Updates

The October 2 forum on the November ballot questions, The A B C’s of Ballot Questions 1, 2, 3 is on YouTube for you to watch, in case you missed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsamNs2d59Q

Jay Kaufman is also hosting a forum on the ballot questions in Lexington as part of his Open House series. The forum will be held Thursday, October 25^th, from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the historic Depot in Lexington Center (13 Depot Square in Lexington Center). see http://www.jaykaufman.com/openhouse for details.

The ADTC and Common Cause Massachusetts sponsored a well-attended forum on voting issues in March at the Arlington Senior Center. Here’s a detailed report on the event.

Members of the large and appreciative audience (in front, Jimmy Tingle, candidate for Lieutenant Governor).

The voting issues forum speakers and the ADTC chair: Cheryl Clyburn Crawford of MassVOTE, Joyce Hackett of Lift Every Vote, Aimee Coolidge, and Greg Dennis of Voter Choice MA.

A crowd of nearly 160 packed Town Hall Auditorium February 10 and elected 36 delegates to the 2018 Massachusetts Democratic Convention. Almost a third of the crowd were newcomers to local Democratic politics, and 20 voters changed their registration to Democratic to participate in the caucus. Aimee Coolidge, Chair of the Arlington Democrats, cordially welcomed the newcomers and new registrants and encouraged them to stay involved.

Elected as delegates were Carole Allen, Thomas Allen, Robert Ames, Robin Bergman, Lynn Bishop, Shane Blundell, Colin Bunnell, Eric Chung, Stuart Cleinman, Maureen Crewe, Mary Cummings, Joseph Curro, Christopher Dimeo, Susan Doctrow, Anne Ehlert, Catherine Farrell, William Gardiner, Jeffrey Goldberg-Zieger, Mel Goldsipe, Amy Goldstein, Irwin Grossman, Sharon Grossman, Camilla Haase, Adele Kraus, June Lipton, Jeffrey Maxtutis, Thomas Michelman, John Page, Judson Pierce, Jennifer Roderick, Paul Schlichtman, David Swanson, Stephanie Swanson, Rieko Tanaka, Robert Tosi, and Sandra Vorce. Alternates are Arthur Goldsipe, Laura Kiesel, Lisa Pedulla, Arthur Prokosch, Susan Stamps, and Jordan Weinstein.

Chair Aimee Coolidge will serve as an ex officio delegate. Other Arlingtonians serving as ex officio delegates are Patricia Deal, Heather Fowles, and James DiTullio, all of whom serve on the Democratic State Committee, as well as State Representative Sean Garballey and State Senator Cindy Friedman.

Several candidates for office came to meet caucus attendees, as did current officeholders Congresswoman Katherine Clark and State Treasurer Deb Goldberg.

Well-organized, committed supporters of both Jay Gonzalez and Bob Massie for Governor ran slates of candidates for delegate. (Bob Massie came to the caucus.) The Gonzalez supporters had a slight majority and elected most of the delegates.

Youth, minorities, and people with disabilities who were not elected as delegates or alternates may apply to be “add-on” delegates.

The Convention will be held on Saturday, June 2, 2018 at the DCU Center in Worcester. Democrats from across the state will gather to endorse candidates for the September primary election.

For more details on the convention, visit the Massachusetts Democratic Party website.

At our Town Day booth Saturday, September 16, we welcomed Arlingtonians interested in getting involved with the Democratic Party for 2018. Our State Representatives and State Senator stopped by, along with at least one candidate for Governor. Thanks to everyone who visited!

This year we offered a political fun facts quiz with raffle prizes: books for children as well as books by Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken, and Hillary Clinton. Congratulations to the winners! If you’d like to play along, here are the questions:

1. 50% of all registered voters in Arlington are Democrats. True or false?
2. You can pre-register to vote in Massachusetts at age 16. True or false?
3. Eleanor Campobasso is the only female Arlington resident ever elected State Representative. True or false?

Here are the answers.

At its May 18, 2017 meeting, the Arlington Democratic Town Committee voted unanimously in favor of a resolution supporting automatic voter registration legislation. Eight states and the District of Columbia now have automatic voter registration. For more information, see the Automatic Voter Registration Fact Sheet(slightly out of date) and a short summary of the bill. Our representatives, Sean Garballey and Dave Rogers, support the bill, as did the late Sen. Donnelly. See the information about the Senate bill for full details.