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State of the Race: CHEW ON THIS, WORCESTER – the polls

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Jett and Lilac…

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…Downtown Worcester: On a cold afternoon this mom puts a plastic covering over the baby carriage to help keep her little one warm and out of the wind. pics:R.T.

By Steven R. Maher

Four days until the Presidential election, the polls continue to trend to Donald J. Trump.

States like Colorado, which were recently considered solidly blue, now are almost dead even.

For Democrats and Hillary Clinton, these are times that try men’s (and women’s) souls. Recently I was talking to a fellow political junkie about the election and he suggested watching Lawrence O’Donnell’s “Last Word” on MSNBC at 10 PM. On Wednesday, November 2, 2016, I took his advice and watched the show, and quickly grabbed the remote to record it. There was an excellent report on a poll of early voters which indicates that there may be an undercurrent of support for Clinton among “Never Trump” Republicans. A poll by “Targetsmart” and William & Mary of early voters show Clinton may be doing much better in the race than mainstream polls indicate.

• Targetsmart’s polling shows that Clinton is capturing 28% of Florida Republican early voters. Thus, when the early voters are merged with potential voters, the actual Clinton vote is 46% versus 40% for Trump. Mainstream polls have shown Trump dead even with Clinton in Florida. Targetsmart is “the only tracking survey with early voting returns in Florida,” said O’Donnell.

• The poll showed Trump leading Clinton in Arizona by 49% to 44%. The same poll shows incumbent Republican Senator John McCain ahead of challenger Ann Kirkpatrick by a 54% to 41% margin.

O’Donnell believes that 5% of the McCain voters voted for Clinton. Clinton has 33 Arizona field offices set up to organize voting by identified Clinton supporters. Arizona Republic reporter Dan Nowicki told O’Donnell that Trump had little organization on the ground in Arizona, and is relying on his campaign rallies and free media to get his voters to the polls. Despite the hit from the FBI probe, Clinton doubled her Arizona media buy to $1 million.

• In Wisconsin, the Marquette University poll – which is considered the gold standard for that state – had Clinton leading Trump by 46% to 40%. Democratic Senatorial candidate Russ Feingold is leading Republican Ron Johnson by a margin of 45% to 44%. The 4% difference between Trump’s standing in the poll and Johnson’s are, according to O’Donnell, Republicans favoring Clinton.

• In swing state Ohio, Republican Senatorial candidate Ron Portman is openly approaching Clinton supporters at campaign events for campaign sign locations. Most polls have Ohio dead even.

It may be too early to count Clinton out. She has invested millions of dollars into setting up field offices in the swing states to get out the vote. As the campaign dwindles down to the last few days and the polls continue to tighten, historians may credit Clinton’s election to her long ago decision to invest in her “get out the vote” organization.

InCity Feature, InCity Letters, InCity Voices, Uncategorized

In Green Island, reprecincting was good news for some …

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By Maureen Schwab

At the end of January, post cards were sent out to all registered voters of Worcester who were reassigned to new voting precincts. The changes, mandated by law, occur every 10 years after the release of the U.S. Census results.

The reprecincting/redistricting process is necessary to insure fair and equitable distribution of voters throughout Worcester’s 10 wards and fifty precincts. However, what is fair and equitable may not make sense to some voters who must now travel to polling places in a different part of the city when in some cases they live across the street from their former polling places.

In Green Island, the reprecincting was good news for the people who live on 5 streets south of Crompton Park. They are back in Ward 8, precinct 1 and no longer have to travel to the South Worcester Neighborhood Center on Camp Street, they will once again be voting at the Code Dept. on Meade St. Those who live on the eight streets either across or a block or two away from the polling place at the Code Dept.on Meade St are now assigned to Ward 10 precinct 5 and will be voting at the Murray Ave. Apts., 50 Murray Ave. Perhaps at this point you are wondering … WHY?

Worcester City Clerk David Rushford and his staff had to comply with a strict set of rules and census information to keep Worcester in compliance with the law. The 2010 census had determined that the city population was 181,045. The population was divided between the 10 wards; 18, 104 people per ward. Each ward was then divided into five precincts; approximately 3,621 people per precinct. The population numbers used to redistrict/repricinct also included everyone under the age of 18 who are not eligible to vote in all elections during the 10 years (2010-2020) before the next U.S. Census is taken. People under the age 18 represent approximately 40,000 people or 22% of the population in Worcester. What the census and redistricting will do is divide a city into equal numbers of people per precinct; but what it does not do is divide the population into equal number of qualified voters per precinct.

If you have been reprecincted to a less convenient polling location, I hope you will continue to exercise your right to vote. If you qualify, you may be able to vote by absentee ballot. Either way, the first step is to register to vote, you cannot simply show up at a polling place and expect to be given a ballot. You must be registered to be given a ballot. Call the Election Commission at 508-799-1134, or go to City Hall in person for help and information. The deadline for the Presidential Primary on March 6 has passed, but you still have time( deadline is August 17) to be included in the State primary ( September 6 ) and the all important State and National election on November 6 at which time we elect a new U.S. Senator and The President of the United States. When you register, you can declare that you are a member of the Green- Rainbow, Republican or Democratic Party, or choose to be listed as unenrolled. Unenrolled voters ( the majority in Worcester) can vote in either party’s primary and in all elections. One need not be a member of any political party to exercise their right to vote, please register ( if you haven’t) and PLEASE VOTE.