Good news on the campaign-sign-clearing front — it looks like most campaigns and political organizations have decided to remove their signage from medians far sooner than the rules allow.
Arlington Democrats estimate they removed 80% of signage from medians on Wednesday, the day after voting took place. And a spot check across the community shows Republicans and independents were getting large chunks of their signs down, too, even thought under law they have a week to do so.
Thank you all. Small favors can be the best kind!
SUMS UP THE ELECTION IN A NUTSHELL (WITH FOCUS ON “NUT”?): I checked in on the Bull Elephant political blog site, which tends to be for those of a hard-right caliber, and found this response to one of the election articles:
“I voted Republican yesterday, for oblivious reasons.”
Just a typo. I think.
CH-CH-CH-CHANGES TO ELECTORAL BOARDS: It won’t happen overnight, and most residents won’t even be aware of the change, but Glenn Youngkin taking over the Governor’s Mansion means a whole lot of Democrats statewide are going to lose their seats on electoral boards.
Under state law, each of the electoral boards (one for every city or county) gets two members who represent the party of the governor, one for the out-of-power party. For the past eight years, that has meant Democrats have held two-to-one advantages across the commonwealth. That will now change.
Not immediately, mind you. But the first of each body’s two Democrats to come up for reappointment by the local Circuit Court will be bounced in favor of one nominated by local Republicans.
In Arlington, for instance, current Electoral Board Chairman Matt Weinstein will be the next Democrat up, and when his term expires on Dec. 31, 2022, the body will get a new member from the Republican persuasion.
Back when the parties swapped occupancy of the Governor’s Mansion on a frequent basis, that meant that some people got bumped after relatively short tenures — like Weinstein, just three years in some cases.
But consider Allen Harrison Jr., who despite all the upheavals in state governance stayed on the Arlington Electoral Board an amazing 29 years (1987-2016), because he never was on the hot seat when Republicans lost the governorship. Just complete random luck, of course, but pretty amazing, nonetheless.
- Scott McCaffrey