Posts Tagged ‘voting’

Last Saturday’s Special Election, which saw 18 percent of the voters give 100 percent of Wakefield homeowners a hefty tax increase, brought back a hazy memory from about 40 years ago. As a member of the Board of Assessors in the 1980s, Paul Faler was a fierce advocate for residential taxpayers. As I recall it, […]


For the past few years, we’ve been subjected to endless lectures informing us that voting is incredibly difficult and we must do everything in our power to make it easier for voters to participate in elections.  Anything less would be VOTER SUPPRESSION!  We’ve been told that democracy shouldn’t place even the slightest burden on the […]


Straw man

19Nov20

PREDICTION: On or about June 30, 2021, someone will post on one of the local Facebook groups the following tale of woe: Tonight, I picked up takeout for the family at [local restaurant.] Imagine my frustration when I got home and there were no utensils and no straws in any of the paper bags! I […]


A simple choice

24Oct20

Out-of-state donors are pouring millions into an effort to forever alter the outcomes of Massachusetts elections. Unfortunately for them, the concept of ranked choice voting is so convoluted that it can’t be convincingly explained in a one-minute TV ad or even with an oversized, glossy, two-sided mailer.


Mailing it in

25Sep20

It’s adorable how people still refer to Nov. 3 as “Election Day.” We’ve had “early voting” for a couple of years, which began the process of diluting the meaning of Election Day. Now, with the totally unnecessary concept of “mail-in voting,” we’re told that we may not even know the result of the presidential election […]


When any person or group tells you that they want to “reform” the way we conduct elections to make voting more “fair” and increase voter “participation,” your BS detector should go off. Because when it comes to elections, one thing and only one thing matters: winning. When proposals are advanced to change how elections are […]


Bad examples

17May19

Bad ideas seem to be finding their way to Wakefield with some regularity of late, which is why you should always be aware of what’s going on in nearby communities. Forewarned is forearmed as they say, and in Massachusetts there’s never a shortage of “initiatives” to be forewarned about. Let’s start with the least dubious […]


Whenever you see proposals to “expand voting rights,” or “make voting easier,” your BS detector should go off. Since the right to vote is already guaranteed by law and voting is easier than falling off a log, I am always suspicious of efforts to “expand” or “simplify” voting. At best, these measures are thinly veiled […]


Early and often

10Nov18

The Nov. 6 election is over. Or was it the Nov. 2 election? Or the Oct. 30 election? It all depends on if you voted early and on which day. Because now, every day is Election Day! Election Day used to be special day. Not so much when you have 12 days to vote. When […]