilly blocks away.)

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