Showing posts with label voters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voters. Show all posts

Sunday, October 30, 2022

The Franklin Voter Guide for 2022 is available

The 2022 Franklin Voter Guide has been published.

The Franklin Voter Guide for 2022 is available
The Franklin Voter Guide for 2022 is available
"The Franklin Area Voting Guide is intended to be a non-partisan resource created by private individuals to allow the people of Franklin, Massachusetts, and surrounding communities to cast an educated vote on issues that impact our community.

Information contained in this guide is provided by candidates and taken verbatim from their survey responses, or sourced from candidate websites/social media accounts, public statements, town halls, and past achievements."


Visit the 2022 Franklin Voter Guide ->   
 https://www.franklinvoterguide.org/2022-voter-guide



Thursday, November 18, 2021

Did you vote Nov 2? Please respond to this quick survey on what you thought of the candidate information available

To help prepare for the next local or biennial election, let's capture what you think about the information available for this one while it is still 'fresh' at hand. The original sources of information covered via this survey are the Franklin Voters Guide, Milford Daily News/Wicked Local, Frank Falvey's interviews for Franklin TV, the series by Franklin Matters, and the two candidate nights. "

Survey closes this weekend. We have more than 80 responses but there were more than 5,000 voters so there is an opportunity!

There are only four questions and the survey should take less than a couple of minutes to respond to. Thanks you!


Did you vote Nov 2? Please respond to this quick survey on what you thought of the candidate information available
Did you vote Nov 2? Please respond to this quick survey on what you thought of the candidate information available


Wednesday, November 10, 2021

2021 Franklin Biennial Election Information Survey

To help prepare for the next local or biennial election, let's capture what you think about the information available for this one while it is still 'fresh' at hand. The original sources of information covered via this survey are the following:

  • Franklin Voters Guide
  • Milford Daily News/Wicked Local
  • Frank Falvey's interviews for Franklin TV
  • the candidate question series by Franklin Matters
  • the two candidate nights (11/14/21 & 11/21/21)
If the survey form is not visible, please use this link


2021 Franklin Biennial Election Information Survey
2021 Franklin Biennial Election Information Survey


Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Vote today for Board of Assessors, Board of Health, Planning Board, School Committee, Town Clerk and Town Council candidates

The election season ends today with the in-person voting for all Franklin precincts at Franklin High School. Pools open at 6 AM and will close at 8 PM.

It is anticipated that about an hour after the polls close the results should be ready. Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm or 102.9) will be prepared to broadcast from the gym when they are ready.

Less than 1,000 voters had cast their ballots as of close of business at the Town Clerk's office on Friday, Oct 29, 2021. This combined the early vote, vote by mail and absentee ballots. Early voting was also available on Monday, Nov 1 during office hours.

How many will turnout?

History shows that for "Franklin elections" we get about a 20% turnout. I would have expected move votes cast by now given the accessibility of early voting and vote by mail. We'll see how many go through the doors at Franklin High School.

The chart below summaries the vote totals by election type from 2003 through 2020. The PDF contains the current registered voter totals by precinct.

vote totals by election type from 2003 through 2020
vote totals by election type from 2003 through 2020

PDF of the voter turnout table shown:

PDF of the registered voters by precinct:

If you still need to decide who to vote for, the information collected can be found here

Saturday, October 2, 2021

The Franklin Voters Guide is available

The Franklin Voters Guide is a "work in progress". 

"The Franklin Area Voting Guide is intended to be a non-partisan resource created by private individuals to allow the people of Franklin, Massachusetts, and surrounding communities to cast an educated vote on issues that impact our community.

Information contained in this guide is provided by candidates and taken verbatim from their survey responses, or sourced from candidate websites/social media accounts, public statements, town halls, and past achievements."

It is a collaborative effort: 

  • As the Franklin Matters interviews (email and audio) are completed, they are being shared there. 
  • Frank Falvey, is recording interviews with candidates. Those audio files will be part of the Voter Guide repository. 
So do we have everyone accounted for yet? No
  • There are some candidates completed and there are some in the edit/publishing mix
  • There are candidates with interviews scheduled for next week 
  • There are candidates working to confirm the scheduled for their interviews 
And yes, there are some that have not yet reached out to either the folks behind the Voters Guide or Frank Falvey, or myself to provide information to share.
 
What can you do between now and the time you cast your vote
  • Read up on what the candidates have shared
  • If you find a candidate, who doesn't have info, prompt them to reach out to get their info into the mix
  • If you find a candidate you want to follow up with on a topic or two, the info to contact them is available with what they have published. Go for it. Don't be bashful

If you haven't registered to vote, please do so by October 13. 
Absentee ballot applications are available. 
Vote by mail applications are available. 

Early voting in the Town Clerk's office will be available once the printed ballots are available (possibly the week of Oct 12).
Early voting is scheduled for Saturday, Oct 23 and Sunday, Oct 24 from 10 AM to 1 PM on both days.

On of course, all precincts vote at Franklin High School on Nov 2, 2021 from 6:00 AM to 8 PM.

The Franklin Voter Guide ->  

The Franklin Voters Guide is available
The Franklin Voters Guide is available


Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Boston Globe: “The electoral system was the cause of the inequity”

"In Everett today, white, non-Hispanic residents make up less than 44 percent of the population, but they dominate city government. Seventy-five percent of the elected councilors and school committee members are white.

That’s no accident, critics say; it’s a natural outgrowth of the city’s electoral system.

Everett is one of several cities in Massachusetts where all local officials are elected at-large, and none by individual wards or districts. For years, civil rights specialists have called that a recipe for exclusion. White residents, even as a minority, often vote as a bloc and drown out the voices of Black and brown voters. Lawyers for Civil Rights, a nonprofit legal organization, recently put Everett councilors on notice that they’re vulnerable to a challenge under the Voting Rights Act.

“There’s no shot against anybody because they’re a white man or a white woman. We are violating the federal Voting Rights Act,” Everett City Councilor Gerly Adrien, the first Black woman to serve on the council, warned her colleagues at a December council meeting."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

Editorial note: Voting for our Town Council or School Committee by precinct rather than "at-large" (as we do today) may be more of a consideration as our population grows. In the meantime, there are other practical ways to increase the diversity of candidates for our local government and ensure a fair and equitable voice "in the room where it happens." We do need to work at being a government "of the people, by the people, for the people." 

 

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

CommonWealth Magazine: T cuts likely to remain; voter turnout numbers highlight wealth, racial disparities

From CommonWealth Magazine we share two articles of interest for Franklin:

"Most T cuts will stand even with new fed money"

"THE MBTA will receive at least $250 million in federal funding under the latest COVID-19 stimulus package, but agency officials plan to move forward with most of their planned service cuts and direct most of the new money toward the capital budget.

MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said Monday that the T expects to get somewhere roughly between $250 million and $300 million in additional support, up to $17 million of which will go toward bumping service back up on high-ridership bus routes and maintaining evening commuter rail service.

Despite calls from activists and lawmakers to change course with the federal aid — plus a $52 million upgrade in the T’s state sales tax revenue outlook — the agency plans otherwise to “proceed with a majority of service changes” that the Fiscal and Management Control Board approved in December, Poftak said."
Continue reading the article online
 
"Turnout numbers highlight wealth, racial disparities"
"IN THE WEALTHY towns of Dover, Sudbury, and Carlisle, more than 90 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the November election.  

In the poorer cities of Springfield, Lawrence, and New Bedford, 55 percent of voters or fewer turned out.  

While the presidential election drew record turnout in Massachusetts, voter turnout statistics highlight yet another measure of a tale of two commonwealths, according to a report released Monday by MassVOTE, a nonprofit that seeks to increase voter participation.   

Communities that were educated, white, and wealthy saw the largest voter turnout. Communities that were poor, minority, and less educated saw the lowest number of voters. Initiatives like no-excuse voting by mail that were meant to make it easier to vote did not help those disparities, and may have even exacerbated them, since state statistics show that voters in wealthier communities were more likely to take advantage of mail-in voting. "
Continue reading the article online
 
 
MassVOTE is a Non-Partisan Voting Rights & Issue Advocacy Organization
MassVOTE is a Non-Partisan Voting Rights & Issue Advocacy Organization

 
 

Monday, December 28, 2020

CommonWealth Magazine: steps to boost voting rights; let MA home bakers do their thing

 From CommonWealth Magazine:

"3 steps Mass. should take to boost voting rights
Too many of the state’s voters are disenfranchised"

"SINCE THE SHOT heard around the world at the battle of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts has been at the forefront of modern democracy. The Massachusetts Constitution – which was drafted by John Adams – formed the model for the United States Constitution and remains the oldest continuously-operating constitution in the world. Despite this history of democratic leadership, in recent years Massachusetts has fallen behind other states in ensuring that all eligible voters can register, vote, and have their votes count. The upcoming legislative session is an opportunity to change that and build on the work done in 2020 to open up voting to more people during the pandemic.

It was encouraging that Massachusetts leaders, like those in many other states, took important steps this year to expand early voting and to send vote-by-mail applications to every registered voter."

Continue reading the article online
 
"Let Mass. home bakers do their thing
Patchwork of regulations make starting a business difficult"
"RETIRED SALON OWNER and daycare provider Marcia Donnelly did not want to fight City Hall. She just wanted to sell home-baked sourdough bread from her kitchen in Southbridge.

Homemade food businesses are common and easy to start in 48 states, and have become increasingly popular during COVID-19. Worried about global supply chains and general uncertainty, the pandemic has boosted demand for fresh, locally sourced products. Unfortunately, Massachusetts has resisted the trend, along with New Jersey. “It was a battle from the get-go to set up my business,” Donnelly says."
Continue reading the article online


Monday, December 7, 2020

In the News: Cobi Frongillo wins Franklin Town Council seat

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:
Cobi Frongillo, 23, has been elected to fill the open Franklin Town Council seat by a landslide after Saturday’s Special Election.

The youngest of the four candidates running received 2,500 votes on Saturday – over half of the overall votes, according to unofficial election results. 

Despite a snowstorm that blanketed the region from morning to night, 4,267 residents cast their votes at Franklin High School to choose who should fill the vacant Town Council seat left by Eamon McCarthy Earls in September. 

Greg Chiklis received the second-highest amount of votes with 802 votes, followed by Alan Earls, father of Eamon McCarthy Earls, with 723 votes and KP Sompally with 229 votes.
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Final results of the Nov 3, 2020 election for Franklin voters

With the 20552 votes cast, this was the largest single total in Franklin, MA history. However, they represent 83% of the registered voters and in the Presidential election of 2016, we turned out 86%.
 
 
or below

  ...  

 

Final results of the Nov 3, 2020 election for Franklin voters
Final results of the Nov 3, 2020 election for Franklin voters

 

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

In the News: "Secretary Galvin expects historical turnout to exceed 2016"

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"Voter turnout for the Nov. 3 election is projected to be double the record-setting number of ballots cast in the Sept. 1 state primaries, and even exceed the historical 75% voter turnout in the 2016 election.

Secretary of State William F. Galvin said more will be known about the expected high turnout in the next week as early voting began Saturday and will continue through Oct. 30.

“I’m hopeful. It seems the level of interest is there,” Galvin said in a telephone interview last week. “We had 3.3 million votes in 2016. It seems we will exceed that. We’ve seen a continuing rising number of people registering to vote.”

The historical voter turnout — expected as well in some other parts of the country and driven by the hotly contested presidential race — is also the result of a massive expansion of mail-in voting due to concerns about crowded polling places during the coronavirus pandemic."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
 
When I talked with Town Clerk Nancy Danello at FHS on Monday, over 1,400 had already been to early vote on Sat-Sun and mid-day Monday. Over 12,000 mail ballots were sent out to registered Franklin voters.

The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 24.  Visit the Town Clerk page for office hours to register in person  https://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk  or register online  https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleidx.htm

 

the early voting schedule for Franklin
the early voting schedule for Franklin

Monday, October 5, 2020

Franklin Community Voting Guide - November 2020

The Franklin Community Voting Guide for November 2020 is ready for your use to prepare to vote.

Download your copy here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fIIde4DfyieqnK2hTsZDDfMLmoFcqzoO/view?usp=sharing 

 

 

Franklin Community Voting Guide - November 2020
Franklin Community Voting Guide - November 2020

 

Saturday, September 12, 2020

Election recap: Statewide in MA 47 percent of voters voted by mail

From the Boston Globe, an article of interest for Franklin:
"Faced with a historic number of voters, the Sept. 1 Massachusetts primary avoided the weeks-long delays that beset some New York elections. Officials said there is no apparent rash of potential fraud, as officials in Georgia are investigating. “Very positive” is how the state’s top elections officer described the experience.

It was also, in effect, a test run.

With less than eight weeks until the Nov. 3 general election, the scramble to distribute millions of vote-by-mail applications is beginning anew, and local clerks — some of whom struggled with the deluge of primary ballots — are girding for a turnout that could be double, if not more, than the record-setting 1.7 million ballots cast in the primary.

That expected flood is partially the result of the newly expanded option to vote by mail, a route nearly 813,000, or roughly 47 percent of voters, took for the Sept. 1 primary, according to data provided by state officials. And about 1.4 million people have already requested mail-in ballots for the general election, and Secretary of State William F. Galvin’s office expects that number to grow as additional mailings asking if voters want a ballot begin to go out."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
Election recap: Statewide in MA 47 percent of voters voted by mail
Election recap: Statewide in MA 47 percent of voters voted by mail

Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Franklin, MA: Primary Results - Sep 1, 2020

A quick tally of voter totals by party shows over 9,000 voted in the Primary either in person, by mail or absentee ballot or via early voting.

PartyVoters
Democrat7156
Green16
Libertarian43
Republican1874
Total9089


** Pending confirmation of the exact total of voters and percent registered from our Town Clerk, Teresa Burr.

Download a copy of the results PDF here: 

 

 

Franklin, MA: Primary Results - Sep 1, 2020
Franklin, MA: Primary Results - Sep 1, 2020


Saturday, September 5, 2020

Commonwealth Magazine: "Voting reforms reinvigorated democracy"

From CommonWealth Magazine we share two articles of interest for Franklin: 

"When the Legislature passed an unprecedented expansion of mail-in voting, they did it for this year only, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that makes crowding into polling places unsafe.

But now, amid record-breaking turnout in this week’s primary, some are calling for mail-in voting to become a permanent feature of Massachusetts elections.

“Voter turnout in the September 1 primary makes one thing abundantly clear– vote by mail should be here to stay,” said Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, executive director of MassVOTE, a coalition that aims to expand voting access, in a statement.

The last time turnout in a state primary election topped 1 million was in 1990, when 1.5 million people voted. This year, Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin says that turnout will be more than 1.5 million, although he still did not have a final number. "


"AT THE START of July, the Legislature passed a landmark bill to expand early voting, implement a secure vote-by-mail system, and strengthen safety measures for in-person voting. Tuesday’s primary was the first major test of these important reforms. They worked.

More people voted in this year’s state primary than ever before. According to preliminary data, over 1.6 million voters cast ballots, totaling more than a third of all registered voters. In recent state primaries, fewer than 1 million voters have showed up at the polls, with voter participation rates mired in the teens and low twenties. This year, several competitive races for Congress helped increase voter participation, but the high turnout was also a product of Massachusetts’ new election laws. In the face of an ongoing  pandemic, Massachusetts did not simply protect voting rights—we reinvigorated our democracy.

The Legislature’s voting reforms gave voters several different ways to cast their ballot. For the first time in the history of the Commonwealth, voters had the choice to vote by mail, to vote in person during a week-long early voting window, or to vote in person on the day of the election. The intent was to empower voters to vote in a way that worked best for them, and it is clear that people availed themselves of the opportunity. Over 1 million people requested mail-in ballots, 180,000 people voted during early voting, and hundreds of thousands more went to the polls on election day. While the vast majority of people who requested a mail-in ballot were able to return it successfully, voters still had the ability to vote in person if they encountered difficulties in the vote-by-mail process."
Continue reading the article online

Commonwealth Magazine:  "Voting reforms reinvigorated democracy"
Commonwealth Magazine:  "Voting reforms reinvigorated democracy"


Friday, September 4, 2020

In the News: Franklin vote completes after midnight Thursday (Friday morning)

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin: 

"On Thursday afternoon, Debra O’Malley, a spokesperson with Secretary of State William Galvin’s office, said 3,000 full ballots had been misplaced in Franklin and went uncounted on election night. The same thing happened with about 750 ballots in Newton and 100 ballots in Wellesley.

Because ballots must be counted in view of the public, and on election night, tabulating the missing ballots after that day required a Suffolk Superior Court order, which the Secretary’s office says was granted at about 5 p.m. Wednesday night.

Previous reports put the number of uncounted ballots in Franklin at about 600."


Boston Globe article

Commonwealth Magazine article

Why did it take so long? The manual process of counting is not efficient
Why did it take so long? The manual process of counting is not efficient



Thursday, September 3, 2020

You can help with the Franklin Voter's Guide update for November's Election

The Franklin Voter's Guide is being updated for the November election. This time the group developing the guide is looking to get questions for the candidates sourced from Franklin residents and voters.  

Please take a couple of minutes to respond. This is only a two question survey. 

What are the most important issues for you in the State Senate and State Representative races?  

If you could pass the survey on or circulate to your friends and neighbors, that would be great.  

Survey link =  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T5TGPQH 

You can help with the Franklin Voter's Guide update for November's Election
You can help with the Franklin Voter's Guide update for November's Election


The Franklin Voter's Guide for the Primary was previously shared here


In the News: 4th District race too close to call; Franklin still counting

 From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin: 

"The identity of the Democratic nominee from the 4th Congressional District hung in limbo, unresolved, throughout the day Wednesday as Newton City Councilor Jake Auchincloss clung to a small, but significant lead, and state officials sought to make sure every vote got counted.

Auchincloss, a Marine veteran and moderate Democrat, led his closest competitor Jesse Mermell, a progressive former adviser to Gov. Deval Patrick, by a little over 1,500 votes with over 96% of the vote tallied.

Competing with five others, the two emerged after Tuesday’s in-person primary voting as the leading contenders to win the Democratic nomination in the district currently represented by U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III. Mermell racked up her votes in the liberal suburbs west of Boston, winning handily in her hometown of Brookline and places like Needham, Wellesely and Dover."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)


"Election officials in Franklin are still working on Wednesday evening to count the ballots from state primary on Tuesday.

Franklin is the only community in the 4th Congressional District that has not announced unofficial results and many are awaiting the results with baited breath because the leaders in the race are separated by 1,506 votes, according an Associated Press tally. Jake Auchincloss appeared to be holding on to the slim lead over his closest competitor Jesse Mermell, a progressive one-time Brookline selectwoman and former head of the Alliance for Business Leadership.

The delay is because of the large volume of early and mail-in ballots they received, according to Franklin Town Clerk Teresa Burr. Franklin was among the towns that elected not to do the “central tabulation,” instead electing to handle the early and mail-in ballots on Election Day. Burr said they will be reevaluating that for November.

..... 


Galvin’s court petition said there were approximately 751 ballots that had been received via drop box in Newton late on Tuesday and not delivered to the polls to be counted. In Wellesley, there are about 50 overseas ballots and 50 early and mail-in ballots yet to be counted. Another 600 ballots in Franklin had been stored in a vault and were never removed and delivered to precincts on Tuesday for counting."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

Related article in Commonwealth Magazine


In the News:  4th District race too close to call; Franklin still counting
In the News:  4th District race too close to call; Franklin still counting 


Wednesday, September 2, 2020

“The most important thing to do now is to count all the votes"

 From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin: 

"As Sept 2 dawned, the race for the 4th Congressional District House seat showed no sign of ending. 
According to the Associated Press tabulation, fewer than 1,000 votes separated the top two Democrats, former Brookline city councilor Jesse Mermell and Newton City Councilor Jake Auchincloss. Mermell had led for much of the evening, with the gap between the two dwindling as more towns reported. 
As of 12:45 a.m., 76 percent of the towns had reported results; outstanding were: Bellingham, Berkley, Dover, Franklin, Lakeville, Milford, North Attleboro, Norton, Raynham, Rehobeth and Seekonk. 
In a statement issued shortly shortly before 1 a.m, Mermell’s campaign acknowledged the tight race."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

Related article from Commonwealth Magazine


“The most important thing to do now is to count all the votes"
“The most important thing to do now is to count all the votes"


Tuesday, September 1, 2020

In the News: task force formed to tackle car thieves; primary may see record turnout

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin: 

"Several area communities have been targeted by two apparent separate groups of car thieves, and now a task force is seeking to catch the suspects. 
Hopkinton Police said a task force made up of themselves, Holliston, Sherborn, Franklin, Medway, Millis and Wrentham police departments, as well as the Massachusetts State Police, are searching for the suspects. 
“Our detectives have been monitoring this for quite some time,” Hopkinton Chief Joseph Bennett said Monday. 
The task force was set up about three weeks ago. The car thefts, as well as car break-ins, have been occurring for about three months, Detective Sgt. Scott van Raalten said."

 

“I think we all know this has been an extraordinary year for virtually everything about our lives, and elections are no different,” Galvin, the state’s elections overseer, said at a State House press conference. 
“We’re having an election tomorrow, I think under the most unusual circumstances.” 
On the eve of a primary election in which ways to participate have been reshaped around the COVID-19 pandemic, Galvin provided a turnout forecast -- he expects 1.2 million to 1.3 million votes, once all are tallied -- and laid out the ground rules for voters."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)