Preliminary election 2017

Today, I voted in Somerville’s preliminary election. It’s not a presidential election year, so this election has a low profile. Very low. In my Somerville ward, there are no alderman or school board committee members on the ballot for the preliminary election (which is designed to get the number of candidates down to two for the general election in November). There was only a mayoral decision.

To be sure, local elections can turn on a single vote, so turnout is important. More importantly, voting is a right and a privilege. I choose to honor that privilege to its fullest extent.