THE SAME DAY President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden debated for a final time, the US set a record for the number of daily new coronavirus cases — 77,640 — topping a previous record set in July. For nearly 75 percent of the country, case numbers are increasing. NBC News’s Kristen Welker asked […]
Elections
Posted inPolitics
Getting out the prisoner vote
EVEN THOUGH they’re locked up during a pandemic, it’s starting to look like the roughly 6,800 prisoners across the state who are eligible to vote will have a better chance to do so as Election Day approaches. A statewide coalition of organizations — including Common Cause Massachusetts, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, Prisoners’ Legal Services, […]
Posted inOpinion
If Barrett is confirmed, we’re for packing the court
WHY ARE REPUBLICANS so desperate to ram through a Supreme Court nomination that will impact Americans’ lives for decades? They’re scared that come November 3 they will lose. That despite their attempts to subvert democracy through false attacks on mail-in voting, felony disenfranchisement of 5.2 million people, and reduction of available voting locations, Americans will […]
Posted inOpinion
Ex-reporter transitions to political partisan
A YEAR AGO, I was a nonpartisan political reporter in Massachusetts, happy to give people from either side of the spectrum due credit or due comeuppance. No longer. Now I am a full partisan in a battleground state. I display a Biden-Harris sign in our window. I proudly wear my Biden-Harris T-shirt. I have made […]
Posted inOpinion
A refreshing non-party-line vote
I AM NOT one for hyperbole, but this is the most contentious election year that I have seen. Republicans versus Democrats. Ideologues on both sides trying to outdo each other in their efforts to gain some electoral advantage. Republicans opposed to ideas that they had previously proposed simply because Democrats are now in favor of […]
Posted inThe Download
Toppling Baker top of mind for Dems
The Democratic Party in Massachusetts is riding high. Heading into the election just two weeks away, party members control the entire congressional delegation, are looking to add to their dominance in the Legislature, and have a lock on four of the six constitutional offices. It’s those two unclaimed constitutional offices for governor and lieutenant governor […]
Posted inPolitics
Toppling Baker top of mind for Dems
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY in Massachusetts is riding high. Heading into the election just two weeks away, party members control the entire congressional delegation, are looking to add to their dominance in the Legislature, and have a lock on four of the six constitutional offices. It’s those two unclaimed constitutional offices for governor and lieutenant governor […]
Posted inThe Download
The two sides of ranked-choice voting
Massachusetts voters will decide on the November ballot whether to overhaul the state’s system of voting by switching to ranked-choice voting for most non-presidential elections. Under ranked-choice voting, as envisioned by Question 2, each voter ranks candidates according to preference. A candidate who gets more than 50 percent of first-choice votes wins. If no candidate […]
Posted inPolitics
The two sides of ranked-choice voting
MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS will decide on the November ballot whether to overhaul the state’s system of voting by switching to ranked-choice voting for most non-presidential elections. Under ranked-choice voting, as envisioned by Question 2, each voter ranks candidates according to preference. A candidate who gets more than 50 percent of first-choice votes wins. If no candidate […]
Posted inOpinion
Nursing home residents need more help voting
NEARLY 40,000 citizens in nursing homes across Massachusetts have endured months of harrowing conditions under COVID-19, watching as friends and caregivers succumb, victims of the largest concentration of deaths in the state. Given their experiences, they rightly need to express their views by voting in November. Yet it appears that most will face undue hurdles […]