A location for the caucus has been confirmed; it will be held on Wednesday, September 24th at:
Waltham High School Auditorium,
617 Lexington St
Waltham, MA 02452
(781) 314-5440
Doors will open at 5:00PM and the Caucus will begin at 6:30PM.
Rules and Procedures for filling vacancies of a Party Candidate who has been nominated by winning a Primary and has withdrawn
1) The Town and Ward Committees of Middlesex County must meet and elect delegates by and from its members to a county meeting called by the Chair of the Party. The county meeting may nominate a candidate to fill the vacancy. Only members of Ward and Town Committees may vote and run for delegates to the county meeting. Associate Members may not vote and may not be elected delegates to the county meeting.
2) Meetings of town and ward committees to elected delegates: – the Meetings should be called either after 5 pm on Monday September 22nd or on Tuesday September 23nd. We encourage you to notify members now that a meeting MAY happen and announce the time and location. If Register Buonomo wins the nomination on Tuesday AND resigns after receiving the nomination, then you will need to hold your meeting.
3) Delegates to be elected at the Town or Ward Meeting must be Gender Balanced in the same manner as the election of delegates to the State Convention (examples below). Town/Wards with an even number of delegates will hold two elections where they will elect the male and female delegates. Towns with odd number of delegates will hold three elections where they will elect the male and female delegates and one of either gender. Town or ward Committees that do not have enough of one gender to fill the allotment of that gender cannot elect extra delegates of the other gender to fill the allotment (see example below).
a) Town and Ward Committees with 4 delegates will elect 2 men and 2 women.
b) Town and Ward Committees with 5 Delegates will elect 2 men, 2 women and one of either gender.
c) Town or Ward Committee with 10 Delegates and 15 male candidates and 2 female candidates are allotted 5 men and 5 women. They can elect 5 men and 2 females, and forfeit the remaining 3 female seats.
4) The Middlesex County Meeting of Delegates will then be held on Wednesday, September 24th at 6:30 p.m. This meeting of delegates may nominate a candidate to fill the vacancy. The nominee will be filed with the Secretary of State by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday September 25th.
The above rules have been adopted from Chapter 53, Section 14 of the Massachusetts General Laws.
Rules for the Middlesex County Meeting to fill vacancy for the Democratic Nomination for the Middlesex County Register of Probate
The Chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party will appoint a Chair pro-tem to call the Middlesex County Committee Meeting to order on September 24, 2008. The Chair will have a list of Delegates elected at their Town and Ward Committee for this meeting and reported to the Democratic State Committee by 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, September 24th and in accordance with the Rules and Procedures sent to Middlesex County Chairs.
Every delegate will be asked to provide photo identification and must sign-in indicating their presence to be eligible to vote and be recognized. All ballots shall be written and signed. There will be no absentee or proxy voting. The Chair pro-tem will call the County Meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
There will be only 4 items on the agenda:
a) Election of Permanent Chair of the County Meeting
b) Adoption of County Meeting Rules
c) Candidate Nominations and Speeches
d) Election to fill vacancy for Democratic Nomination for Middlesex County Register of Probate – “Democratic Nominee for Register”
Registration will remain open until a vote for Democratic Nominee for Register is called for. When a vote is called, registration will close at the call of the vote and re-open once all votes are cast on that ballot.
When the meeting is called to order, only delegates or State Party designated staff will be allowed in the delegate area. Spectators and guests will not be allowed in the delegate area. There will be a location for guests in the room. The County Meeting is a Democratic Party meeting and no Democrat, person ineligible to register or media representative shall be denied admittance.
Candidates may distribute materials on their behalf.
Nominations will be made by Official Form. Official Nomination forms will be available at the meeting and must be signed by a nominator and two seconds. All three must be Delegates to the County Meeting and have signed-in. A candidate for Middlesex County Register of Probate must be present and give his or her written consent by signing their Official Nomination form. If a candidate is a delegate, they can be a nominator or second on a nomination form.
After the nominations have been closed, each candidate will be allowed to make a two-minute speech. Nominations cannot be closed prior to 6:45 p.m. or 15 minutes after the call to order, whichever is later. Speaking order will be drawn by lot.
All ballots shall be written and signed.
Election of the Democratic Nominee for Register at the County Meeting shall be held by a majority of those present and voting. If a candidate has not received a majority of the vote on either the first or second ballot, those candidates receiving less than 15% of the total vote on the second ballot will be dropped on the third ballot and subsequent ballots. Balloting will continue until a candidate receives a majority, provided that on all ballots subsequent to the second ballot there are at least two candidates remaining. On the 2nd or subsequent ballots, if all candidates receive 15 % or more; or only one candidate receives 15% or more; or no candidate receives 15% on any ballot, the candidate or candidates receiving the lowest vote total shall be removed from the next ballot, providing that there are at least two candidates remaining. (example below)
The Chair of the caucus shall fill out the form certifying the election of the Democratic Nominee to fill the Vacancy for Register of Probate for Middlesex County. The Chair of the Party will file with the Secretary of State the Nomination as certified by the Chair of the Middlesex County Meeting.
Voting Examples:
A) On the second ballot, the following represents the vote count. Candidates H and I would be removed from the 3rd Ballot. Reason: Only one candidate received more than 15%, therefore the lowest vote totals are removed from the next ballot.
Total Votes cast 100
Candidate A ….. 16 votes – 16%
Candidate B ….. 13 votes – 13%
Candidate C ….. 12 votes – 12%
Candidate D ….. 12 votes – 12%
Candidate E ….. 12 votes – 12%
Candidate F ….. 12 votes – 12%
Candidate G ….. 11 votes – 11%
Candidate H ….. 6 votes – 6% – dropped
Candidate I ….. 6 votes – 6% – dropped
B) On the second ballot, the following represents the vote count. Candidate A and Candidate B would be on the 3rd Ballot, all others would be dropped. Reason: No candidate received a majority and two candidates received more than 15%, therefore all others would be dropped from the next ballot.
Candidate A ….. 21 votes – 21%
Candidate B ….. 18 votes – 18%
Candidate C ….. 14 votes – 14% – dropped
Candidate D ….. 12 votes – 12% – dropped
Candidate E ….. 12 votes – 12% – dropped
Candidate F ….. 12 votes – 12% – dropped
Candidate G ….. 11 votes – 11% – dropped
C) On the third ballot, the following represents the vote count. Candidate A and B would be on the 4th Ballot, Candidate C would be dropped. Reason: No candidate received a majority and all candidates received greater than 15%, therefore the lowest vote total
is dropped from the next ballot.
Candidate A ….. 48 votes – 48%
Candidate B ….. 30 votes – 30%
Candidate C ….. 22 votes – 22% – dropped
It is unclear whether all will stand for office at the caucus on 9/24/08 but there appears to be eleven candidates who have either contacted me by mail, contacted me by e-mail, called my office, organized committees [see the office of campaign finance, newly organized committees] or posted here at Blue Mass Group.
Can you, if you haven’t already, post who the elevent are? My last count was nine.
Could you post a list?
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p>Candidates that have contacted me so far: Tom Concannon (letter), Sean O’Donovan (two separate letters!), Bob Colt (phone call only), Maria Sheehy (large glossy color postcard)
See: http://www.yourarlington.com/j…
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p>And at the office of campaign finance, there are a couple more – but really, it should be up to THEM to contact US.
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p>Oh – and Tara DiCristofaro called me and said SHE is running…I am losing track.
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p>I figure that a candidate who cannot find their way to BlueMassGroup or the online listing of chairs and SDC members for Middlesex County is starting slow…
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p>But probably, we won’t know for sure who is running, who is still running, etc. until we see “the whites of their eyes” at the Caucus. I tell everyone who contacts me that says they are running to “put up or shut up” on Blue Mass Group. I really do.
John Alperti (Billerica)
Bob Colt (Winchester)
Tom ConCannon (Newton)
Tara DeCristasaro
Paula Mattigliano (Arlington)
Sean O’Donovan (Somerville)
John Panica
Maria Sheehy (Lowell)
Theresa Walsh (Arlington)
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p>There are a couple for which I’m not sure of residence.
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p>Here are times and locations for meetings in Greater Lowell:
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p>Bedford – M, 9/22, 7:30 at chair’s residence
Billerica – T, 9/23, 7:00 at Town Hall
Carlisle – M, 9/22, 7:00 at chair’s residence
Chelmsford – T, 9/23, time TBD at chair’s residence
Dracut – T, 9/23, 7:00 at American Legion
Dunstable – M, 9/22, 5:00 at Town Hall
Groton – M, 9/22, 7:30 at Carver’s Guild
Lowell – M, 9/22, 7:00 at East End Club
Pepperell – M, 9/22, 7:30 at Morrissey Law Firm
Tewksbury – M, 9/22, 7:00 at chair’s residence
Tyngsborough – T, 9/23, 1:00 at Lawndale Farm
Westford – T, 9/23, 6:30 at Millenium School
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p>Contact the respective chairs for more information. Others can feel free to add the rest of the county.
Len Golder of Stow told me this AM that he is definitely running.
I don’t have any information about her other than that.
Now I’m really confused. O’Donovan ran on stickers with the Working Families Party last Tuesday. Did he win that nomination and is now seeking the Democratic nomination as well? Can someone explain this to us?
However you can win any party’s nomination with a sticker campaign, so he was hoping to get on the ballot that way. I’m fairly sure he fell short of the 1,000 votes he needed, so is now trying to get the nod through the caucus.
So Marcus I think you’re saying that he is still a Democrat and just used the Working Families Party to hopefully get his name on the ballot using that party. What does this mean for all the Democrats who switched to the Working Families Party at his request?
He announced his candidacy too close to the election for that. (You need to reregister 20 days in advance to switch parties) His goal was to get unenrolled voters to take a Working Families ballot, which many did, though not enough. In Ward 7, where the Sciortino-Trane race was the big draw almost no one went for the purple ballots, despite Mayor Joe sending us 300 of them just in case, but in parts of the city without competitive races, O’Donovan got over six hundred votes on the Working Families ballot. (He got hundreds more on the Democratic ballot, but those were not added to his total.)
Marcus you’re confusing me even more. The Somerville News reported that O’Donovan held a Working Families registration drive in August, after Buonomos arrest, to gain enough potential voters to secure the WFP nomination. He sent a letter to constituants to that effect. The primary indicates that he recieved over 600 sticker/write in votes on the WFP ballot. That says to me that he actively sought to have Democrats switch parties to get on the Nov. WFP ballot. Am I wrong or misinformed?
I’m writing on a Saturday, in a personal capacity, and I will be supporting Bob Colt this week. But I have to clarify about the whole party-switching discussion above. Unenrolled voters who pull a ballot for a party on Election Day are no longer enrolled automatically in that party. That used to be the case, but it is no longer — the law was changed some time ago. Anyone who switched to vote in the primary would have had to do so on or before the August 27 deadline.
I had to think about one of your statements. Are you saying that the Democratic Mayor of Somerville sent you 300 Working Families Party ballots? If so, why would he do that?
I believe that Graly was a poll worker or watcher in Ward 7.
I had to think about one of your statements. Are you saying that the Democratic Mayor of Somerville sent you 300 Working Families Party ballots? If so, why would he do that?
You don’t need to be in the Working Families Party to take the WF ballot.
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p>As Ron guessed, Joe Curtatone didn’t send me personally 300 ballots, which would be quite sketchy indeed, but sent 300 Working Family ballots to Ward 7 Precinct 2, where I was a poll worker. (There were only 50 Republican ballots, for comparision.) Sorry for the confusion.
I think I’ve got it now. Thanks.
and we won’t find out until Monday when Secretary Galvin’s office releases the official results of each party’s primary. My guess is that he fell short, though not far short.
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p>A Republican was also seeking nomination on write-ins. I don’t know anything about how he did, either.
…Mr. O’Donovan told me that he would withdraw his Working Families nomination if Buonomo withdrew his Democratic nomination. The point is moot now and he is seeking the Democratic nomination at caucus on equal footing with other candidates.
Any info on location, time?
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p>2. There will be a caucus on 9/24, doors opening at 5:00 and locking at 6:30 at Waltham High School.
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p>Hope this helps!
Found this in your thread too. We need a “merge” function :).
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p>And just to save someone else a reply, ex officio members are also allowed to vote and run.
What if Democratic ward committee members uninrolled in August to vote for O’Donovan on the WFP ballot can they still be members of their Democratic ward committee and run for or elect a delegate to go to the caucus?
I would think the answer should be “No”, but I don’t know for sure.
My understanding is that a Democratic Party caucus is for Democrats. If someone dropped the party in favor of helping someone get on another party’s ballot, they are automatically booted off a ward/city/town/state committee. Hence they are not eligible to participate in any official capacity within the Democratic Party. My reading of the official party rules indicates they cannot re-enroll until after the general election in November. Am I reading this right?
If they switched to unenrolled, they immediately lost their seats on the ward/town committees.
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p>I suppose they could re-enroll as Democrats and run for the now-vacant spots.
Chapter 52 – section 2 – last sentence makes it pretty clear.
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p>”If any member, whether elected or chosen to fill a vacancy, cancels or changes his party enrolment, he shall forthwith cease to be a member of said committee.”
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p>Any registered Democrat of the ward or town can be elected to fill a vacancy in the ward to town. It is the by-laws of the ward or town committee that govern the rules for nomination and election.
This is a great time for Democratic Party leaders in this border county, border with New Hampshire, to gather and elect delegates to the county-wide caucus to select a Middlesex County Register of Probate nominee.
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p>After the business of selecting a nominee is done, hopefully the Obama-Biden and Kerry folks rally Democrats for the cause. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to select a nominee for Middlesex County Register of Probate and confer about presidential politics.
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p>Yes, I know the ward and town meetings and county-wide caucus need to just focus on selecting a nominee for Register of Probate. But none of us operate in a vacuum. After the business at hand is done, Democratic leaders will have a historic oppportunity to be together.
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p>Sometimes democracy means paying attention!
Would the former Newton Mayor have that knowledge or know how to appoint the most qualified people to update technology and software for the office of Middlesex Register of Probate?…
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p>One indicator of a good qualified candidates are people with good websites and responsive addresses for email. A Middlesex County Register of Probate would have to advance the use of that office’s technology and software.
My website address is http://www.mariasheehy.com. It is in progress and being updated regularly. In addition, I can be reached at mariasheehy@yahoo.com. Thank you
Does the amount of write-in/sticker votes each prospective candidate receive factor into the decision-making?
Only to the degree, if any, that individual delegates to the county caucus find that persuasive.