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Please vote! The polls are open from 7:00 am – 8:00 pm; if you need to find out where to vote, see the map of polling locations on the city website.

The canvassing, mailing, advertising and strategizing are done.  The final task of campaigning remains, which is to stand out at different polling locations, holding-or more likely, leaning on a sign, greeting voters and trying to stay warm. Whether this type of poll visibility does any good or not is a matter of opinion. Before I got involved in politics, I did not enjoy having to walk a gauntlet of sign-holders, avoiding eye contact and feeling rather embarrassed for those people who felt compelled to force their opinions on the ordinary citizen who was just trying to vote in peace. Now, that I am a seasoned campaigner, I am one of those embarassing people and I know what it’s like to stand out there for 6 or 8 hours at a stretch.  I now appreciate the hard work, dedication and zeal of these folks.  These days when voting, I make a point to say an encouraging word as I pass by.  (Similarly, I always wave and beep my horn at sign-holders standing at busy intersections, whether I am for the candidate or not.) So, spare a nod and a smile for the cold and hungry campaign workers and candidates who hover near the polls and, if I may give a final plug for our favorite school committee candidate – I hope you’ll remember the hard work, dedication and zeal that Jackie has brought to her work on the committee day in and day out for the last four years (and in the 5 years previous as a parent volunteer). She’s Number 25 on the ballot–let’s continue the progress we’ve made and support excellent schools in Lowell!

It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, which doesn’t bode well for voter turnout, although  the weather was perfectly fine two years ago and the turnout remained stagnant at around 25%.  Thinking about voter turnout and why people vote or don’t vote compelled me to look at the data for the last few local elections compared to that of 2004. As you can see below, in the last two local elections (2003 and 2005), voter turnout has remained at around 26% in Lowell, with only about 12,000 of the registered voters in the city bothering to vote. While the number of registered voters has increased since 1999 and 2001, the percentage who vote has actually gone down, who knows why? The really interesting contrast is between the local elections and the presidential election of 2004.  Imagine if 30,000 people turned out to vote tomorrow! 

         Turnout        Registered       %

1999   14300        44431             32

2001    14708       45381             32

2003    12222       47048             26

2004     29148      48405             60

2005     12653      47484             27