Monday, November 12, 2012
If appointed, a special election would be held to fill Kerry's seat.
President Obama is considering appointing Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry as the Secretary of Defense, according to the Washington Post. Cabinet changeups are standard fare at the start of a second presidential term. Kerry, who is believed to want the Secretary of State job, would replace current Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, according to the Post. If appointed, Kerry would have to resign from the Senate and a special statewide election would have to be held to fill his seat. However, appointing Kerry to either seat could have political implications — it could mean the risk of losing Kerry's Senate seat in Massachusetts to Republicans, according to the New York Times. Obama not only would have to decide whether to risk Kerry's …
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Many schools are used as polling locations -- does this pose a potential threat to students? Or is it just an inconvenience?
Election Day is always a hectic day, especially when it comes time to coordinate voting with school traffic. In some communities, public schools opt to close on Election Day for various reasons including safety and ease of access to the polls. Over in Burlington, for example, the entire district closes on Election Day. Here in Newton, 16 of the city's 26 polling locations are public schools, all of which stay open during Election Day. Woburn Public Schools stay open as well, but after Sen. Scott Brown stopped by Woburn's Reeves Elementary School yesterday, some parents took to Facebook to express their concern about safety of students on Election Day. Tell us how you feel: Should Newton schools close during the election? Or should the …
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Did more voters show up to the polls this time around?
With reports of long lines at polling locations across the state, all signs pointed to strong voter turnout in Massachusetts for yesterday's state election. But how many Newton residents made it out to vote? And how did it compare to 2008? According to the Newton Election Commission's unofficial results, 78 percent of Newton's registered voters made it out to the polls yesterday, or 45,201 voters out of 57,700 registered. This is a slight drop in turnout from the 2008 presidential election, where 80.75 percent voted, or 44,720 of the 55,381 registered at that time. During yesterday's election, Ward 5, Precincts 3 and 4 had the highest turnout, with 84 percent of the registered voters making it to the polls. Ward 7, Precinct 3 had the …
Who won the races? What was Newton's turnout? Read a recap of our election coverage to find out.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Voters made decisions on car repairs, assisted suicide and medical marijuana in the statewide election.
Question 1: Right to Repair Voters approved the “Right to Repair” ballot question, which would give consumers more choices when fixing a car in today's election. According to numbers on boston.com, 85 percent of voters approved the question, with 51 percent of the state reporting at 10:15 p.m. The initiative requires automakers to make computer software codes for repairs more accessible to independent repair shops and car owners by 2015. But in July, state legislators devised a compromise that would give carmakers until 2018 to comply with the new law, according to a Boston Globe report. By approving Question 1, voters trumped that compromise and enacted the “Right to Repair” act as written on the ballot. “Voters sent a clear message to …
Marilyn Pettito Devaney won with 75 percent of the vote in the district that covers more than 30 communities.
[Results updated at 9:35 a.m. on Nov. 7] Voters returned Watertown’s Marilyn Pettito Devaney to an eighth term on the Governor’s Council, Tuesday, supporting her by a wide margin in the race against Newton’s Thomas Sheff. With 95 percent of the 270 precincts counted, Pettito Devaney received nearly 74percent of the votes, according to results collected by Patch and Boston.com. Pettito Devaney, a former Watertown Town Councilor, received 230,222 votes, and Sheff, who had run for mayor in Newton in 2005, received 80,891 votes. Pettito Devaney defeated two challengers in the Democratic primary in September before facing Sheff, who ran as an un-enrolled candidate. The Third District of the Governor’s Council includes 32 communities, from …
Khan defeated Republican challenger Greer Tan Swiston.
Kay Khan won her 10th term as state representative in the 11th Middlesex District, soundly defeating Newton Republican challenger Greer Tan Swiston. "It's a great honor to represent the citizens of Newton and also be able to serve the residents of the Commonwealth," Khan said in phone interview Tuesday night. Khan, 71, of Newton Lower Falls, picked up 14,329 votes to Swiston's 4,935, according to unofficial results on the city's website. Khan won in all precincts. Khan has been a Newton resident for 41 years, and was first elected state rep in 1994. Swiston, 47, of West Newton, is a city alderman. Khan thanked the voters in Newton for their support, and said she has many projects she's excited to continue working on, including addressing …
Democrat Elizabeth Warren beat incumbent candidate Scott Brown in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race.
Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren has beaten incumbent Republican candidate Scott Brown for a seat on the U.S. Senate, according to the Associated Press. Warren is won by a margin of eight percentage points, 54 percent to 46 percent, making her the first female senator elected in Massachusetts. An estatic Warren addressed a crowd of hundreds of excited supporters at the Copley Fairmont Plaza hotel in Boston on Tuesday night. "We did what everyone thought was impossible," she said. "We taught a scrappy, first-time candidate how to win." "You took on the powerful Wall Street banks and let them know that you want a Senator out there fighting for the middle class all of the time," she said. "And despite the odds, you elected the first …
Retiring Barney Frank will be succeeded by scion of Kennedy political dynasty.
Joe Kennedy III will be a new U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts. At around 9:30 p.m., the Associated Press called the race for 32-year old Kennedy, who lives in Brookline, as he was beating by a 2-1 margin Norfolk Republican Sean Bielat in the race to represent the redrawn Fourth Congressional District. Rep. Barney Frank, a media celebrity Tuesday night at Kennedy's celebration party at the Newton Marriott Hotel, is retiring after serving the Fourth District since 1981. Yes, the Kennedys are a famous political family, but Joe III especially follows family tradition with this particular win: his father, Joe Kennedy II, served as Congressman from Massachusetts (in the 8th Congressional District) from 1987-1999. And his great-uncle, who …
Everything you need to know about the local, state and national races on the ballot for Election Day, Nov. 6, 2012, as well as the Massachusetts ballot initiatives.
M C Stringfellow
7:16 pm on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
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