Left In Lowell

Fair Vote Lowell is making Sunday, August 9th a big event for signature gathering. From Fair Vote:

Organized by the Fair Vote Lowell Campaign, the event anticipates that dozens of people will get over 2400 signatures in about four hours. The event is open to anyone who wants to help revitalize Lowell’s voting system. Participants will meet at 25 Fairmont Street in Lowell at 1:00 pm on August 9th to get their training and marching orders.

Armed with petitions, pens, maps, voter registration lists, food and drinks, this band of reformers are confident that the first step to changing Lowell’s voting system will be accomplished. Event organizers plan to end the day with more food, fun and lively conversation.

About Fair Vote: Fair Vote Lowell is an initiative to increase voter participation, open up opportunities for new candidates, and create local elective bodies that are representative of all residents in Lowell, Massachusetts. Our mission is simple: We’re here to transform Lowell’s voting system for local elections of city councilors and school committee from the current “Winner take All” system to “Choice Voting”, a system that is fair and promotes greater representation for all.

I’ll be there, and I expect you to be there too! No excuses.

Update: If you want be part of the signature gathering but can’t come on Sunday, please contact Victoria Fahlberg at 978-654-6957 x 102.

Finally have a moment to take a breath and post. If you hadn’t caught the breaking news page on the Sun yesterday, or Cliff’s post today, you might not have heard about the citizen’s municipal PAC (Political Action Committee) that is being formed. The Move Lowell Forward PAC is a nonpartisan group of Lowell citizens who support professional city government and are interested in increasing voter turnout. We intend to be very active this election season.

Full disclosure, I am the new PAC’s co-chair. Cliff Krieger is Chair. As you can well see from that combination, this is very nonpartisan. I’m happy to be working with him, but I can tell you that this is not at all about “bloggers.” I have no doubt that some might want you to believe that. But citizens from all walks of life are involved, and we’re excited to get this movement off the ground.

We intend to heavily work a GOTV plan and send out information to the voters. We believe Lowell deserves a true debate about what’s at stake in November. We have also endorsed Fair Vote Lowell. Stay tuned, join our Facebook page, and you can also sign up for the mailing list on our website.