Blue Mass. Group has learned that a substantial number of Boston University students who attempted to vote in today’s special election to fill the Suffolk 18th seat were challenged at their polling place, on the grounds that their true "residence" was not within the district. According to Mike Jervis, VP for Communications of the BU College Democrats, by early this afternoon as many as several dozen students had faced challenges, and at least one or two were actually prevented from voting. Jervis said that as far as he knew, the students who were turned away were not allowed to vote provisionally or otherwise; they were simply sent home.
The challenges appear to be at the behest of the "Ward 22 Democratic Committee," and in particular of Committee member Bart McCauley, who issued this press release dated March 12. Among other things, the release calls Tim Schofield’s efforts to register BU students "completely improper," and, after allowing that he is "not an attorney," goes on to offer what is essentially a legal opinion on the relationship of a student’s receipt of scholarship funds from their "home states’ higher education authorities" to their "residence" for voting purposes, concluding that "in these situations, registering to vote from a BU address would be wrong."
Finally, the Ward 22 Democratic Committee release exhorts the other candidates in the race, Joseph Walsh, Greg Glennon, and Michael Moran, to "post observers at the polling place on primary day, March 15th, to challenge the BU dormitory voters." Someone appears to have taken the hint.
The Ward 22 Democratic Committee has endorsed Michael Moran’s candidacy to fill the Suffolk 18th seat.
In the revolting Howie Carr column that we discussed here, Howie suggests that Schofield’s opponents in the race should "be plotting a dirty trick" with respect to the BU students. Well, well, well. Again, someone appears to have taken the hint.
I want to get this post up quickly. I will try to follow this up tomorrow with further research into the residency issue.
It is unfair to comapare the voter challenges to that “revolting column”. It is in the rules what they did and is perfectly legitamate. To call it a dirty trick and try to link it to the columinist is unfair and not legitamate. If Schofield registered a lot of students in one precinct his campaign should have been prepared. The should have had the rules and regs regarding residency with them at the the polling place to show and argue to the precinct warden when a challenge was made. They should have been prepared to run to court to get an immediate injunction allowing them to vote. Don’t whine. Learn from this.
Does anyone know where the election returns will be posted? The Secretary of State’s page doesn’t appear to have been updated since 2005 rolled around.
Election results are here:www.cityofboston.gov/elections/currentelections/
The Secretary of State never posts same-day returns on their web page. The Globe posts election numbers on boston.com slooooooowly on big election days, but not for a special elections.We’re SOL unless someone from a campaign posts.
Excellent! Thanks!The 12th Suffolk numbers won’t include Milton, but that’s no big deal.
What is your read on these reults so far, Brittain?
My read? Not surprised that Moran is way outpacing Schofield, based on what I saw today. I believe the precinct with the Russians reported because the 10th precinct threw Glennon up from a distant third to a really close 2nd. Beyond that, I can’t tell you. I expect Moran will win by a larger margin than he is showing right now. I don’t think Glennon gets much of anything out of the little precinct in Brighton, because they hated Golden there. I’m curious if the BU precinct reported yet or not, but even if it didn’t, it’s not going to save Tim.
Excuse me Brookline not Brighton of course.
13/14 in both districts and it sure looks like Linda Dorcena Forry and Mike Moran are going to Beacon Hill.
My sources tell me Brookline:Schofield 294Moran 71Glennon 67Walsh 10
If that’s the case for Brookline, final numbers are:Moran 1200Schofield 1136Glennon 1102Walsh 311That’s amazing.
If these final numbers are correct, I stand corrected. Schofield did a hell of a job.
MICHAEL J. MORAN 1129 34.09% GREGORY J. GLENNON 1035 31.25% TIMOTHY N. SCHOFIELD 842 25.42% JOSEPH A. WALSH 301 9.09% Write-in Votes 5 0.15% according to the City of Boston Election Department
I believe the final numbers posted above are correct, and Tim has conceded the race. I’ve updated the web site (but it’s subject to revision, because Tim hasn’t seen what I wrote yet). Close, but no cigar …..
The BU challenges wouldn’t have changed the result, but definitely count as a “dirty trick” IMO – though from a surrogate, not necessarily one of the campaigns. These were legitimate new voters, and everyone knows that students can choose to register to vote where they go to school or where they’re from. Shame on the Ward 22 Dem committee – this is exactly what gives Republicans a bad name, and machine politics a bad name, and turns off voters. Especially new Democratic voters. sheesh. If I lived in Ward 22 I’d try to run those guys off the committee – I’m gonna see if I can find people I know there to do that.Like I said, though, it wouldn’t have changed the result.>From what I saw, precinct walking today, there were a very large number of vote switches from Schofield to Moran from just the last couple of days. It’d be very interesting to find out why that happened. Were the Globe and Phoenix big factors? Was it misplaced concern over splitting the progressive vote? A last minute neighbor-to-neighbor push by Moran’s friends? Something else? Anyone here have any insight?The Schofield campaign did do a hell of a job. I have never seen a campaign that well run, planned, and implemented, other than Dean’s in New Hampshire (sigh if only the Dean campaign in Iowa hadn’t been such a fuckup). But with the last minute changes of mind, I think we ended up GOTV’ing a lot of Moran votes.
Hey all, so happy to find this blog! And in particular the election results…. Thanks.
Just to clear up some of the confusion, I believe the results from the City of Boston that are posted above do not include Brookline. The complete results (also listed above) are these: Moran 1200Schofield 1136Glennon 1102Walsh 311I have worked on many campaigns and was amazed by the Schofield organization, even though it clearly wasn’t enough. According to some recent flash polls, Cos is absolutely correct- many people switched from Schofield to Moran over the past week. Although I have no evidence as to why, I personally think Moran did a very good job convincing people that Glennon would win if progressives split the vote by casting a ballot for Schofield. A good strategy.As for the future, although I was, and am, a dedicated Tim Schofield supporter, Mike Moran is a good man and a good Democrat. He will get my support in the General.
It’s not hard to see why the Phoenix and the Globe chose Moran as their endorsement–it’s one thing to support the same positions as those papers’ editorial boards, but if you can do it in a local accent and with a local look, you’re a wonder to them. I’m sure there was a belief that a district including Brighton would favor a native over someone who moved from Somerville, a presumably straight man over a gay man, someone with ties to a local church to someone without, and that issues and qualifications were somewhat secondary to their concerns. Also, that people who hadn’t lived there for 5 years or more wouldn’t vote. Understandable prejudices if you’re feeling insecure after last November’s election. Having seen the debates, I honestly believe Tim would have been more effective at putting these policies into place and responding to state issues with this perspective in mind. He’s just a very sharp individual with a lot of legislative and legal experience. Is it fair that other factors weighed in on their decision? No, but that’s how it is. Moran’s local ties are worth something to a lot of voters in Oak Square, and for good reason. He also did an excellent job maneuvering between Schofield (who entered the race before Golden retired) and Glennon, which was no easy task, particularly not with Joe Walsh sniping at the same space. But I think the Globe and Phoenix editorial boards will look at the vote totals, realize they scared at least 32 progressives who wanted to vote for Schofield into changing their minds, and consider what exactly they accomplished and what opportunity has been lost because of their preconceptions. While recognizing how little they or anyone else knew about what might happen–second-guessing and self-doubt took control.In the meantime, I think Mike Moran will do a fine job representing the district and its interests and working with the new leadership in the House. No one has a bad word to say about him, and I wish him the best of luck. He is certain to have as long a career in politics as he wishes.
It’s not hard to see why the Phoenix and the Globe chose Moran as their endorsement–it’s one thing to support the same positions as those papers’ editorial boards, but if you can do it in a local accent and with a local look, you’re a wonder to them. I’m sure there was a belief that a district including Brighton would favor a native over someone who moved from Somerville, a presumably straight man over a gay man, someone with ties to a local church to someone without, and that issues and qualifications were somewhat secondary to their concerns. Also, that people who hadn’t lived there for 5 years or more wouldn’t vote. Understandable prejudices if you’re feeling insecure after last November’s election. Having seen the debates, I honestly believe Tim would have been more effective at putting these policies into place and responding to state issues with this perspective in mind. He’s just a very sharp individual with a lot of legislative and legal experience. Is it fair that other factors weighed in on their decision? No, but that’s how it is. Moran’s local ties are worth something to a lot of voters in Oak Square, and for good reason. He also did an excellent job maneuvering between Schofield (who entered the race before Golden retired) and Glennon, which was no easy task, particularly not with Joe Walsh sniping at the same space. But I think the Globe and Phoenix editorial boards will look at the vote totals, realize they scared at least 32 progressives who wanted to vote for Schofield into changing their minds, and consider what exactly they accomplished and what opportunity has been lost because of their preconceptions. While recognizing how little they or anyone else knew about what might happen–second-guessing and self-doubt took control.In the meantime, I think Mike Moran will do a fine job representing the district and its interests and working with the new leadership in the House. No one has a bad word to say about him, and I wish him the best of luck. He is certain to have as long a career in politics as he wishes.
Sorry for the double post. Since it’s now about 2/3 of the length of the whole comment thread, please delete this comments and the preceding dupe.
This is absolutely reprehensible! I went to BU, and if someone tried to disenfranchise me, I would come back to Jackson-Mann School (the polling place) with the police.This is total bollox and should not be tolerated.
You are so right, Btittain. Globe and Phoenix endorsement added 32 votes. Coming from big somerville family gave shoefield alot of credibility with neighborhood people who were more progressive then conservative. And don’t forget, growing up in the neighborhood means you also have enimies and people that just don’t like you or your family or your best friend. Plus Golden had votes who are not as conservative as him. There r many neighborhood fixtures who wanted to see Moran lose and would not vote for Glennan Most of those votes went to Scofield i bet.
I wonder what the BU Dems and the Boston University administration will do now… fight the man? Go to the press? Rally?I’d love to see this bubble up. IIRC, the SCOTUS made it clear that “boarding” students could vote where they went to school way back in the 70s. It would be nice for the Dems to clarify this issue, especially since young people trend Democratic.
Hi, I’m new to this blog. Re: the BU students disenfranchisement issue – I don’t think it’s productive to complain about existing rules being enforced (selectively or otherwise). It ain’t a winning case. But there’s an easy solution – take the problem to BU. It should certainly be within BU’s mission statement to allow voter participation among its students. So pressure BU to provide students with identification including dorm names or addresses. It doesn’t have to be an ID card, just a paper certificate. Every time a student changes dorms, BU mails them new identification. Problem solved.