voting

[adrian_turtle]

Boston has a city council election today. It's a "preliminary" election, which is like a non-partisan primary, for a bunch of at-large seats. It's easy to find out which candidates approve of bike lanes and which want them ripped out. It's not that much harder to find out which one supports Trump. It's remarkably hard to figure out how any of them regard ICE or sanctuary-city policies. I did find a candidate who wants the city to clear snow and ice from old people's sidewalks as a safety measure, but Vicki is sure that's not a figure of speech.

Comments

[evalerie]

Does the League of Women Voters' vote411.org site have any info? Here in Ann Arbor I've had pretty good success at finding candidates' opinions there, even for oddball local elections, but probably you've already checked there.

I wasn't sure what you meant when you said Vicki is sure that's not a figure of speech?

[julian]

Snow and ice, as opposed to ICE.

[evalerie]

Thanks - I should have been able to figure that out, but didn't!

[adrian_turtle]

I’ve seen stickers and flyers on telephone poles with pictures of a half-melted ice cube and a slogan like “Warm hearts melt ICE! Protect your neighbors!”

It would have been harder recognized if I hadn’t seen the visuals

[adrian_turtle]

Thanks for pointing at the vote 411 site. Unfortunately they don’t have any information about this election. Not even lists of candidates to look up elsewhere. They say there isn’t any election happening here at all! This is especially disturbing, because Boston is voting for mayor as well as city council members.

I’m not sure if they think my address is just outside the city limit rather than 3 blocks inside. Or if they are mixed up about Brighton being part of Boston (like Brooklyn is part of New York City), though you’d think LWV of Boston would be clear on that one.

[redbird]

Ballotpedia knows we have mayorsl and city council elections, but doesn't have a lot on the city council candidates: https://ballotpedia.org/City_elections_in_Boston,_Massachusetts_(2025)

A few candidates filled in a questionnaire from the site, but only a few. I got to that by looking for information on Boston, rather than entering our address.

Do you suppose the LWV is getting their address data from the gas company, and thinks we're in Brookline?

[evalerie]

I'm curious how long you've had nonpartisan primaries, and how it is going. I think Ann Arbor needs them too, but it's a hotly debated topic, so I'd be curious to hear whether it is working out well elsewhere.

[adrian_turtle]

Boston really needed non-partisan primaries for many years because so few Bostonians would admit to being Republicans.

[anne]

and now we have Kraft, who says he's a Democrat but is very obviously lying. I've been watching his YouTube ads just to cost him money.