a reminder to vote from Springfield City Council.. can that work here?
SPRINGFIELD
— City Councilor Jesse Lederman has proposed a new ordinance that, if
approved, would require the city to send postcards and robocalls to all
voters in advance of every election, aimed at improving often-dismal
voter turnout.
The ordinance, which was
referred to council committee for review on Monday, could cost
taxpayers between $30,000 and $40,000 per election due to postage and
printing costs, Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola said.
Lederman said the turnout in the 2017 local election in Springfield was 9.9%. Turnout in the 2015 municipal election was 10.24%.
“Our
democracy and local government benefit from having as many people at
the table as possible,” Lederman said in a prepared release. “The steady
decline in voter turnout across the country is concerning — and
locally, we should be working to engage people. It is important that we
start this conversation.”
Lederman is
proposing that postcards be sent to every household of registered voters
— approximately 70,000 households citywide, officials said. There are
94,653 registered voters in Springfield, according to the Election
Office.
As proposed, the postcards
would be sent to every household at least 30 days prior to the date of
the election. The notification will be required to list the date of the
election, the polling location of the household, and the offices that
will appear on the ballot.
In addition,
the Election Office would notify each voter of the election date, by
telephone, through the city’s robocall system, at least 14 days prior to
the election.
Lederman discussed his
proposal in advance with Oyola and the Law Department. The ordinance was
referred to the council’s General Government Committee.
The
proposed ordinance also calls for the Election Office to post signs on
Election Day at the nearest intersection to a polling location, to
inform the public about the election date. Signs would have to be at
least 14 inches by inches in size and contain the language “VOTE TODAY,”
the ordinance proposal states.
All
language and design of the notification methods must be “neutral and
non-partisan” and subject to the approval of the Board of Election
Commissioners, the ordinance states.
Oyola
praised Lederman’s suggestion, but said that it carries a financial
cost. The message on postcards will differ because voters will be
reminded of their specific polling locations. There are 64 precincts in
Springfield.
The goal is “common sense
-- why not send a reminder to voters?" Oyola said, but added that the
city must take into account the cost. Robocalls, however, can occur
without bearing a cost, and have been done before for state and national
elections, she said.
In addition, her
office already works to promote voters to go to the polls on Election
Day, including distributing voter information at community events.
In
advance of the citywide vote on the proposed MGM Springfield casino
project, the city mailed packets to all voters by mail, with the cost
reimbursed by the company, Oyola said.
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 9:37 AM
30 Comments
30 Comments:
Great idea, but expensive. How much would it be to just do robo calls? And can the LWV here in Framingham fund this maybe instead of taxpayers?
ohhh my.. the League has virtually no money for mailings. The Town does those reverse 911 calls, I wonder if we could use the same system for voter reminders.
We must pay something to do those reverse 911 calls, right? This is a great idea but where in the budget would money for something like this come from? How do we propose adding a line item for this to the budget?
Many people are not aware that their voting history is public record. And researchers have used these public records to try to mobilize voters. One study used these records, along with the threat of public shaming, to try to get people to vote. 80,000 Michigan voters received letters before a 2006 primary that said, in all caps, “WHAT IF YOUR NEIGHBORS KNEW YOU VOTED?” The letters then reported the recipient’s voting history alongside the voting history of all their neighbors. Recipients were also told that every neighbor would receive an updated copy of everyone’s voting history after the upcoming election. This led to an 8.1% increase in voter participation – one of the highest of any intervention used to increase voter turnout. However, this strategy received backlash, leading to more than 300 angry phone calls but given the letter went to 80,000 and only 300 complained that seems like a pretty good approval rating. Worth a try here in Framingham?
You get what you pay for. Voting is the way we pay for the type of government we want. If we don’t “pay” we are not likely to get what we want. So pay up people.
Voter engagement, census response, both incredibly important things that people need to pay attention to. Not sure that sending people a post card or a robo call a month, or even a week in advance is going to help. People are discouraged and overwhelmed and getting them to add one more to do on their list is just not going to produce much success. I expect almost everyone knows there are elections coming up in Framingham. The problem is no one cares enough to bother voting. How do you combat that? Not with a post card or a phone call for sure.
thanks for sharing that Michigan story.
good point about being annoying... and I agree, but it might be an interesting, somewhat cheap way of reminding the residents.
And could we ever expect a 51% turnout in a local election?
I like that idea of posting people's voting records publicly. Although given the poor voting record of the woman elected our Mayor, not sure it will really have any impact at all.
I like the post about publishing voting records lets shame people into doing their civic duty
I don’t have to vote if I don’t want to and you can’t do anything about that so don’t waste money trying. A post card won't change my mind
Some see only the same old bunch groveling for petty power and figure its not worth the effort to go vote. Look, Stefinini is even coming back out again, its no wonder why people don't give a damn. After the library disaster most other people would have hid their heads in shame.
I as well Annon..but there's no shame in any of them, especially those who have worked on the Hill.
Altogether, an estimated 744 million people live in nations with compulsory voting laws.
I had no idea and some of the countries are surprising to see on the list.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/22-countries-voting-mandatory
interestingly, Brazilians are mandated to vote at 18. But I don't see a large Brazilian turnout here.
The library disaster was just the beginning of it. What about the multiple attempts to change the story after he was caught red handed. And blaming the victim on top of that. Absolutely no shame whatsoever.
agreed And lets not forget the Tom Finneran software deal that John brokered.
You have to wonder how the incident at the library would have played out had there not been a camera watching. Would he have admitted to it, fat chance!!!
It would have been one changing story after another if the video proof wasn't there but had only been eye witnessed. The question no one ever asked was who was he on the phone with at the time and did she play any part in it?
I never thought to ask that question... I guess we'll never know the answer.
How do you know that he was talking to a woman?
Don't forget trying to pass off that 20 year old Tab editorial as recent,won't forget that jackamoo move.
That tape told me all I would ever need to know about that man. His lookin back and forth just before he took it was like a 5 year old looking around to see if mommy was watching when he was about to do something bad.
There's always a camera watching! What an idiot!
Jimmy is the software deal you are talking about the one where they were using the software to redo the district map which would marginalize the minority voters?
That's the one
Jimmy it's hypocrisy at its finest. Wasnt one of reasons for the city that he gave was to help the marginalized voters?
I hear ya loud and clear
You want to talk hypocrisy. What about that big workplace violence advocate he was using to try and get some of the women vote? What does his campaign do? Bring on one of the town employees we had to get rid of who was harassing women at work.
How foolish does it make that woman look? But then a vote is a vote no matter how you get it, right?
Spicy might not be that good, but she is still much better than had he won. We need to go back to a town, the city promises were hollow.
Will Johnnie start going door to door with Shaq giving out doorbells to try to improve his image?
Stefanini hugely lost twice to a complete political nobody. There is no doubt every Hollywood marketing ploy will be brought out to improve his image. Politicians live in this special world they have created where they think the voters are stupid enough to forget about their their prior sins.
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