Massachusetts elections

[dougo]

Jill Stein is running for Massachusetts Secretary of State against incumbent Bill Galvin. She was the Green-Rainbow Party candidate for Governor in 2002. There is no Republican running for this office, so it's a one-on-one race between Democrat and Green. There will be a brief (5 minute!) debate on CBS4 evening news tonight at 6pm. Set your Tivo! I am voting for her because she supports instant runoff voting, clean elections, redistricting reform, and other related issues that I consider fundamental to the democratic process. I'm basically a single-issue voter, and I'm glad that she is putting the issue of electoral reform first and foremost in her campaign.

I'm also voting for James O'Keefe for Treasurer and Rand Wilson for Auditor. These are also one-on-one elections against Democrat incumbents, so there's no distracton of questions about splitting the vote. I have no idea how much attention these races have been getting—probably very little—but I hope these candidates can at least make some sort of non-trivial impact on the vote.

Wilson also supports Question 2, which allows multiple parties to nominate the same candidate for an elected position. I have mixed feelings about this one—it's a half-measure, and somewhat confusing—but I think it will do more good than harm, or at worst be a wash.

By the way, you can see a copy of your ballot online at wheredoivotema.com. Just enter your street address.

Oh yeah, and for Governor: I haven't really been following this race at all, but is there any reason to vote against Deval Patrick? My one Republican friend muttstain (at least I think that's him?) says Patrick will raise everyone's taxes and release rapists from jail. I'm skeptical.

Edit: I almost forgot, I also ran across a FairVote article about choice voting in Cambridge.

Comments

[jodiamonds.livejournal.com]

Because I don't follow news/politics well enough (but still theoretically care despite my lack of effort), this is usefully informative for me (especially the pointed links, but the rest of the commentary as well).

Huzzah!