By now you’ve probably seen the campaign ad slamming Secretary of State candidate Josh Zakim’s spotty voting record, focusing particularly on the fact that he didn’t vote in Democratic primaries when John Kerry was running for president or Deval Patrick from governor.
But as Milton Valencia reports in today’s Globe, a number of those “No Show Zamkim” 16 missed votes were Newton elections or special city elections from prior to when he changed his voting address to Boston in 2011, (including time when he was attended college in Pennsylvania).
Should Zakim’s failure to vote in city elections, or elections in general, be held against Zakim? Does any of this matter to your decision if you’re voting in the Sept. 4 Democratic primary?
Normally I’d give him a pass, but he’s made a big issue of charging that Galvin and his office are somehow responsible for low voter turnout in national, state, local and primary elections here in the Commonwealth. Looks like he rather than Galvin has represented the problem here if there is indeed a problem which I doubt. I think everyone will acknowledge that the candidate and referendum booklet put out by the Secretary of State’s office each election cycle is detailed, above board and extremely fair to every candidate and to both sides of every referendum question. And it goes to the household of every registered voter in the Commonwealth. The information is there if prospective voters will just take an hour or so to go through it. The problem is that most voters don’t.
No Galvin’s not the problem Shallow and fragmented media coverage particularly by television news is a good chunk of the problem. If they gave just 25% as much time to this primary election as they do to the Patriot’s preseason lineup, our voters would know a lot more. But voters are also the other big chunk of the problem. Barney Frank once said that the American voter is nothing to write home about. So many have absolutely no curiosity about their government or public affairs. I voted in every national, state and Newton election when I was overseas in the Navy and the logistics of getting an absentee ballot in the early 60s took a lot more work than it is now. And my folks regularly sent me the Newton Graphic so I had a pretty good idea of issues and problems here when I sent the absentee ballot back stateside. I did all this because I was a political junky from the time I was a kid, but also because I was extremely grateful to be a citizen of this country. So I know why I voted and will leave it to Mr. Zakim to tell us why he didn’t.
I find the whole exchange childish, but I do think the Globe piece adds some interesting context. My guess is that that Zakim’s voting record still places him above average, sadly. And, not that it really matters, but I also can’t help but wonder what Bill Galvin’s voting record was like when he was in his late teens.
His voting record doesn’t bother me. I can understand Zakim’s mistake as I too made a similar one. Until moving to Newton I was not a great voter. I didn’t have the exposure and so ended up oblivious to anything but the Prudential race. I regret that but don’t feel guilty.
Now I don’t miss a single one. Zakim may be uniquely poised to understand why voter turn out is low and make some creative changes that work. I would not want voters to hold my past record against me.
My current voting record is 100%. During my college days? Not so great. When I was in my early 20’s, moving from one community to another on a dime? Not so great.
Let’s look at this race through the merits of the candidates as they are today. Reasonable people can disagree, but I really hate seeing Dems attacking Dems. It simply doesn’t happen in the Republican Party – Dems could take a page from that play book.
Councilor Zakim doesn’t seem to have learned anything from his youthful inattention to civic affairs It’s bizarre that the son of such a major political activist as his father could have been so inattentive to the matters that concerned his father so much. I haven’t seen any indication that he’s learned anything from his previous lackadaisical approach. He says we should make voting “easier”
How much easier would it have to been to reduce his 16 wasted nonvotes to a smaller number?
His concern about cyber security for Massachusetts elections seems driven by faith in current buzzwords rather than knowledge and thoughtful analysis. Massachusetts was one of the states where the recently disclosed hackers had no success at all. I think this is because Massachusetts runs a combined state and local system with the key elements not attached to the internet and thus invulnerable to Russian or other tampering.
I find his claim to be endorsed by the Massachusetts Democratic Party to be ridiculous. He was endorsed by the majority of the delegates to the Massachusetts Democratic State Convention. This is a real achievement but the voters in the Massachusetts Democratic State Primary are the only ones entitled to endorse on behalf of the Democratic State PARTY.
I support Bill Galvin primarily because of his stellar record as the Chair of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, but the campaign has been useful in highlighting other aspects of his record.. His record as the regulator of elements of the financial industry earned him an accolade from a national financial publication as the toughest state financial regulator and several millions of dollars returned to the victims of financial fraud in the state. These factors should have a deterrent effect on would-be financial thieves with some discretion on where they operate. Why steal from people where you’re likely to get caught and have to pay back your ill-gotten gains? Why not try target lackadaisical , novice regulators?
I was also fascinated to learn of Secretary Galvin’s creation of a program of protected addresses for victims of domestic violence.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am grateful to Secretary Galvin for attending my farewell party at Dunn Gatherin’s in Upper Falls, but my preference for him is based on the above reasons.
@Brian. This is a powerful and I believe accurate statement of Bill Galvin’s character and accomplishments and it just dawned on me that you and Bill Galvin have very similar values about the pressing need for honest, steady and consistent public service and the capacity of government to do good in several critical areas that the private sector cannot.
@Adam. I’m not certain that Galvin would have been able to vote at 18 because I don’t know if he reached that age before or after the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. But that’s almost beside the point because I’m almost certain that he registered to vote as soon as possible after he did reach whatever the magic age was.
My dad grew up in an Irish American enclave of Brighton around Lake Street where Galvin was born and where he currently lives. The right to vote and the obligation to vote in every election and to know as fully as possible the candidates and issues were as strong with these folks as they were in my own family. We’ve never considered this issue silly and I rather suspect you don’t either.
Bob, touché. I had to look it up. It looks like the 26th amendment was passed maybe in time to get Bill Galvin one extra primary :-O Like you, I take my voting record quite seriously. My disappointment is with the taunting and name calling. I expected better from both candidates.
@Adam. I agree with you on that. Both candidates are better people and public servants than their campaigns have often projected. I’m afraid that is too often the case.