Ken O’Brien
While the talking heads on the various 24 hour news channels trumpet the potential cataclysmic effects of tomorrow’s primary elections in eleven states, the local press has virtually ignored the fact that Massachusetts is one of those eleven states.
Locally there are no contests on the ballot in the Democratic primary.
The contested race for Democratic Senate candidate will be decided at the state Democratic convention and is not on the ballot.
On the Republican side, the only contest is for the Presidential nomination, which former Massachusetts Governor Willard Romney is expected to win handily.
The Massachusetts primary is a semi-closed primary. Registered Democrats can only vote in the Democratic primary while registered Republicans can only vote in the Republican primary. Unenrolled (i.e. independent) voters can vote in either primary without changing their registration status.
I realize it’s necessary, but it’s too bad local communities will have to spend tax dollars on this non-event.
The Democratic Town Committees will appear on the Democratic ballot. Each town committee is up for election and they appear on the Presidential nomination ballot. There's normally a slate offerred by the Town Committee, but people can write in names. Each town has a fixed size committee of, I think, thirty-five members. Most of the time the slate is fewer than thirty-five so in many cases a write in will end up on the committee.
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