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Up and at 'em on Election Day
By adamg on Tue, 09/14/2021 - 7:20am
Today's the preliminary in Boston, Somerville, Medford and other assorted cities, so if you haven't voted early or by mail, today's your last chance to help decide who gets on the November ballot.
At least in Boston, there have been some changes in the locations of polling places, so know before you go. If you're not sure where to vote, the state has a lookup system.
Not sure whom to vote for? Progressive MA sent questionnaires to the candidates for mayor and city council in Boston (both at large and at the district level). The Dorchester Reporter has overviews of the 17 at-large candidates (you get to vote for up to four of them).
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Comments
Speaking of mail-in ballots...
I received text messages from 4 different city council candidates ... after I had mailed in my ballot.
Is the notion of coordinating digital outreach to coincide with the timing of when voters actually receive their mail-in ballot in the mail a big secret or is marketing 101 no longer taught in school?
Mail-in ballots/Early Voting
On the same topic - I haven't seen reporting anywhere on how many people have voted early or by mail? I assume that is easy info to ask for.
As for "too-late" texts, the ones I've received have mostly been from mayoral campaigns, a couple from at-large council campaigns.
Mail-in ballots/Early Voting
The Globe had an article yesterday stating 21,000 (16,000 by mail and 5,000 in-person) "by Friday", although it wasn't clear if the beginning or end of day on Friday.
Commonwealth Magazine had this article yesterday afternoon, stating that as of the weekend, 22,000 had returned ballots out of the 52,000 that requested them:
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/galvin-predicts-turnout-of-100...
Thank you for sharing this.
Interesting that early turnout had been deemed “on the low side” as of Friday.
Some of us voted today
Assuming you are okay with getting the texts in general, why would the campaigns assume that you (1) voted by mail and (2) had already sent your ballot in?
Because...
It's a marketing fail and lost opportunity for the thousands of mail in ballots, especially with 15 plus largely invisible candidates. No reason they couldn't have done separate campaigns pre election day and on election day...
You are leaving out context
Did you apply for an absentee ballot at the first opportunity and returned it 10 minutes after it arrived? In that case, doing the text broadcast when it was done isn't a bad thing. Did you drop your ballot at a location on the way to work this morning? Then yeah, probably a fail.
Compared to last year, there weren't as many mail or early ballots cast. Dropping a text on Monday reminding people to vote on Tuesday isn't that bad of an idea. And of course, given that this is a "turnout" driven race, that last bit at the end could be the difference.
Texting
I've gotten texts both before and after receiving my mail in ballot. Filled out my ballot last night and will drop it off at City Hall on the commute home.
My reaction to all voting solicitation texts is to block the sender. I don't need them reaching out to me. It's a 'don't call me, I'll call you' mentality I have about this.
All quiet and boisterous
Thankfully my cell phone is unknown to all but family, so I didn't get one election-related text. On the other hand, my landline was ringing off the hook all week with out-reach and polls.
Very aggravating
Somehow the state DNC got my cell phone number and I get txts from local politicians who have bought the list. I've tried to get the DNC to erase my entry but, not surprisingly, they won't respond to my requests.
If anyone knows how to get off those lists, please respond.
If anyone knows how to get
Register as a Republican and they'll bump you off the list.
(or, register with the Pizza Party if you prefer that to Republicans).
My money are on communists.
My money are on communists.
Speaking for myself
and possibly for others too: I am tired of seeing Notfromboston comments everywhere on here. What even are they running from?
Not speaking for me.
There are a fair number of commenters here who I get tired of seeing, sometimes but not always including Notfromboston.
I think it verges on lame suck up behavior that some commenters dogpile on Not because of adamg’s special dislike of Not.
Oh really?
Gosh, right up until now, I didn't know that "adamg" had a "special dislike" for NotFromBoston.
In fact, I still don't know it.
I'm generally a fan of Adam's taste, but I have no need to resort to it as a guide for disliking a shit-stirring dogwhistler. That's a no-brainer.
That's an odd contortion of logic.
Notfromboston's comments are almost always low-content and seem to be intentionally irritating. Those attributes stand on their own.
(And if Adam has a special dislike of them, I have yet to see it.)