Secretary of State (technically Secretary of the Commonwealth) is an uncontested primary. Bill Galvin will surely win, since nobody is running against him. Which is a shame, because he doesn’t deserve it.
Remember the last time Galvin had a contested race, and spent the campaign running away from any debate?
- After months of mostly ignoring his earnest and relentless opponent John Bonifaz, Secretary of State William F. Galvin had finally agreed to debate him, at a candidates’ night, Medford Democrats said. Bonifaz arrived early, primed for combat.
“A person who holds that post ought to know how important debates are,” he said. “I’m glad he’s joining me tonight.”
The 7 p.m. start time approached. Galvin had not appeared. Everybody anxiously eyed the clock. The minutes drained away. Finally, at 6:50, organizer Joyce Ball urged Bonifaz to take his seat. Bonifaz hesitated, still watching for Galvin.
“It’s late, and I don’t know where Mr. Galvin is,” a worried Ball said, adding, “You’d think he would have called or something.”
(spoiler: Galvin never showed, and later pretended he hadn’t actually committed to being there. He never appeared at any debate or forum with his opponent during the entire campaign, not once.)
Now it’s 2014, twenty years since Galvin was first elected Secretary, and Massachusetts still does not have election day registration.
That’s the reason several of my friends who moved to Massachusetts this summer and would like to vote, won’t be voting tomorrow: While getting settled into a new place and new job or school, they didn’t realize they were missing a voter registration deadline. By the time election coverage picked up, it was too late.
Bill Galvin doesn’t deserve anyone’s vote. Don’t give him yours.
If you want election day registration, take it up with your legislators. I also don’t think what happened a couple of cycles ago is particularly relevant.
Legislators have tried on a few occasions to institute election day registration, but it hasn’t happened, and I’ve heard from multiple sources that Galvin has been working behind the scenes to cause all those attempts to stumble. What he should’ve been doing is showing leadership on election reform, calling for election day registration and helping the legislature make it happen. He’s been doing the opposite for a long time.
What “happened a few cycles ago” shows what Galvin is like when he has an actual primary contest – that was his most recent one. He’s anti-democratic, and unwilling to face a challenge in public or be forthright with voters.
Galvin is an example of what’s wrong with Massachusetts Democrats, not what’s right. We need him out of the party and out of office so we can get more deserving, respectful, honest Democrats in, ones who are in politics to get good things done for people rather than to hold onto a job and influence.
When the bill comes in front of Election Laws, he has more than once testified against it.
Vote Republican. A moderate with some good ideas on bringing the office forward into the 21st century.
Committed to transparency and 21st century technology!
http://www.davein2014.com/
(AND – he is the first legally disabled person to run for statewide office, a minority less represented than race or gender in our elective process, which I think is cool.)
I trust his commitment to technological innovation because he needs and uses it to get through everyday life.
Thanks PP.
should be appointed, subject to legislative approval. – a la judicial appointments.
…subject to non-partisan election, and certainly should be forbidden from chairing campaign committees.
“No confidence” or “None of the above” please instead.
I doubt the clerks will count and report those phrases separately from simple blanks.
Some of us are old enough to remember the Convention when Secretary Galvin got on the ballot the first time. Augie Grace (State Rep from Burlington) won the Convention nomination (then Somerville Mayor, now Congressman, Mike Capuano came up just short of 15%) and Bill Galvin ran a strong second. Galvin went on to win the Primary and final.
Over the years Secretary Galvin has never been seriously challenged in primaries or final elections. That lack of real challengers represents the strength of a candidate / incumbent officeholder.
Not sure where your friends were moving to MA from but only one fifth of the country has same day registration:
http://www.mytimetovote.com/election-day-registration.html
And assuming that the state you are moving to has it, failing to check and then bitching about tells me more about the voter rather than indicting the system or candidate.
Oh please, every candidate without traction or grasroots support starts calling for debates and uses the issue to complain about an incumbent.
As Christoper quite correctly points out, Same Day is a Legislative issue not a state constitutional officer controlled one. Talk to your State Rep and State Senator if you want Same Day. And please spare us the “i’ve heard he works behind the scenes” conspiracy theory stuff. You want to lay this on Secretary Galvin post a link to a Same Day bill that includes his opposing such a bill.
Same Day is past due in Massachusetts. ME, NH and CT have same day voter registration. (side note – the Republican controlled House, Senate and Republican Gov. Paul Lapage repealed Same Day in Maine. The Democrats and Unions put it on the ballot and restored Same Day in what was a great campaign about voter empowerment. And Democrats retook majorities in the Maine House and Senate. I was proud to work on that campaign)
As for Secretary Galvin, I have worked with him on Freedom of Information requests that were denied by public entites – he’s always been on the side of requiring them to comply. I have worked with him on historic tax credits when developers recieving them have projects where workers are victims of wage fraud or just ignoring community standards. Secretary Galvin has always stood up for the affected workers in these cases. I’ve worked with him on voter registation drives within my Union’s membership and families and always found his office more than willing to bring new voters onto the rolls.
No Democratic Primary opponent? No real Republican challenger? Answer -good incumbent who does his job and voters support him.
Can’t really argue with this.
This may be the first time I’ve voted down on a comment that wasn’t just spam or incomprehensible. But this one is incomprehensible on a different level, even though the language is coherent.
I thought what @striker57 wrote was really well argued. I didn’t vote for Galvin today as I’m particularly averse to uncontested elections, but I agree with @striker57 in that we should be evidence-based. If there’s some data that Galvin fought against EDR, then let’s see it. If not, I have no reason to trust it to be the case that he successfully worked to subvert any EDR initiatives.
I’ve no reason to believe that Galvin has taken any initiative in over 20 years on this issue, and I’ve no reason to believe that he suppressed any initiative that anyone else took on this issue. It’s been my understanding that this is a legislature responsibility. We just got some major electoral reforms passed (and signed by Deval Patrick). I’ll have to check with a friend of mine who has been involved with this. I’m guessing that EDR was rejected in the state house. Getting it passed would make the most drastic changes, while my understanding is that the reform that was made this year may actually decrease even further voter participation.
My case against Galvin is that’s it’s a total disgrace that he hasn’t been the leader in making sure we got election day registration many years ago. He’s definitely worked to block it, but even if he hadn’t, not working to make it happen is indictment enough.
But my sarcastic “wow” is mainly aimed at striker57’s contempt for the very idea of election day registration or the people who don’t vote because of it; about Galvin’s refusal to face an opponent (in reality Galvin actually bullied a number of Democratic town committees and activists to not even organize debates, but most of them wouldn’t talk about it in public because they were afraid of his power in the party).
I’m literally ashamed to be in the same state as someone who would write that comment, and I’m sad that anyone dignifies it with serious responses. It’s beyond the pale.
Galvin does not deserve anyone’s vote for any office ever, but he’s not as despicable as that comment.
People really like him? I find that so hard to believe.
I’d bet some good money that most people don’t know what the office really does, where he stands on issues, or what he’s done in that role in the last 20 years.
One thing he hasn’t done is led on making voting easier in MA or really increasing participation. That’s his job and he should be leading on it. He hasn’t.
I am not in MA today and so I went to the Cambridge election commission to vote last week. I had to fill out a form and then fill out an absentee ballot and then put that in an envelope to sign again and give it to the nice man in the office. I kept thinking “why does this have to be a standard absentee ballot?” I couldn’t think of a good reason.
We’re not anywhere near where we should be in terms of technology and registration processes to make voting as easy as possible. He’s had a lot of time to lead on that front. He hasn’t. If you believe that he’s solely an administrator and a push for those things should only come from the legislature, then his role is pretty worthless.
No. Too few people give a crap about the office to get any attention or funding. Barring a major scandal, people will continue to check Galvin’s name by default.
He has lots of good election info on his site and goes on TV to encourage people to vote. I’m not sure what’s really wrong with how you voted absentee. If you are saying we just had plain early voting, that’s fine, but again it requires a change in the law. I wouldn’t mind if someone challenged him and brought innovative ideas – I can think of a few I would suggest myself – but he is certainly competent and without an opponent not really worth my energy criticizing.
You mean the TV performances where he audibly sighs about having to come on Election Day and talks, with no emotion, about how low the turnout is and how there is little we can do about it? That Bill Galvin?
Also the DMV sucks. And before you say it sucks everywhere, go to another state. Illinois, a state government that is significantly less transparent, less responsive, and less functional than ours does the DMV better (it does tolls better too-it’s all automated!). And I chalk that up to Jesse White, the most popular politician in IL and the great job he does keeping his little corner of government intact. Galvin can’t even do that.
As in the Department of Motor Vehicles? That’s MassDOT, not the Secretary. I was referring to the PSAs he airs close to the election encouraging people to vote.
So all he really does is public records and elections, and he always is dour about it.
I realize I am in a minority as I personally LIKE the guy. He is clever, droll, and seems a little shy.
But his office has clung to quill pens and fosters an atmosphere of the arcane and inaccessible.
BMG is a hotbed of accessibility advocates and usually cries TRANSPARENCY FIRST! This is not how Galvin chooses to run his office. His opponent is real and deserves serious consideration.
(Augie GRACE??? Really???)
I think tha was the year Capuano walked out of the convention, a faux pas long remembered among the regulars.
We really can’t expect candidates to lead or anything. It’s just the law, what would you have him do? Let’s move on to some issue that is relevant such as zzzzzzzzzzzz
He could (and should) lead on things like same-day registration (which he says he is open to with constraints) and early voting (which he opposes).
I shouldn’t have to put an absentee ballot in an envelope in front of the election commission worker a few days before an election.
We have technology and the ability to make voting much easier, we aren’t using it. That’s partly the fault of the legislature and partly the fault of the man whose role is to oversee voting. The secretary of state should be committed to expanding democratic processes and government transparency – he does not do a great job on either.
He has had such challengers who got crushed because no one pays attention to the office. That doesn’t change the fact that he is not that great.
On the issues that the office covers, why should I not vote for a Republican if that Republican suggests the ideas that Galvin isn’t?