As always, the Dot Reporter has an excellent analysis of the race. About halfway down, they even throw in a mention of my dad, George O’Malley, manning his station at Florian Hall. My father stood at that poll for me, the Sheriff, and the Governor and Lieutenant Governor over the last several election cycles. Although he is a life-long Rozzie rat, he has become a fixture at Florian Hall along with Keystone girls and myriad local 718 union officials. He remarked Tuesday night that no fewer than a dozen people walked by him, gave him the thumbs up, pointed to his Connolly sticker and said: “Your son is going to win this time!” He smiled and thanked them for their support.
I manned St. Nectarios in Roslindale Square all day with the great Doug McClure and Tommy Cloherty. John swept all three precincts by comfortable margins. Although the weather was dreadful, a 98-year old woman showed up to vote with her son (who looked to be in his late 70’s).
“I never miss an election!” She proudly declared as we helped her up the slanted walkway.
I was so amazed by her dedication, yet simultaneously disgusted by the anemic showing at the polls that was happening , and would continue to, throughout the day.
Only 13.59% of the registered voters showed up to vote on Tuesday. The media who, with few exceptions, barely covered this election, are bemoaning the low turnout. The bloggersphere who, in several instances, gave excellent insight and analysis of this election, are calling the media hypocritical. Both are right.
I am unsure as to how we can generate more interest and involvement in local elections. There are a number of concrete steps that should be taken.
We ought to have election day voter registration. It is done in several other cities and states and irrefutably helps create an uptick in voter participation. The 1998 governors race in Minnesota, which allows the option of election day registration, boasted a 68% turnout. That is more than 5 times Boston’s turnout on Tuesday. The roadblock to election day voter registration is that it is determined (and enacted) by the same public officials that could be hurt by implementing such a system. After all, the thinking goes, the more people that vote the less safe an incumbent could be. This is bunk. Elected officials ought to deal with this potential sacrifice for the greater good. It is the right thing to do.
Secondly, the media seems fickle about local elections. Many people said that 2005 boasted the strongest at-Large field in decades. As such, media outlets offered decent coverage. After the preliminary, WB56 held an hour long debate, the Globe offered in depth profiles of all eight candidates, and Channel 5 led their 5:30pm news with profiles for the week leading up to the election. Additionally, the venerable Greater Boston paired up the candidates in party’s of 2 to discuss issues in a quasi-debate format (I had the privilege of appearing alongside Felix in our segment. Afterwards, Emily Rooney promised both of us her vote, if she lived in Boston). Further, BNN channel 9 seemed to have one of the 8 candidates on at all times on nearly every show. One of the candidates quipped that he felt more overexposed than Paris Hilton.
Obviously, a newspaper is a business enterprise and ought to give the readers what they want; but by justifying not covering an election because no one seems to be interested in the election, the media are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. In other words, people might seem interested if the media piques that interest. There are several issues that the council can play a direct role in debating: public safety initiatives, tax relief, education funding and environmental practices. Articles on any of those issues would allow the public to receive a better understanding of the candidate’s vision and proposed solutions. The media could (and should) set forth the tone and tenor of the debate. Their audience deserves nothing less.
Finally, we might want to reexamine some aspects of the city charter as well as election day practices. Could on-line voting be a tamper-proof option? I feel confident paying my mortgage on-line, I would hope that the city could emulate software that would ensure a safe way to vote electronically.
Also, although I am generally opposed to term-limits on principal, might this be an option to increase voter participation? What about increasing the council terms from two years to four years. John Tobin thinks so. I am not sure that I fully agree with everything, but, as always, Tobin brings up some interesting and thoughtful ideas that are worth exploring. The council needs to be having this conversation.
There are other contributing factors to the decline in voter participation in Boston (we NEED to have a thorough civics and government curriculum in the BPS now) and these issues cannot be solved in time for the 2009 race. But one thing is certain, Boston used to be known as a city of three great passions: politics, sports, and revenge. It was said that often the three were indistinguishable. It would be a shame if we lost that spirit.
The time to act is now.
Cross-posted at http://mattomalley.b…
When I was a graduate student in political science, we studied the literature on why people actually vote. Think about it. Your vote almost surely makes no difference to the outcome of an election, and voting comes at a cost: the cost of your time, and the cost of informing yourself about the candidates if you feel the need to try to vote intelligently. So voting is a mystery to “rational actor” types. According to them, the real reason people vote is the “psychic charge” they get from voting–it feels good to vote because of our socialization, and that good feeling outweighs voting’s costs.
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I’m a “psychic charge” voter. I vote in every election, including in this week’s election for Boston city council. But it was actually somewhat tempting to sit this one out.
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Why? Sure, there was a lack of press coverage of the race. But I think the bigger reason why turnout was so low is that people don’t think the City Council has, at least in recent years, accomplished much. And as this article for the Phoenix points out, it may not be able to accomplish much during the remainder of the Menino administration. Why, then, should we care all that much about who wins a council seat?
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Here’s hoping that the council can find a way to promote a real legislative agenda focused on issues important to Bostonians–the cost of living, reform of the schools, public safety–in cooperation with the Mayor’s Office.
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TedF
are not involved in local community. Public schools are an area of common interest for people to locally find common motivation in local issues as are senior centers. I came back from an out of town vacation one week too late to vote in our local election last spring. Our town clerk had been unexpectedly voted out and I ran into him downtown. Bummer.
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http://www.bluemassg…
Term limits only deny me the right to vote for the candidate of my choice if he/she is an imcumbent.
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Sorry Matt, I like Felix as well but the voters termed limited him out, as they did Watertown City Councilor Devaney, as the did with Mayor Phelan in Quincy, as they did with Mayor Ryan in Sprinfgield.
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That is how it is supposed to work – not based on an arbitrary time limit. Would you have Jim Marzilli term limited out of the State House, Ted Kennedy term limited out of the US Senate?
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You want more voters to stay home – tell them they no longer have the right to vote for the candidate of their choice.
File this under my vote doesn’t count.
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Devaney lost by 5 votes.
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A candidate for Somerville City Council At-Large lost by 12 votes.
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A candidate for Lynn school committee lost by 35 votes.
Greer Tan Swiston won by less than 60 votes. Some of you may remember her as one of Romney’s candidates for state legislature. He later appointed her to the Judicial Nomination Commission (her background is software engineering). She’s now a Newton alderman-at-large.
What if Boston voters are basically acting rationally — believing the City Council is so subordinate to the Mayor, that it’s not that important to voters whether, say, Arroyo or Connolly wins?
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I realize that some non-voters say that about EVERY election for EVERY office. But in this case, isn’t it generally true? I prefer Connolly to Arroyo. Glad he won. Great.
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But I’m having trouble imagining a scenario where this will have any real-life effect on the City. Can you describe one?
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I know the Globe and the pols themselves feel the need to exhort how “critical” these elections are. But those same people — I know a fair number myself — privately say these elections are close to meaningless, besides giving people a platform for a FUTURE run for some OTHER office.
http://www.prolibert…
Yet I submit that in today’s society .000001 percent of the general population even bothers to vote.