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Walsh: Voters should be allowed to sign as many candidate petitions as they want
By adamg on Tue, 12/09/2014 - 9:51am
Mayor Walsh wants to eliminate a restriction that limits voters to signing nominating petitions for just one district councilor and mayoral candidate and four at-large councilors in an election year.
The city council tomorrow considers his request for a home-rule petition to the legislature to let Boston voters sign as many local nomination papers as they want. In a letter to the council, Walsh says this would benefit not just candidates - who now have to rush their petitions to City Hall to try to beat out other candidates who might have the same signatures - but voters, who will enjoy a luxuriant crop of additional choices on their ballots.
The council's meeting begins at noon in its fifth-floor chambers in City Hall.
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| Attachment | Size |
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 Walsh's signature request | 65.51 KB |
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Comments
Is this even enforced? Does
Is this even enforced? Does city hall track who we're signing papers for?
Yes
They do.
"Does city hall track who we're signing papers for?"
You really think their capable of doing so? It took the state $1b to built a semi-functioning website for the ACA.
It's not that hard
50 names on a sheet, with addresses. While checking to make sure these people exist per the list of residents/voters, make a mark on your list, perhaps a C for city council M for mayor, W for citywide, S for sheriff. If the letter is already by the name on the list, the name is not counted.
It's so old school that it is foolproof. It is like how in a lot of countries, they use paper ballots to vote, and the votes are tallied by literally counting pieces of paper. In the U.S. at one point they decided that poking holes in ballots and sending them through readers would speed up the process. Ask the voters of Florida how that went.
Sometimes high tech is much worse than low tech.
Yup
I've been a staffer on a City Council campaign and I can attest that they absolutely check every single name.
Where is a Boston City Council Scoreboard?:
Where is a Boston City Council Scoreboard?:
. for each Councilor how many City Council Committee meetings chaired?
. for each Councilor how many City Council Committee meetings attended?
for each Councilor how many Orders,
. Policy Orders,
. Requests for information from Mayor and City Departments,
. Rules and Procedural items such as the scheduling of hearings
. Maintenance Orders: fixing things, putting in stop signs, potholes, traffic, etc.
. Death Resolutions,
. Congratulations, get-well wishes, birthdays, naming of street corners, etc.
. Announcements of upcoming events, holidays, proclamations, etc.,
. Foreign and national policy matters
Thanks
For volunteering to run the scoreboard.
Pro: Democracy
Pro: Democracy
Con: Opens the floodgates for crazy clipboard people in excess of our professional charity panhandlers and con-artists.
Yes, each and every one
Currently each signature has to be verified that :
A.) they are a a registered voter
B.) that they live at the address they listed on the form
C.) that they have not already signed papers for a candidate in that district
As someone who has had to do this in the past, I am curious to see what sort of time burden this will place on staff as well as if it will increase the number of viable candidates?
This actually makes sense.
Which is quite shocking.
Good idea Mayor Walsh
But why don't you sponsor legislation to get the law changed for ALL communities in the state? Why should Boston get special privildge here?
Wynn
Because Walsh wants to enable 4,051 different casino-based petitions to try to stick it to Everett.
Well, he is the mayor of the
Well, he is the mayor of the City of Boston, not the other 350 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. He is acting on behalf of the city he was elected to serve. Any other mayor/municipal government could submit their own petition to be granted an exception, or any of our states legislators could sponsor a change to the law, neither of those avenues are the job of the mayor of Boston.
Point taken
However, why should Boston get a special waiver on this. If there's a problem with the current law, shouldn't every city and town that's bound by the law get the same relief, and not just those who ask "Mother may I" permission to do so.
Should Elections Commissioners also be staffing the Office?...
a) Should Boston Elections Commissioners also be staffing the Office of the Election Department?... b) compare other cities' elections commissioners!
http://www.cityofboston.gov/boardsandcommissions/default.aspx?boardid=52
Boston Elections Commission
Department: Basic City Services
Contact: Gerry Cuddyer
Email:
Elections at boston.gov
Authority: City
Term: 4 years
Stipend: $0.00
Seats: 4
Appointee................. Appointed.... Expires....... Status
Shawn Burke............ 4/22/2011.... 3/31/2015.... Active
Geraldine Cuddyer.... 6/12/2014.... 3/31/2015.... Active
Kyron A. Owens...... ..6/12/2014.... 3/31/2016.... Active
Ellen Rooney............. 3/11/2013.... 3/31/2017.... Active
see also
https://data.cityofboston.gov/
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/databases
c) What is the time and place of the next Public Meeting of the Board of Elections Commissioners of the City of Boston?... d) Where are Minutes of the most recent Public Meeting?
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1370323/responsi...
Will someone appoint theszak
Will someone appoint theszak transparency Tzar at City Hall already?
Residency Laws
He'd have to move to Boston then.
Election Commissioner
Gerry Cuddyer is retiring in January. She announced this at the last training section that election officers attended (wardens, clerks, inspectors).
Minutes. Board of Elections Commissioners.
Read the most recent Minutes of the most recent Public Meeting of the Board of Elections Commissioners, request Minutes at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/?id=33
Redistricting?
Boston is exempt form the reapportionment of Wards/Precincts that every other city and town in the Commonwealth has to do every 10 years. Given that entire new neighborhoods (Seaport) have sprouted up over the past few years, doesn't it make sense to remove Boston's exemption and require a redraw of wards and precincts to help better distribute the electorate into more similarly sized chunks?
Should boundaries of Wards be updated?.
a) What are the names of the streets bordering Boston City Council District 9 ?...
b) Where online are there maps that show the names of the streets bordering Boston City Council District 9 ?...
c) Should boundaries of Wards be updated?...
Babcock Street
And the Town of Brookline, City of Newton, and the Charles River (or cities of Watertown and Cambridge, if you want to be political.)
What do I win for getting the information to you first?
Coming soon
Menino never wanted that, so he got waivers every 10 years to get out of it. Either the council or the state said 'enough', and boston will be redistricting the wards & precincts post 2020 census...
This is a bad idea
It should up to 8 candidates in September and up to 4 candidates in November!
Huh?
As it is, I can only sign for 4 at large and 1 district candidates in addition to 1 mayoral candidate.
Any compilations of Boston City Council Campaign Receipts?...
Any compilations of Boston City Council Campaign Receipts?...
For example...
Cambridge City Council Campaign Receipts: 2013 – 2014
http://cambridgecivic.com/?p=3870