Left In Lowell

Just before the end of day today at the Election office in Lowell, I was able to get my absentee ballot in, as I will be bustling around all of next Tuesday for Deval. Though lots of people, like my mom, prefer to keep their votes to themselves, I’m not one of them.

For all the aforementioned reasons, I cast my vote today for Secretary of State for John Bonifaz. And, as the editors at BMG said in their endorsement, it’s not just a vote against Galvin - who not only flubbed in his ignore-the-opponent tactic, but who appears to be less attentive to his job than he once was. However, Bonifaz, though many of his ideas are grand and would be hard to implement, has views that are in line with mine - from corporate responsibility to election reform and protecting voting rights. We know that with Bonifaz, we will never have to worry about paperless touchscreen ballots or having known problems with voting in some cities ignored.

Likewise, I cast my vote for another relative outsider, for Clerk of Courts (Middlesex County), Bruce Desmond. Despite the arguments of Michael Sullivan supporters here and elsewhere, and the fact that I do like Sullivan (I’ve met him a few times), I feel that the situation with the courts does need someone from outside the establishment, who can bring an objective view and a measured look at improvements which need to be made. Sullivan would make a good Clerk of Courts; however, what information I’ve taken in on this race leads me to think Desmond would do the job better. He has experience in turning a government agency around and understands what will be required.

So there you have it. The next time you see me on the street, you’ll know who I voted for in the primary. Disagree or not, I hope the discussion can remain civil - I’ve had some bad experiences with people who made (erroneous) assumptions on who I was supporting, so I expect now that I’ll be blasted by some now that I’ve made my actual choices. Oh well. That’s democracy!