Democracy, the Hard Way

by Glenn C. Koenig, Webmaster at Town Wide Mall

Maynard, MA - By now, most registered voters in town have received a “Vote by Mail” card from the Elections Division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth (of Massachusetts).  It may seem to be a bit early for this, given that elections are typically in the Fall.
But if you look closely, there are two elections, one of which is the “State Primary,” on September 1st (in the Summer, before Labor Day, which is on the 7th this year).

Although the State Election in November may seem to be the more important one, the results of the primary may be the “final answer” as to who gets elected in November for offices such as Senator and Representative in Washington D.C. and Senator and Representative in the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill.
​The reason is that many more candidates from the Democratic Party run for office in Massachusetts, when compared to Republicans or those from other parties.  Often, whoever wins the Democratic primary in September, automatically wins the election in November.  That’s because they will likely run unopposed by then, or run against candidates with very little chance of winning.

If you didn’t receive a card, check with the Town Clerk to make sure you’re properly registered to vote and, if necessary, obtain a Vote by Mail form there. See:  https://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/167/Town-Clerk   For details on the election timetable, see the Town’s Election web page:  https://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/170/Elections
​To vote by mail, you must fill in the form on the back of the card and mail it in before the deadline.  To vote in person, or participate in early voting at Town Hall, you don’t have to mail anything back, as long as you’re registered to vote.  For those who are not yet registered to vote, once you register, you will have the chance to request a ballot to be sent to you by mail, but you must register before August 25th, either way (for voting by mail or in person).

Whatever method by which you plan to vote, if you want to vote in the primary, you must select which ballot you want: Republican or Democratic.  For this election, there are no other parties having a primary contest.
On the mail in card, if you don’t check one of those two boxes you won’t get a ballot mailed to you for voting by mail the primary.   If you vote in person, you have to specify which ballot you want when you check in at the polling place.
Unlike the rules decades ago, asking for a specific primary ballot in a primary election will not change your registered party affiliation.  For example, if you are registered as an Independent, Green Party, or even “Unenrolled,” you can still vote in either party’s primary and your registration will not be changed as a result.

You may want to mark your calendar now, to make sure you don’t miss it, whether voting by mail, voting early at Town Hall, or on election day.
September 1st is also a typical moving day for many people.  Make sure to  plan ahead to update your address with the town, before the registration deadline, to maintain your right to vote, whether here in Maynard or where you’re headed.  Again, the staff at the Clerk’s office can help you with this.

New voting booths in Maynard which are easier to set up, take down, and store between elections.

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Commentary

If the State Primary is so important, then why is it scheduled for the first week in September?  It seems like an awkward time to have it.  This is when many people’s vacations come to an end, just before returning to work. Children are starting school or parents are driving college students back to campus.  Team practices for youth sports are starting up, and it’s very close to the Labor Day holiday.  There are a lot of things to think about, but voting?  It’s easy to forget.
​This also means that challengers must run their campaigns during the Summer.  But who is paying attention to politics while off at the beach or somewhere else on vacation?  It’s typically time to relax and get away from it all, not sit staring at screens, reading the news all day.  When September rolls around, it’s too late for voters to catch up. 

This arrangement seems to favor incumbents, in that they are already a known quantity, when compared to any challengers who need to establish themselves in the minds of voters.  Also, the State Primary is for candidates associated with an established political party.  Independent candidates, if there are any, won’t appear on a ballot until November.
​Of course, there are various logistical reasons why it’s scheduled this way.  There is a whole sequence that candidates must go through to get on the ballot in the first place, as specified by state law (See:  https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/elections/getting-on-the-ballot/how-to-run-for-office-2026.htm )
The last deadline in the sequence is in late July.  By then, there are just a few weeks for clerks to get ballots printed and mailed out before September 1st.  Once the primaries are completed and the votes tallied, there are only 8 weeks left to finalize, print, and mail out the ballots for the election in November.  If the result in a primary race is challenged, that doesn’t leave much time to resolve the conflict before doing all that.

The Likely Reason

When you hear someone talk about “threats to democracy,” it’s almost as if the government itself gets in the way sometimes, regardless of who you want to vote for.  For my friends who engage in conspiracy theories (“The corrupt politicians have done this on purpose!”), I prefer to think that the system ended up favoring incumbents almost by accident.  But with that said, there may not have been much motivation to change it.
​Running for office takes a huge amount of work and time.  It’s likely that people who do so are inspired by the promise of making positive changes in government.  If they get elected, it takes awhile to learn the ropes and start becoming effective. I can’t imagine anyone wanting that to come to an end prematurely.  The urge is to stay in office to get things done and do more in the future. So, it’s not necessarily all about maintaining power.  It’s a lot more complicated than that.

The Bigger Picture

One of the great fallacies, I think, is how much people seem to define “democracy” only in terms of voting.  True, you can also write to elected officials, in the “off season” (the two years between elections), but that’s a long shot.  

Most representatives in Congress in Washington D.C. represent a district with over 750,000 (three quarters of a million) people!  That’s truly an inconceivable number. This is equivalent to nine Super Bowl stadiums full of fans!

How can any representative expect to know and understand more than a tiny fraction of their constituents? How can they even respond to all the incoming mail, email, text messages, and phone calls from people, both from within their district and from others elsewhere who want press them to vote on certain issues?
Yes, they may have a small office staff, but with the volume of messages, the best they can do in many cases is scan for only three things:  Is this person from our district (or our state), what issue are they writing about, and are they in favor of it or opposed?  Then, they push a button that generates a stock reply letter to you, thanking you for writing.  I don’t call that true representation, and I don’t recommend that you do, either.  We’ve become little more than a bunch of faceless statistics.  Our individuality has been all but completely lost.

At the state level, we have about 7 million people with 40 senators and 160 representatives.  So, State Senators represent an average of 175,000 people each and each House member represents an average of 43,750.  That’s a more reasonable number, but it’s still a pretty tall order when it comes to really knowing the individual people in your district and what their needs are.

But I’m convinced that there is a whole lot more to democracy beyond voting or trying to get a message to elected representatives in the mean time.

Democracy, a Different Way

The word democracy comes from the ancient Greek: demos, meaning "the common people" and kratos, meaning "to rule" or "have strength." (See:  https://www.etymonline.com/word/democracy )
However today’s world is shaped by much more than just government!  There are corporations and industries, along with many other institutions, large and small.  Although it may seem natural to feel powerless in the face of today’s news headlines, everything you do has a potential impact.  Consider the choices you make as to where you shop, what you buy, how you get around, what you eat, and even how you discard things.  How much of your free time do you spend alone, with other people, out in nature, or staring at screens?
​When you decide to change anything in your life, you have an impact on both your own experience and on the world around you.  The more people who make similar changes, the bigger the impact.
I don’t say this to urge you to feel guilty for not behaving better, but only to suggest that there is power waiting to be had, as soon as we start using it.

An Example to Ponder

One example of this has to do with … of all things, toilet paper!
Within a few weeks after the start of the pandemic, in March of 2020, there was a serious toilet paper shortage.  It continued for months before it was over. Many people thought it was just due to other consumers in a panic, engaging in needless hoarding.  But that was not the original cause. 

As it turns out, there are two very different supply chains involved.  One makes and distributes the packages of normal rolls available in stores, while the other distributes those huge rolls that go into the dispensers in public bathrooms.  Those come in bulk, in large boxes, ordered by purchasing agents, who order them based on quality and pricing information on web sites.  Legally, they can’t be sold to consumers individually because each roll is “not labeled for retail sale."  They wouldn’t fit in the holder in your bathroom anyway!

When the pandemic started, everyone deserted the public places that used the large rolls and stayed home instead. Those big rolls piled up in warehouses with nowhere to go.  Meanwhile, demand for the packaged ones in supermarkets increased dramatically.  Everybody was now using their bathrooms at home.

The entire industry was caught off guard. Suddenly, they had to work very hard and spend huge sums of money to ramp up production of the packaged kind to meet the sudden demand.

The lesson here is this:  If enough people do something, they can have a great impact on big organizations.  In this case a giant industry was forced to change because we changed.
This is the untapped power we can exercise just by changing habits and spreading the word to everyone we know.  We can literally pull the financial rug out from under an industry and support a different one instead, or turn to more locally sourced alternatives.  No legislation is needed and no government regulations need to be imposed.  No massive street marches are required, nor is there a need to form a new lobbying organization.  And there is definitely no need to buy a share of stock in a corporation just to attend the annual stockholders meeting and yell at the directors.
Every dollar in your pocket is a vote.  Every time you keep that dollar (or debit card) in your pocket and don’t spend it is also a vote.  Every time you go out for a walk with family or friends (instead of watching TV or logged into a social media site) that makes a difference.

I’d be interested to learn of ways other people have exercised their power in ways like this.  I’m not on social media much anymore, but if you post a comment here below, I’ll read it.

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