David, Charley and I will be hard at work on election day monitoring incoming posts and staying up to date on breaking news for you all.
One of the greatest things about blogging is the way it allows us to collect unfiltered on-the-ground information in an instant from all over the state. We’ll read it as it comes in, and try to help make sense of what we are seeing.
If you have an extra moment and an internet connection, please tell us what is going on where you are: how people feel, what you see, what you think. If you work for a campaign, comment. If you’re an interested citizen, comment. A member of the media, comment. We’d like to break the record for first-time posters today.
Please share widely!
Hi all:
It’s 4:15 am…I’m getting ready to hit my polling place at 7:00am. I will be out on the street for the better part of 11 hours.
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As you could possible imagine, I get odd stares as the only wheelchair supporter, in the second largest city in MA. But I’ve always done this – since 1972.
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Before I head out I want to share something from the rally here in Worcester late yesterday,
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Tim Murray, being from here, came to say thank you and Re-energize the “troops.
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He related a little ditty that he got from his Dad who was talking to a friend.
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Tim says,”I should have used this sooner but I’ll leave it with you tonight”.
“Politics is like driving a car- to move forward you put in D!
To got backwards you put it in R!” Well as you can imagine the crowd of several hundred, howled with acknowledgment.
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Just thought you’d all get a kick out of that one as you head out the door….
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I spoke to the Election commission office yesterday and they are predicting upwards of 40% turn out. I think here it will be higher than that. It’s been more than a decade, I believe since we had numbers that high…..
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Well, time to shake, rattle and roll on to victory.
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Peace!
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Barb in Worcester
I’m eating a hurried breakfast and about to head down to Claire Naughton’s office. If I get a chance, I’ll post updates as comments on my post about Claire Naughton from yesterday. Check there.
A hair shy of 6:30 AM, after a sleepless night finishing a Poli Sci paper and cramming for a Calc 3 exam, I’m finishing my coffee and about to head out. Vote, then head for the T, then eight hours on campus…and hopefully I’ll meet some of y’all at the Hynes, or whatever other location might get designated for a pint.
I’m working Ward 10 Precinct 2 today. I’m about to head out and catch the morning rush, I’ll stop by midday and definitely after 8PM with results from the precinct.
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Good Luck Everyone! Stay warm!
Last night, Channel 7 pollster called margin in actual votes. He said Deval would beat Muffy by 500,000 votes…or more. WOW. Here’s the link:
http://www1.whdh.com…
Just voted.
Well, i have been at the campaign office for….25 hours now. All is looking good. We have all our polls covered, so things are looking good. Althea is no where to be seen…odd.
Hoping for massive turnout and 75% plus in votes for Deval here in Billsville.
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Will report back after the shift on how things look on the ground.
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Heading with my wife and my high schooler to Hynes tonight, a 3 hour drive if–drumroll for the Big Dig, please–traffic isn’t bad. Due to the distance and hassles, we rustics don’t get out of the country and into the capital very often, but we’ll try to get appropriately citified for this special occasion. I will look for BMGers–a rare opportunity for (I believe) this site’s most Northwesterly regular correspondent.
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Back in the worst days of Healey attacks, I entered the BMG “predict the vote” t-shirt contest, wagering that Deval would win by 7 points. I am not expecting to win that shirt. Couldn’t be happier–or more uplifted–to be proved wrong by my fellow citizens.
in Winchester. The accu-vote machine for my precinct is broken, so the ballots are being collected in a slot on the side of the machine for later counting (by hand, by another machine?). Turnout is higher than in the primary.
Turnout was brisk in the first few hours at the Middleborough Council on Aging. Our Democratic Town Committee and local DP/TM support dropped off stacks of signs and by 730 we had four waving, smiling, sign holders to one GOP (state rep race). No traces of Healy/Hillman, Republican Town Committee, Mihos or Ross. Lots of waves and thumbs ups from drivers entering the parking lot; much stronger response than usual. Bodes well for a good Blue Day. Weather is great for early November, too!
Just got out of a crowded West Newton polling station where we ran into issues with a jammed ballot machine and a bad Massachusetts accent. But, to the best of my knowledge, both issues were worked out satisfactorily.
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I put the full account on my personal blog. It’s pretty funny actually…http://www.prizblog….
we see a lot of ads on tv reminding us of 911 and how much we need to be protected. But when it comes down to it. The only thing being protected is Halliburton and Oil profits.
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Officials appeared to be deeply moved by emotional testimony of Katrina victim Gloria Muhammad. In testimony both familiar and wrenching, Muhammad, 60, told of being evacuated to Houston, robbed there, and returning to Hammond to live with her 19-year-old daughter.
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She said she and thousands more are nearing emotional exhaustion, flirting with thoughts of suicide.
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Please do something, she pleaded. Talking time is over. We need action.
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If George W. Bush and the Republican Party wanted the recovery to move faster, you can believe it would happen. It isnt enough to claim credit for fulfilling basic federal obligations to pay off flood insurance claims and clean debris off of the streets. Very little money has actually gotten into the hands of people who need it. Only 18 homeowners have received federal grants to help rebuild their homes thus far, for a total of $693,215. A number of excuses could be made for why this travesty is being allowed to happen, but fundamentally, theres absolutely no presidential directive to get things moving. Its getting late in the game for people whove been living wherever and however they can.
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We need to get people back into their homes. We need residents to be able to participate in rebuilding the city. We need to rebuild a city thats prepared for the challenges of the 21st century.
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We need to stop allowing hypocritical, crank-addict, sexual-deviant religious zealots, and elitist boneless chickenhawks to define the agenda for this nation. Its time to move this country forward, and New Orleans will be considered the measure for how were doing as a nation.
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There is a revolution underfoot. Your vote for a Democratic majority in Congress will be the first victory. Answer Ms. Muhammeds plea, and the plea of hundreds of thousands of other Katrina victims still languishing while waiting for assistance.
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Do something. Vote.
That it was pretty damn satisfying voting this morning.
I rarely vote so early, but went down a little after 7 so I could hold a Deval sign for a couple of hours before heading to work. It didn’t seem that cold this morning, until standing still for over an hour. At least it’s not raining!
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Lots of supporting honks, thumbs-up and other pro-Deval signals from people driving by (only one thumbs down that I saw). It looked extremely busy. I asked one of the poll workers how turnout was, and he said it had been “crazy” with lots of voters since the polls opened. Turnout may be unusually high here because of the open state rep seat. That would likely be good news for Deval Patrick, since he won every precinct here in the primary.
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A couple of voters had problems feeding their ballots into the machine, a poll worker had to come help. He said these were not new machines. Maybe it was early morning overuse from high turnout?
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It was sad to see Deborah Blumer’s name on the ballot and not be able to vote for her. She was a great rep, and we were lucky to have had her in our district. Her son Adam was outside my polling place, working for Pam Richardson. I was really impressed that he was volunteering to help keep the seat Democratic, as his mom would have wanted, while still undoubtedly dealing with his own grief over her unexpected death.
… for Adam to deal with his grief. And an admirable one.
I know that Debby was very close to Pam Richardson.
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Anyone who knew Debby knows that she would have wanted nothing more than every committed Democrat to be working a phone bank, holding a sign, doing SOMETHING to win the election for the good guys.
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It’s no surprise that Adam is at a polling place for Deval and Pam. Nature or nurture, it’s in his upbringing. (Excellent family values.)
Problems at my poll too, machines angry that questions were left blank or something. Workers forcing them through.
South end at the school on warren ave
I have not been this excited for an election for as long as I can remember…I haven’t voted yet…I think I saw a 10-year-old holding a “No on 1” sign in Cambridge this morning…Does he really care? Does anyone who doesn’t own a liquor store or live their life in fear really care? My boss voted at the same polling spot as Deval this morning. What a way to start your day…Thinking good thoughts today. I want to be surprisingly happy tonight.
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I will be live blogging tonight at:
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http://american-athe…
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come by and share your thoughts…
Hi, I voted in Ward 7, Holyoke, MA at 7:45 EST. This is the first time since I moved here that I ever had to wait in a line to vote. It was a short line, but it was still a line.
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There were two guys out front with signs for local candidates, and three people grouped together with “No on Question 1” signs. Nobody for any of the statewide candidates.
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Once again, I forgot to look and see how many people had voted so far. Sorry.
I voted in Ward 11 in Cambridge at 8am. There was a short line that had grown considerably in the 10 minutes I spent there. It’s normally a pretty sleepy polling place, but the traffic/parking nearby were pretty nutty.
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Apparently Deval is standing outside of Borders Books in Downtown Crossing right now and about 6 of my coworkers just literally ran out of the office to go see him.
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We all have Election Day fever here today!
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Btw — I’m a first-time poster today. I’ve been reading BMG for months and have really enjoyed the insight I’ve gained, so thank you for all of the time and effort!
Voted early this morning in Egleston Square, then took our usual bus route to Brighton. Blue all the way–signs, stickers and buttons on people’s lapels. A big, smiling man in a wheelchair in Coolidge Corner holding up an enormous Patrick sign to a lot of waving and honking. And Union Square was a sea of blue signs. Maybe not a total surprise given the demographics that stretch between Roxbury, Brookline, and Brighton, but not a single Healey/Hillman sign anywhere. It felt awfully good.
Voted at 7:10 in Natick, and was already the 76th vote. To compare, during the primaries I voted at the same time and was the 3rd vote.
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There seemed to be problems with the scanners at my precinct (The Morese Instutute Library), where the election workers were having difficulties with a ballot being constantly rejected by the machine. Mine seemed to register appropriately.
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Outside, there were NO dems holding signs. I intend to spend some time on sign duty after work.
This morning.. I was at one of our historically slowest precincts and saw more than 100 cars come through, lots of them with 2 people. The other precincts reported high turnout too… Tyngsboro might be going blue for the first time in a couple decades.
Two of us did visibilty for the Dems from 7 to 9 am. at one polling place in Falmouth. No Republican candidates had human signholders around and I looked at 2 other polling places. Very positive response to waving, one negative response from a fellow with a “W” bumper sticker.
There were 260 voters by 8:45 am at my precinct.
This was my first time voting in a mid-term election.
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and decide based on who has more signs. But there is a strong sense of community and shared ideals when lots of signholders are present and waving. Certainly it is nice, too, to see friends, neighbors, and local activitsts and officials at the polls so you know who they are supporting; that makes a difference to some as well. Polling place visibility helps convince and sway some people and therefore makes it a worthwhile campaign investment.
All four town precincts vote at the high school. The parking lot was PACKED — and not just with the kids’ cars bearing painted celebrations of their regional volleyball championship. We have a Prop 2.5 override on the ballot to fund construction for a new police station, which has also brought folks out to vote.
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We had eight or nine persons holding signs for Deval — and not ONE Healey/Hillman sign! Holliston used to be a strong Republican town, so the failure of the Republican Town Committee to have even one person standing out there in support of their candidate is really quite remarkable.
I’m new to the area. But no issues that I could see this morning. It was fairly busy around 7:00am, a lot more active than the primary if that’s any indication (we know the primary was active overall). So I’m guessing the turnout will be good for the town. A good amount of signs for Claire Naughton but a Barrows had more of a presence the town of Mansfield is split in in their Reps. Foxboro might give a better indication than Mansfield.
in Worcester (Tatnuck Magnet School). I started to get concernced when I saw that the counter was rejecting ballots. A sense of urgency came upon me when I saw the machine spit two ballots in a row out. One ballot was filled out incorrectly (they had checked two boxes), but the other no explanation. Myself and the woman behind me were nervous when we heard the words…hand count! Fortunatly my ballot went in fine but I am not sure of what happened after that. Isn’t there a number or something to call if there are irregularities at the polls??
That is very similar to what I saw – machines reejcting or giving errors for incompleted forms and such.
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Just imagine the confusion nationwide! It makes it much easier for the bush admin. to steal the close elections – you watch.
This morning, I stood in front of my polling place, the Dilboy VFW at Summer Street and Cutter Avenue, with a Deval Patrick sign.
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While I stood there, a construction crew was busy digging up Summer Street, including the handicap ramps in front of both Dilboy and Dominos Pizza (across the street). Summer Street was closed, making it impossible for people to park behind the VFW.
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The Election Commissioner and the Mayor both had to personally intervene to stop this construction and restore the handicap ramps.
Turnout seems heavy in Arlington.
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In Precinct 9, 7:50, 98 votes (982 total in 2002)
In Precinct 19, 8:30, 275 votes (1109 total in 2002)
In Precinct 10, 9:00, 246 votes (1124 total in 2002)
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In 2002, Arlington cast 20,561 votes and gave O’Brien a 2,947 vote plurality. I expect (depending on turnout) no less than a 7,000 vote plurality for Patrick, possibly much more.
I waved a sign (two, actually) from 7-9 this morning on Mass Ave. as Arlington turned out in force for DP, Rep. Jim Marzilli and the rest. We had 4 or 5 signholders, and around 8:30 a woman showed up with a Larry Frisoli sign — she took up a spot across the street.
No H/H folks at all.
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Many honks, waves, and thumbs-up from bus drivers, truck drivers, Priuses, and minivans. Several people chatted with me, and one young woman with Down syndrome announced, “I am voting for those two this afternoon!”, pointing to my sign.
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Turnout was higher than normal, and people were smiling and enthusiastic…let’s hope that turns out to be the national “blue wave” trend by tonight!
Voted around 8:30 and 250 had voted already at Natick High… it’s busy.
Was the first in line at 7:00 am and by the time they opened the door there were 15 people standing behind me, Wha Hoo!
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Of course they wanted me to be the City’s FIRST guinea pig for the “rental” touch screen machines. I’m just glad we didn’t spend our election funds on them. Unfortunately they should be used ONLY by persons who are blind. slowed me down by 100%.
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You have to use the headphones. Once you have the ballot inserted, another wait while it downloads. Since I don’t have to be read the instructions or screens, it was very frustrating waiting, each category must be stated and candidates read before you can check your choice and move to the next screen.
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When you get to the questions, if an issue is long (one took 3 screens) and you can’t scroll down until the machine releases the screen.
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It then records the vote into the memory and then fills in the regular ballot and returns it to you.
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OK now you get to the BIG Problem, after printing you take the completed ballot to the regular Accu-Vote machine to record it officially.
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NOPE, it kept spitting it back out at me…..in 34 years I never had a ballot send back to me.
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The precinct captain came over, and low and behold the Accu-Vote would not read the computer produced ballot! The ink from the printer was not dark enough and not centered in the circle! Thus it became a spoiled ballot. And this time I had to use a regular ballot.
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We called the Election office….all of this by 7:10! And when we finally got through, they have 6 lines, and it took a few , they admitted that it was happening all over Worcester. So when I go back at lunch time, I will check to see if the problem was fixable or not…but certainly slows the process down for those of us that usually take longer because of our disabilities.
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On the minor side, the entry door not accessible 100%, & the entry door, kept locking on everyone, so we had to prop it open in 35 degree weather, not enough space to get me out the door with a line (hall too narrow)and finally, the regular accessible booth comes with very shaky legs attached, and in the middle of my re-vote, the whole booth collapsed on me.
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So 7-9am had it’s challenges. When I got outside to stand-out, I was the only ONE THERE! I hope that is not the norm …shame on Worcester Patrick/Murray HQ.
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Hopefully, the noon shift will be better.
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Until later…
Barb from Worcester
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104 people ahead of me. Hell of a turnout for the pre-breakfast crowd.
Got to the polling place with my signs at 6:57 and the cars had already started pulling in.
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Just left at 10:45 and we already had over 550 votes cast (there were only about 800 total cast in the primary and everyone is saying turnout is high!)
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Heading back at noon.
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Lots and lots of “thumbs up!”
I voted just after 7:00 am this morning at my Worcester precinct, where there was a small band of volunteers holding signs for Deval, Tim, and Hariette Chandler (there was one lonely sign up at the polling place for the repub. who’s running for state rep. in this district). The line was pretty much nonexistent, but all of the voting “booths” were in use. I cast my ballot (happy to get the chance to vote for Deval and to vote against Galvin). In just a few minutes, I’m off to make some calls for Deval…
Precinct 5B numbers are almost on a presidential election level, almost 350 voting by 11:00 am.
I had to wait a while to enter a booth. According to the Globe, 10% of eligible voters in Mass had voted by 8:15, so they’re expecting a record turnout.
I voted at Flagg Street School at around 8:30. For signholders, we had a No on 1 guy, a few Patricks and a few for Senator Chandler. I suspect that one of these individuals may well have been BMG’s own Barb from Worcester.
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Although it was not crowded at 8:30, the poll workers told me that it had been very busy earlier. This polling place is Tim Murray central, so it ought to be. I don’t know if the Mayor had voted yet.
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I had my four year old son with me. He now thinks of election day as (1) an opportunity for swag, since he got a Joe Early band-aid box on primary day (Band-aids are a big hit with the 4 year old set); and (2) an opportunity to get stuff from the PTA bake sale. He wanted the entire cherry pie, and had himself a nice, embarassing tantrum when he got a cookie instead.
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So out I go, carrying a wailing four year old, and a woman walking in past me deadpans: “He must be a Republican.” to the amusement of those within earshot.
Voted in my small town of Sterling this morning and as of 10 AM, 300 had already voted! No lines but many of the booths were in use. People out here are excited that Tim will make sure Central and Western Mass. won’t be the forgotten stepchildren anymore. This is an exciting day, I’ll be glued to the great results that’ll start pouring in at 8 PM.
It was hard to tell how turnout was, because the Selectman decided this year for the first time to have a single voting place instead of three for the whole town. Traffic was insane this morning but hard to know if that was high turnout or just the change in polling locations.
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There were a mountain of us holding signs for Deval, Rep Jamie Eldridge (I chatted with Jamie’s mom and campaign manager much of the morning), and some token signs for unopposed Dems Sen Pam Resor and Rep Cory Atkins. Next to us were always 2 or 3 folks out for Healey and Kevin Hayes, Jamie’s Republican challenger, eaching holding about 14 red signs.
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Acton’s polling location is on the campus of the Junior and Senior high schools, and there were a gaggle of high school kids hanging around doing exit polls on different issues as part of their political science class, until their teacher rounded them up at the end of the class period. All of them wanted to be holding Patrick signs, until some of us pointed out that sort of messed up the legitimacy of their polling.
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I had a long, heated but polite conversation with the Repubs standing nearby. They looked so lonely.
Did the 9-11 a.m. shift holding signs for Deval and (Democratic State Senate candidate) Ben Downing at our town’s only polling spot. Turnout is HIGH: the town clerk estimates that we’re running at least 15% ahead of 4 years ago. Since this is major Deval country, that’s good news.
Home for a 10 minute break from Haverhill phone bank. Out GOTV calls are going well and have had lots of positive comments.
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Best line of the day: One volunteer called a woman who reported that she was voting for Mrs. Healey – without missing a beat our volunteer said “That’s OK – she going to need a few votes”!!!
Drove people to do visibility, got a lot of phonecalls done today! Waltham is looking good.
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In the one place with a lot of Healey people doing visibility the Carpenter’s Union seems to have swooped in and vastly outnumbered her.
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It’s looking like high turnout — a very good day!
I voted in Burlington this morning; a much more to-the-right town than most people would assume (just look at Kerry:Bush ’04).
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It very much felt like there was a sense of common purpose amongst people walking to the poll, as everyone was quiet and smiling. It was very efficient and they where moving a lot of people w/o any trouble. It felt lighter on turnout than ’04 though.
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There where a lot of sign holders, all but 3 of them for Democrats or Yes-on-3. Those three, older white gentlemen, where standing in the middle of it all, chatting amongst themselves. As I walked towards my car, I passed the Cadillac of one of them (easily recognizable by the stickers) – I thought it was very symbolic: A car of the bygone era driven by good-old-boys.
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Out with them.
I’ve been lurking here since July or August. I don’t consider myself versed enough in MA politics to make much meaningful commentary, but this place has helped my knowledge to grow tremendously. Thanks, and here’s to BMG’s continued growth.