Vote in Primary Tuesday, September 16
My mother-in-law forwarded my wife an email encouraging women to vote in this election and reminding us all how the vote was not achieved easily. Can you believe American women were imprisoned, beaten and tortured because they dared to picket the White House asking for the right to vote? Today, it is easy to write off this primary as an inconsequential chore with mostly unchallenged incumbent candidates who don't even face opposition in the general election. But choosing to vote is the first step in figuring out what choices there actually are:
Senator John Kerry is being challenged by Ed O'Reilly in the Democratic primary. The winner will face Republican Jeff Beatty in the November general election.
Democrats will also choose between Dedham resident Kelly Timilty and Robert Jubinville for a seat on the Governor's Council. Additional races include State House and Senate seats plus the Norfolk County Commissioner, Treasurer, and Register of Probate. Of these, only the County Commissioner position is contested between John Gillis and Francis O'Brian in the Democratic primary. WBZ has a useful web site tool that can help you construct a sample ballot based on your address.
It takes a little effort, but there are choices to be made and an opportunity for your vote to count.
Following the primary, next week on Monday, September 22, the Westwood Finance Commission will hold a public hearing on the warrant articles for the Special Town meeting. If you have an opinion about the proposals to grant additional alcohol licenses and would like to modify the warrant articles or suggest the Finance Commission oppose or support them, this meeting is your opportunit to do so. Town Meeting is too late. No doubt there will be a flurry of emails and mailings prior to town meeting designed to get residents to show up and vote yes or no, but there will be no opportunity to suggest alternatives or compromise at that time.
Comments
A testament
Yesterday I sat poll checking for a friend who was running (and won!) for State Senate in JP. In the precinct I was assigned to, there were only 84 people who voted by the time I left at 4:30. Since I got there at 7am, that means roughly only 10 people an hour came in to vote. One woman sticks out in my mind, however.
I saw her slowly making her way down the sidewalk, hobbling on a cane. She joked with some people out front about how old she was, and then came in where I was. I asked her, with a lilt, if she was old enough to vote. She told me she certainly was, and that when she turned 21 she couldn't wait to register. Why? It was because she, as a black woman, knew that people in the south didn't have the opportunity to cast a ballot simply because their skin was the wrong color. She wasn't going to have the chance and squander it, and that clearly has stuck with her all these years. It will stick with me for some time to come.