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Justice concludes black voters need Democratic Party

Oh Jack I hate to tell you this but go and pickup any West End Newspaper or the Portland Phoenix or The Hill Newspaper and you will find plenty of ad's on local political folks.

Beside in Portland it's pretty well know who belongs to what party ask me and I can tell you if what party that person belongs to.

And your correct most local election in Maine don't have party affiliation the reason for that is when Maine became a State they took a few good Mass. laws one being local elections wouldn't be muddy up by party affiliation. Maine isn't the only New England State that does this so does NH,VT,Mass,RI, ask yourself what is the commen thread in these States.


I only started really caring when the Greenies took over the school board and started going nuts. I find it absolutely frustrating that there's no party affiliations. I mean, at one point there were ONLY Dems and Greenies on the school board (and I think city hall). Yes, this is a Democratic town, but there are enough Republicans that they would have had a seat had their affiliation been identified. The year that happened, I made it a point to find out the Republican candidate for school board, and voted for her. She didn't win, but I tried.
 
In my village of 1500, which is part of a town of around 8k, there are tons of ads in the village paper. There have been letters to the editor going back and forth for weeks, and a week before the election, the paper prints a copy of what the ballot will look like.

This time around, the big controversy is over the Town Justice seat. There are two candidates - one who is not a lawyer at all, and thus will have no idea what the hell he's doing, and one whose "firm" has served as the town lawyer for years, who will thus have a conflict of interest on 90% of cases. Thank god we don't have a rational system where state judges are actually appointed based on merit. :lol:


True, but the poster to whom I was replying said 'months of watching campaign ads'. I don't watch the paper, I read the paper ;), so I understood him to mean television ads.

There is alot of leafletting (sp?), and signage, and door-to-door, and yes, local papers and even radio ads here, but tv ads are not typical. Although I did see some last time for state senator. (Surprised me, b/c it's not usual.)

I think smaller towns like yours, and the one in the OP, definitely would be familiar with most candidates. But, my town's size is too big for that to generally be the case, although as Scorp pointed out, the political people all know who's who. The political scene up here is too small for it to be any other way. But, yet, too big for non-political people to be familiar with three to ten candidates for a spot.

Some local races have very few, like water district on Tuesday has one seat up, and two candiates. Some races have a very lot of candidates. There was a race for panel spots this summer to examine the city charter, and see about having an elected mayor instead of a ceremonial one chosen from the city council, and some other stuff. There were ALOT of candidates.
 
So you made it a point to learn something about those running for office? That's exactly what you should have done in all previous elections you voted in.

Though, I would suggest actually learning about a candidate's stances as opposed to just voting a straight ticket, but at least you did put some small amount of effort in learning *something* about the candidate. That is exactly why non-partisan elections should be the norm, not the exception.


No, what the justice department did and the reasons why they did it is racist. He merely agreed that what they did denigrated blacks. I'm not sure how agreeing that what someone [the justice department] did was pathetic and racist is racist in itself. If that's the case, then most of the posts in this thread are "racist".


What you think should be the case about voters prep time is really not relevant. There is no test to vote :2wave:

When I first got here, and was confronted with unafilliated ballots for the first time, I was so annoyed, I picked candidates based on what street they lived on. That was the only information given.

Yes, I had read about races ahead of time, but no way could I remember bios of over 3 dozen candidates for various races.
 
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I think we solved our black voter problem. We just tell them to stay home and not worry about it. We count up all the black voters and divide their votes among the Democrat candidates.
 
From the newspaper, my local paper usually runs an election guide before election day, with major issues and positions, etc.

There's a local group that's taken to endorsing voters in local elections the last 6 yrs or so. It was originally called the League of Pissed Off Voters, now they go by League of Young Voters. But they interview all candidates, and make endorsements, or refuse to endorse anyone, in local races. Even if I don't agree with what they say, it's useful to read.

Ah my old friends the League of Pissed Off Voter my have we come a very long way :mrgreen:

Actually Jack there are two different groups the original LPOV and the group that became the LOYV.
 
I only started really caring when the Greenies took over the school board and started going nuts. I find it absolutely frustrating that there's no party affiliations. I mean, at one point there were ONLY Dems and Greenies on the school board (and I think city hall). Yes, this is a Democratic town, but there are enough Republicans that they would have had a seat had their affiliation been identified. The year that happened, I made it a point to find out the Republican candidate for school board, and voted for her. She didn't win, but I tried.

You should have been around when the Green's try to take over City hall now that was funny.
 
Ah my old friends the League of Pissed Off Voter my have we come a very long way :mrgreen:

Actually Jack there are two different groups the original LPOV and the group that became the LOYV.


I didn't know that! I thought they were the same thing. Thx for the heads up :cool:
 
What you think should be the case about voters prep time is really not relevant. There is no test to vote :2wave:
Actually, what I think is very relevant given that I do educate myself and vote.

No, there is not test to vote (unfortunately) but those who vote ignorantly are the bane of this country. And, they have not a leg to stand on when the country goes to ****.

Anywho, though, you said something about not being able to know anything about the candidates you were voting for since their political party wasn't listed. Then you went on to explain how you "made it a point" to actually learn something about a candidate. I merely pointed out that apparently it actually WAS possible to learn something about a candidate without their political party being listed on the ballot.


When I first got here, and was confronted with unafilliated ballots for the first time, I was so annoyed, I picked candidates based on what street they lived on. That was the only information given.

Yes, I had read about races ahead of time, but no way could I remember bios of over 3 dozen candidates for various races.
That's why you take a cheat sheet in with you. :2wave:
 
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You should have been around when the Green's try to take over City hall now that was funny.

They almost did two years ago. Roomies split up and moved to opposite ends of town and both got elected, plus there were already some on the council. I think it was half and half. The year before, the local school board greenies held their own separate meeting in a park downtown. Almost got into trouble with election law b/c of legal requirements for posting notice of all meetings. They said, oh well, it wasn't actually an official meeting, we decided to just hang out and invite some friends, or something.
 
They almost did two years ago. Roomies split up and moved to opposite ends of town and both got elected, plus there were already some on the council. I think it was half and half. The year before, the local school board greenies held their own separate meeting in a park downtown. Almost got into trouble with election law b/c of legal requirements for posting notice of all meetings. They said, oh well, it wasn't actually an official meeting, we decided to just hang out and invite some friends, or something.

Oh so Kevin and David broke up ahh to bad they made such a lovely couple :roll:

Yea I heard about the little meeting that Ben Meiklejohn called and the fall out over it. They are very lucky that the Green Party didn't get slapped with a major election law violation over it. It's funny a few years back Ben and John Eder both complained about the Democrates and Republicans doing the same thing. Now don't get me wrong I'm all for a third party but the Maine Green Party is a joke all they are is the Far Left Part of the Maine Democratic Party who got all pissed off and left.

He is a little know fact about the Maine Green Party one of it's founding idiots is none other then former Moveon.org Executive Director Eli Pariser who I have had many a debate with while he and I still lived in Portland.
 
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Whoever wrote that isn't living in the real world. Seriously...
 
There are not typically any ads for local races in my city of around 60k. I doubt there are any in a town of 15k. We also don't have party affiliation for local races on our ballots. It bugs me, I wish they did.

Why? Are you incapable of researching a candidate's positions and arriving at an informed conclusion? How intellectually lazy are you?
 
Here I'll make ir simple for all of yo then the Obama Adm. in this one action have become a bunch of racist plain and simple. Not only that but they have once again step on the 10th adm, **** how many time will it take (Obama Adm) stepping on the 10th till someone say enough **** you I'm taking your arse to court.
 
Would you all shut the H E Double Hockeysticks about what Coon said? This thread is NOT about him. It is about how the DOJ screwed over American votes by basically saying that blacks are stupid. I don't care anymore what the heck Coon said. That's done and past.

Get back on topic!

:stop:
 
Why? Are you incapable of researching a candidate's positions and arriving at an informed conclusion? How intellectually lazy are you?


Dude, this is a blue state. We're suppose to vote how we're told to vote. ;) But seriously before the internet, it was very difficult to find info on small time candidates around here. Most people look into the big stuff, not the little stuff. The newspapers certainly didn't.
 
Dude, this is a blue state. We're suppose to vote how we're told to vote. ;) But seriously before the internet, it was very difficult to find info on small time candidates around here. Most people look into the big stuff, not the little stuff. The newspapers certainly didn't.

Oh come on Chuck please that is a cough out I grew up in Maine and never had any problem getting information on local officials and those who were running. I grew up in Brunswick but knew what was going on in Bath/Durham/Lisbon/Lisbon Falls/Freeport.

The Portland Press Herald/Times Record/Kennebec Journal always had info on local race's.
 
Dude, this is a blue state. We're suppose to vote how we're told to vote. ;) But seriously before the internet, it was very difficult to find info on small time candidates around here. Most people look into the big stuff, not the little stuff. The newspapers certainly didn't.

A phone call. A letter.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind a person who simply abstains from voting because they don't want to research the candidates; that's what I do. But if you are going to vote then you should conduct some research. That is part of maintaining a functional democracy and laziness is not a valid excuse for eschewing one's civic duty.
 
A phone call. A letter.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind a person who simply abstains from voting because they don't want to research the candidates; that's what I do. But if you are going to vote then you should conduct some research. That is part of maintaining a functional democracy and laziness is not a valid excuse for eschewing one's civic duty.

The thing is this Chuck is talking about the State of Maine which by tradition either leads the Country or in the top 5 with voter turn out every year. And this is for all race not just local stuff. It's been this way going back 50 years or so.

I grew up in the State and never had any problems find information on local or state candidates.
 
Oh come on Chuck please that is a cough out I grew up in Maine and never had any problem getting information on local officials and those who were running. I grew up in Brunswick but knew what was going on in Bath/Durham/Lisbon/Lisbon Falls/Freeport.

The Portland Press Herald/Times Record/Kennebec Journal always had info on local race's.

I was sticking up for Jack who was not a lifelong Mainer when she moved here. If you don't catch the PPH at the right time, you miss info at the smaller local level.
 
I was sticking up for Jack who was not a lifelong Mainer when she moved here.

Okay then, but you do have to admit Maine as a whole it's rather easy to get info on local elections and bonds.

Also I wouldn't call Maine a Blue State if you throw out Portland and Lewiston-Auburn then Maine would be a Red State. It's more of an Independent State then anything else.
 
Moderator's Warning:
The next person to discuss Coon County will receive consequences. I didn't clean this thread up for nothing. Final warning!
 
I was sticking up for Jack who was not a lifelong Mainer when she moved here. If you don't catch the PPH at the right time, you miss info at the smaller local level.

Thanks, Chuckie :2wave:

Lots of things surprised me when I first got here. Including the paper ballots :lol:
 
Okay then, but you do have to admit Maine as a whole it's rather easy to get info on local elections and bonds.

Also I wouldn't call Maine a Blue State if you throw out Portland and Lewiston-Auburn then Maine would be a Red State. It's more of an Independent State then anything else.

I've been surrounded by "Gawg Bush hates all black people" and "Republicans ah rich racists" everywhere I've lived in this state. I just don't see the fierce independence.

I'd love to throw out L/A but not because of politics. :lol:
 
I've been surrounded by "Gawg Bush hates all black people" and "Republicans ah rich racists" everywhere I've lived in this state. I just don't see the fierce independence.

I'd love to throw out L/A but not because of politics. :lol:

Then you should go for a little ride over to Western Maine or get past Disgust and then you will see what I'm talking about.

As for L-A yep I agree totally with you on that.
 
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