Above: The Town is promoting Early Voting. (image cropped from Town website)
Reminder – the last day to vote early in-person is tomorrow, Friday, November 4th.
Here are other reminders (and updates) about Tuesday’s state election.
To vote in-person, you can head to the Town House today and Friday from 8:00 AM – 5:00 pm. Election day voting will take place at Trottier Middle School on November 8th from 6:30 am to 8:00 pm. That’s at 49 Parkerville Road.
Some readers may already have received mail-in ballots that they have yet to mail. To be counted, those need to be in to the Town Clerk’s office before voting ends on Tuesday.
It may not be too late to do that by mail, but at this point it would be safer to drop them in the dedicated box at the Town House (17 Common Street). (See image right to make sure you use the correct box, and not the one for Town House mail.)
Town Clerk Jim Hegarty asked me to alert readers who received the ballots that you can still vote in-person instead of using them — but you can’t bring bring your mail-in ballots inside Trottier on the 8th. (Please leave it at home or in your car.)
Hegarty also asked me to point out that this year’s ballot is double-sided. That’s thanks to the 5 questions on the ballot.
Below is another reminder of who and what is on Southborough voters’ ballots.
Since I last posted news, several debates took place that I can now share links to. (Though, none include the 3rd party candidates.)
Candidates for Office
- Governor and Lt Governor (CSPAN debate, WCVB debate)
- Geoff Diehl and Leah V. Allen, Republican
- Maura Healey and Kimberly Driscoll, Democratic
- Kevin Reed and Peter Everett, Libertarian
- Attorney General (CBS Boston News debate)
- Andrea Joy Campbell, Democratic
- James R. McMahon, III, Republican
- Secretary of State
- William Francis Galvin, Democratic – Incumbent
- Rayla Campbell, Republican
- Juan Sanchez, Green-Rainbow
- Treasurer
- Deborah B. Goldberg, Democratic
- Cristina Crawford, Libertarian
- Auditor (CBS Boston News debate)
- Anthony Amore, Republican
- Diana DiZoglio, Democratic
- Gloria Caballero-Roca, Green-Rainbow
- Dominic Giannone, III, Workers Party
- Daniel Riek, Libertarian
- Representative in Congress – 2nd District (Channel 22 debate)
- James P. McGovern, Democratic – Incumbent*
- Jeffrey A. Sossa-Paquette, Republican
- Governor’s Councillor – Third District
- Marilyn M. Pettito Devaney, Democratic, Incumbent (and uncontested)
- Senator in General Court – Middlesex & Worcester District
- James B. Eldridge, Democratic – Incumbent
- Anthony Christakis, Republican
- Representative in General Court – 19th Worcester District
- Kate Donaghue, Democratic
- Jonathan I. Hostage, Republican (Southborough resident)
- District Attorney – Middle District
- Joseph D. Early, Jr., Democratic, Incumbent (and uncontested)
- Sheriff – Worcester County
- Lewis G. Evangelidis, Republican, Incumbent
- David M. Fontaine, Democratic
Ballot Questions
The Links below for each question take you to the State’s page with more details on the question, plus the arguments for and against.
QUESTION 1: Proposed Amendment to the Constitution
Additional Tax on Income Over One Million Dollars
A YES VOTE would amend the state Constitution to impose an additional 4% tax on that portion of incomes over one million dollars to be used, subject to appropriation by the state Legislature, on education and transportation.
A NO VOTE would make no change in the state Constitution relative to income tax.
WBUR, WCVB and the Boston Globe hosted a debate you can watch here.
QUESTION 2: Law Proposed by Initiative Petition
Regulation of Dental Insurance
A YES VOTE would regulate dental insurance rates, including by requiring companies to spend at least 83% of premiums on member dental expenses and quality improvements instead of administrative expenses, and by making other changes to dental insurance regulations.
A NO VOTE would make no change in the law relative to the regulations that apply to dental insurance companies.
QUESTION 3: Law Proposed by Initiative Petition
Expanded Availability of Licenses for the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages
A YES VOTE would increase the number of licenses a retailer could have for the sale of alcoholic beverages to be consumed off premises, limit the number of “all-alcoholic beverages” licenses that a retailer could acquire, restrict use of self-checkout, and require retailers to accept customers’ out-of-state identification.
A NO VOTE would make no change in the laws governing the retail sale of alcoholic beverages.
Question 4: Eligibility for Driver’s Licenses
Because this petition was submitted after the July 2022 deadline for inclusion in the printed Information for Voters booklet that is mailed to each household, this question is not listed in that voter guide.
A YES VOTE would keep in place the law, which would allow Massachusetts residents who cannot provide proof of lawful presence in the United States to obtain a driver’s license or permit if they meet the other requirements for doing so.
A NO VOTE would repeal this law.
WBUR, WCVB and the Boston Globe hosted a debate you can watch here.
Question 5: Legislative Transparency
Shall the representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of changes to the applicable House of Representative rules to make each Legislator’s vote in that body’s Legislative committees publicly available on the Legislature’s website?
This question is not binding. So, a Yes or No vote would simply tell our (to-be-elected) state representative whether or not you support the proposed rule change.
Since this question isn’t on every ballot across the state, it is not on the Commonwealth’s website. According to the press release by the Question proponents, it’s only on the ballot in 20 state house districts.
I couldn’t find an official “against” website, but I did find this article from WBUR providing more context on the question.
*McGovern is currently serving in U.S. Congress for the 2nd District, but under redistricting, Southborough will newly be part of that District. (We have been part of the 5th District represented by Katherine Clark.)
