Nobody likes a candidate whose name they can't spell

[sovay]

So I went to that local Democratic caucus tonight and now I am the first alternate female/gender-neutral delegate for Ward 4 of Somerville to the Massachusetts Democratic State Convention in June. I think I ran after all.

I did not make the cut as an actual delegate. I got sixteen votes in the gender-neutral category on a two-minute platform composed of self-identifying as a queer poly Jewish writer and describing my fervent desire to replace Governor Baker with an ethical artichoke or, if we want to get really freaky, an actual human being with a sense of ethics.* The winner got eighteen votes on a platform composed of actually being involved in local politics. When the voting came back around to the alternate delegates, also divided by gender, I was one of two winners in a close three-person election, eighteen votes each and seventeen for the runner-up. I think I did not do badly considering everyone else in our corner of the cafeteria was a total stranger to me. (I knew some people in other wards, but they were either in their own corners of the cafeteria or had left the room. The fact that this was all happening in a high school cafeteria, by the by, made me feel I should have brought a three-fold poster board at the least.) I am also amazed that our political system really does allow any yahoo to walk in off the street, talk about vegetables, and get sent to a convention center in Worcester with the potential to influence state elections. Admittedly in my case that will happen only if any of the actual delegates become unable to vote on the day, which I do not hope for since they were all very nice, politically committed people; in all likelihood my experience of this year's convention will consist of listening to politicians bloviate, not voting, and going home. In the meantime I think I am bound to attend a bunch of ward committee meetings and should probably buy some better clothes.

In conclusion: democracy! Jeez.

* Literally I did this. "Replace Governor Baker with an artichoke" is now a valid, proven political platform.

Comments

[sovay]

Congratulations!

Thank you!

what do you mean by category (as in, you were in the gender-neutral category)? What I mean is, I thought it was done by political party or something? Can people create categories?

So this was all taking place under the auspices of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. I assume the numbers are different for different wards of different cities, but Ward 4 of Somerville sends eight delegates to the state convention. One is automatically the ward chair; of the remaining seven delegates, three are male, three female, and there is one designated gender-neutral slot. I suspect it is a combination of open-to-all-genders and available for candidates who do not identify as either male or female—one of the other people in my election was femme-presenting genderqueer, for example. (They did not win either and I was sorry. On the other hand, neither of us was running for alderman.) Each of these gender divisions had a separate round of nominations and then an election; after all delegates had been elected, there was an identical process for the alternates. That's what I meant by categories; I apologize if it was confusing. The delegates have the ability to vote on any issues at the state level of the party, which in election years means things like the nomination of the party's candidate for governor—which is why I plan to try for delegate again next year, though I expect so will everyone else—and this year means things like the party platform, which should be interesting to watch. Did that help?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yes, it helps a great deal! Thank you very much. (There wasn't anything confusing about your initial post; I just don't have enough basic knowledge, but what you've said here brings me more or less up to speed.)

[sovay]

(There wasn't anything confusing about your initial post; I just don't have enough basic knowledge, but what you've said here brings me more or less up to speed.)

I had no idea how any of this process worked before I walked through the door. It was a good civics lesson.