City Hall memo: Endorsement vote only a 'gentleman's agreement'
While the political future of Katie Harrison ’11, Mike Jones ’11 and Minh Tran ’09 hangs in the balance of Friday’s Ward 1 Democratic endorsement vote, so too does the future of the endorsement vote itself.
The structure of the endorsement vote in coming years hinges on the success of Friday’s election. But the straw poll that will establish a frontrunner in the Ward 1 race this fall is less of a definitive election than a “gentleman’s agreement,” as one state official termed it.
Under Connecticut state law, Friday’s vote is technically meaningless. Invented so student...
It's nice that the election is in April, though. If it were in September, you would get low turnout and candidates scrambling to campaign in just a week or two.
Having this vote now doesn't allow next year's freshmen to vote. This is undemocratic.
And how much will those freshmen know about New Haven, exactly?
About as much as most other Yalies, frankly.
Dear What 2013,
A September primary forces everyone to vote without a real campaign about the issues facing New Haven. There may still be an independent challenger in the general election. The process was designed with exactly this in mind. In the meantime, if you are interested in New Haven politics, I would be happy to talk with you. My email is benjamin.shaffer@yale.edu.
Ben
i can't get over the fact that the ward 1 folks sold raffle tickets to pay for this election. such organic electoral processes, it tickles me.