Super Tuesday

The Massachusetts Presidential Primary Election is this Tuesday, March 3, 2020. The polls in Massachusetts will be open from 7am until 8pm. In Lowell, at least, there will be no school that day (which is a security measure since most polling places are within schools).

Here are the candidates for President on the Democratic ballot:

• Deval Patrick, Massachusetts
• Amy Kloburchar, Minnesota
• Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts
• Michael Bennet, Colorado
• Michael Bloomberg, New York
• Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii
• Cory Booker, New Jersey
• Julian Castro, Texas
• Tom Steyer, California
• Bernie Sanders, Vermont
• Joseph Biden, Delaware
• John Delaney, Maryland
• Andrew Yang, New York
• Pete Buttigieg, Indiana

Also on the Democratic ballot are the offices of State Committeeman and State Committeewoman. The candidates are Curtis LeMay of Lowell and Jennifer Mieth of Groton, both running unopposed.

The third office on the Democratic ballot is membership in Democratic Ward Committees. Each of Lowell’s 11 wards has its own Democratic Ward Committee and members are elected at the Presidential Primary. There are many more slots available than there are candidates, so there won’t be any close elections for this position in Lowell. Also, rather than voting for all or some individually, the first line on this section of the ballot is a single vote for the entire group.

On the Republican ballot, Presidential candidates are

• William F. Weld
• Joe Walsh
• Donald J. Trump
• Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente

The Republicans also have a contested race for State Committee Woman with Mary Burns of Lowell facing Kathleen Lynch of Westford. The candidate for State Committee Man, Dennis Galvin of Westford, is not opposed.

The Libertarian ballot has the following candidates for President:

• Arvin Vohra
• Vermin Love Supreme
• Jacob George Hornberger
• Samuel Joseph Robb
• Dan Taxation Is Theft Behrman
• Kimberly Margaret Ruff
• Kenneth Reed Armstrong
• Adam Kokesh
• Jo Jorgensen
• Max Abramson

The Green-Rainbow ballot has the following candidates for President:

• Dario Hunter
• Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry
• Kent Mesplay
• Howard Hawkins

Besides Massachusetts, Presidential Primaries will be held Tuesday in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Democrats Abroad, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia.

Early Voting

Last Tuesday afternoon I went to City Hall and took advantage of “early voting” to cast my ballot. The procedure is a little bit like absentee voting although you do it in person. A single room on the first floor of City Hall was set up for this.

First, you checked in with a clerk equipped with a tablet computer. Once they found your registration, they printed a small paper slip with your information on it. This slip was then glued to an absentee ballot envelope. You were given the envelope and a ballot. There were several voting cubicles where you cast your votes. You then placed the ballot inside the envelope and brought it to an election worker who sealed the ballot and had you sign and date the affidavit on the envelope. (When these ballots are counted, the ballots are all separated from the envelopes so who you voted for would remain confidential.

Although early voting is resource intensive for the city – it takes a number of people to staff the operation – it is a great convenience for voters.

We won’t know for a while how many people voted early in Lowell in this election. In the 2018 state election, 9.4% of those who voted cast their ballots early and in the 2016 presidential election, 12.3% of those who cast ballots did so early.