news vacuum
Tue Jun 12 12:59:25 EDT 2018
I just heard that we have primary elections today. This kind of thing is not supposed to be a surprise. I'll go upstairs and see whether there was anything in the mail.
(I think primaries last week in other states has contributed to the confusion.)
Tuesday 13:03
I've just visited the county elections website. We have a Republican primary for the US Senate (3 candidates), and a Democratic primary for the county board (2 candidates). Virginia's an open-primary state, so you can vote in either primary (but not both). Arlington's heavily Democratic, so the Republican primary is not of interest, and the County-Board primary doesn't seem to be big news either.
Also just hearing about a Stanley-Cup parade (DC won the hockey championship) - it's on the Mall, so that shouldn't affect my commute.
Tuesday 13:16
I've had a quick look at the candidates' websites. All the (Republican) US Senate candidates seem to be swimming in the Trump Kool-Aid. It looks like the Senate general election will be about Trump, more than about Virginia issues. This will be purely about state-wide party turn-out.
For the county board, both guys are saying all the right "Arlington" things. It looks like this will be about whether you want more diversity on the board - another white guy, or a brown (Asian), immigrant veteran. Democrats rarely loose for our local seats. (Candidates supporting an unpopular, expensive proposed streetcar line in 2014 were a notable exception.)https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/04/Dual-Primary-Info-for-Voters.pdf
How is the order in which names appear on the ballot chosen?
[They obviously weren't alphabetical.]
The ballot order is determined by when the candidates file with their respective political party chair.
Can 17‐year‐olds vote in this election?
Seventeen‐year‐olds may register to vote if they will be eighteen on or before the day of the November General Election....
Tuesday 16:00
We vote at a middle school 0.75 miles (1.2km) away. I voted on my way to work. I was the only person voting when I arrived. No line, no waiting.
I guess they must have inventory controls on the ballots, but it would save a lot of money/paper to just print them on demand when turnout is this low.
School was getting out at 14:30. Seems early to me, but I guess it's also the end of the term/semester/year. [No, last day of middle school is next Tuesday.]
A lot of people moms were picking up their kids. There were plenty of kids walking home, but there were a lot of cars lined up waiting for kids. A lot of them had their motors idling. ☹ (The weather was beautiful, and they should have just opened their windows. One car had the tailgate open for good airflow.) A lot of the cars were SUVs; I guess they've displaced minivans as mom-mobiles. Black cars with tinted windows are going to absorb the sunlight. Great in the winter, not great in the summer. (When do you drive more?)
The school's bike racks were empty . I don't know what that says. They're usually jam-packed when I vote in Novembers.
The Capitals' parade must have been over when I got downtown. There were a lot of people in team jerseys and red T-shirts, and I saw one guy with an inflatable Stanley Cup. There were lots more pedestrians out than usual (even with tourist season going), and mostly walking away from the Mall
Wednesday 00:56
The county has 166,405 registered voters. 11,646 votes in the Democratic primary, and 3,700 in the Republican. 15,346 total votes; 9.2% turnout.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/990563.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
I just heard that we have primary elections today. This kind of thing is not supposed to be a surprise. I'll go upstairs and see whether there was anything in the mail.
(I think primaries last week in other states has contributed to the confusion.)
Tuesday 13:03
I've just visited the county elections website. We have a Republican primary for the US Senate (3 candidates), and a Democratic primary for the county board (2 candidates). Virginia's an open-primary state, so you can vote in either primary (but not both). Arlington's heavily Democratic, so the Republican primary is not of interest, and the County-Board primary doesn't seem to be big news either.
Also just hearing about a Stanley-Cup parade (DC won the hockey championship) - it's on the Mall, so that shouldn't affect my commute.
Tuesday 13:16
I've had a quick look at the candidates' websites. All the (Republican) US Senate candidates seem to be swimming in the Trump Kool-Aid. It looks like the Senate general election will be about Trump, more than about Virginia issues. This will be purely about state-wide party turn-out.
For the county board, both guys are saying all the right "Arlington" things. It looks like this will be about whether you want more diversity on the board - another white guy, or a brown (Asian), immigrant veteran. Democrats rarely loose for our local seats. (Candidates supporting an unpopular, expensive proposed streetcar line in 2014 were a notable exception.)https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/04/Dual-Primary-Info-for-Voters.pdf
How is the order in which names appear on the ballot chosen?
[They obviously weren't alphabetical.]
The ballot order is determined by when the candidates file with their respective political party chair.
Can 17‐year‐olds vote in this election?
Seventeen‐year‐olds may register to vote if they will be eighteen on or before the day of the November General Election....
Tuesday 16:00
We vote at a middle school 0.75 miles (1.2km) away. I voted on my way to work. I was the only person voting when I arrived. No line, no waiting.
I guess they must have inventory controls on the ballots, but it would save a lot of money/paper to just print them on demand when turnout is this low.
School was getting out at 14:30. Seems early to me, but I guess it's also the end of the term/semester/year. [No, last day of middle school is next Tuesday.]
A lot of people moms were picking up their kids. There were plenty of kids walking home, but there were a lot of cars lined up waiting for kids. A lot of them had their motors idling. ☹ (The weather was beautiful, and they should have just opened their windows. One car had the tailgate open for good airflow.) A lot of the cars were SUVs; I guess they've displaced minivans as mom-mobiles. Black cars with tinted windows are going to absorb the sunlight. Great in the winter, not great in the summer. (When do you drive more?)
The school's bike racks were empty . I don't know what that says. They're usually jam-packed when I vote in Novembers.
The Capitals' parade must have been over when I got downtown. There were a lot of people in team jerseys and red T-shirts, and I saw one guy with an inflatable Stanley Cup. There were lots more pedestrians out than usual (even with tourist season going), and mostly walking away from the Mall
Wednesday 00:56
The county has 166,405 registered voters. 11,646 votes in the Democratic primary, and 3,700 in the Republican. 15,346 total votes; 9.2% turnout.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/990563.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]