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Discussion 2023 Off-year elections

I think it provides some consistency in that state offices are not always changing at the same time Federal offices are. I might even say that all Governor's races should be off year from President races.
 
Brainonska511 said:
Off year elections are local government in MA.

Personally, I hate these off cycle elections - it's just a way to suppress voting.
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I don’t mind them. Mass makes it so easy to vote — I had my mail in ballot with prepaid return postage accepted over a week ago. It allows small time positions like city councilors and school board to occupy a larger mind share than they possibly could in a presidential or house and senate year. There are political signs for those positions up all over town. It seems to help engagement at that level.

One thing they should do is automatically send mail in ballots to all registered voters, and then truly if people don’t vote then the problem is us.
 
Lost_in_the_HTTP said:
I think it provides some consistency in that state offices are not always changing at the same time Federal offices are. I might even say that all Governor's races should be off year from President races.
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Off-year and weirdly timed elections tend to have lower turnout, which is generally bad.
repoman0 said:
I don’t mind them. Mass makes it so easy to vote — I had my mail in ballot with prepaid return postage accepted over a week ago. It allows small time positions like city councilors and school board to occupy a larger mind share than they possibly could in a presidential or house and senate year. There are political signs for those positions up all over town. It seems to help engagement at that level.

One thing they should do is automatically send mail in ballots to all registered voters, and then truly if people don’t vote then the problem is us.
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Yes, mail in voting does make it easier - I just wish they would send them out automatically instead of having to be requested. I do like that I can sit with my ballot and look everyone up. If only their websites and position statements were more than just nebulous vibes.
 
Brainonska511 said:
Off-year and weirdly timed elections tend to have lower turnout, which is generally bad.
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Definitely.. we have city elections this coming Tuesday. We’ll be lucky if 10% of eligible voters turn out. Sometimes it’s a bit better with a hotly contested mayoral race - but that’s not the case this year.
 
Nothing to vote on this year. There is a vote for incorporation nearby. Our neighborhood was in the proposed incorporation area but the proponents cut us out when they realized that we were going to sink their battleship. I’d rather be annexed by the mother city than be governed by my whack job right wing neighbors.
 
Only thing on my ballot for November was a special to fill a city supervisor seat. Decided to vote against the Republican who stood in front of a 3 million dollar home in one of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods and complained about apartment construction.
 
"non-partisan" school board election, with every available seat having an anti-woke crusader running, targeting to take over a majority for the insane.
(And a number of other local government positions that appear to have sane candidates competing.)
 
IronWing said:
Nothing to vote on this year. There is a vote for incorporation nearby. Our neighborhood was in the proposed incorporation area but the proponents cut us out when they realized that we were going to sink their battleship. I’d rather be annexed by the mother city than be governed by my whack job right wing neighbors.
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The only incorporation I wish I could see in the Northeast is municipal consolidation. Too many bs little cities and towns inside of Route 128 in the Boston metro area. Tons of service duplication by everyone having their own police departments, fire departments, and whatever extra municipal services, instead of just having a larger city that would have the land area of Chicago.
 
Brainonska511 said:
The only incorporation I wish I could see in the Northeast is municipal consolidation. Too many bs little cities and towns inside of Route 128 in the Boston metro area. Tons of service duplication by everyone having their own police departments, fire departments, and whatever extra municipal services, instead of just having a larger city that would have the land area of Chicago.
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Yep, I would like to see my area go to urban county government instead of the current piecemeal nonsense. 40% of the county population lives in unincorporated but urban areas. The cities annex the industrial and commercials properties for the tax base and leave the residential areas to the county. I don't blame the cities for doing that but it creates lots of issues. We have colonias that give Mexican border towns a run for the money.
 
Brainonska511 said:
The only incorporation I wish I could see in the Northeast is municipal consolidation. Too many bs little cities and towns inside of Route 128 in the Boston metro area. Tons of service duplication by everyone having their own police departments, fire departments, and whatever extra municipal services, instead of just having a larger city that would have the land area of Chicago.
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Just took a look at the map and I think it would make a ton of sense incorporating the towns/cities in the I95 loop into Boston. However, good luck with that!
 
Ajay said:
Just took a look at the map and I think it would make a ton of sense incorporating the towns/cities in the I95 loop into Boston. However, good luck with that!
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Yes, sadly, I doubt it's ever going to happen because of parochial and NIMBY interests. Maybe if the suburban cities and towns start going bankrupt from sprawling infrastructure that their property taxes can't support, but that might be a ways off.

I'd also like to see a unified legislature at the state level instead of split legislatures (that can abdicate responsibility by just pointing at the other house), but that's another dream that will not happen.
 
K1052 said:
Only thing on my ballot for November was a special to fill a city supervisor seat. Decided to vote against the Republican who stood in front of a 3 million dollar home in one of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods and complained about apartment construction.
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Just 3 school board slots. I did spend a lot of time trying to find out if any of the candidates were crazies (trans phobic, racism deniers), but it seems we just had regular garden variety people to choose from. Still think non partisan positions are a sham though. Everyone has a position.
 
In Ohio, voted yes for issue 1 & 2. I've been getting tons of political texts daily against issue 1, signs in yards against everywhere. Not surprising, my area is ~75 percent R. Absolutely nothing local either way on issue 2.
 
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