Voted in the 2026 Midterms

I voted in the US 2026 midterms! (Can you guess which way?)

Voting by Mail

Like many other voters, I’ve requested a mail-in ballot. If I recall correctly, there was a way to say “from now on” in that request, and I did so.

Periodically I check my voter registration and mail-in ballot status, because there’s been so much shenanigans perpetrated by Republicans seeking to disenfranchise voters. That’s not so much the case here in Massachusetts, but I at least want to model correct behavior by checking weekly in the couple months before the election.

So at the beginning of his week, I was happy to see the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s web site had my data as shown here: ballot mailed out, not yet returned. I could expect to receive it in probably 2-3 days.

And on Wednesday, here it was (suitably anonymized because… well, you know why — these are the times in which we live.) Inside there was a letter of instruction, 2 pages of ballot, a ballot envelope, and a return envelope.

That was all pretty straightforward, so I filled it all out carefully, put the ballot in the ballot envelope with my signature, and put it in the return envelope with my return address on it.

I did not, however, mail it. There’s been too much in the way of Republican threats about postal delivery of ballots for me to relax doing that.

So I walked it the mile or so to my local town office, and found their drop-box. These are always under video surveillance, because in some states there have been goons “guarding” the drop-boxes intimidating anyone not suitably white who approached. In my particular situation, there was video surveillance, the town office only a few meters away, and a police station across the street.

So, as you can see here, I felt very confident that I could submit my ballot here and cause the correct thing to happen.

Then began the checking phase, in which I attempted to be sure that the ballot was received, judged to be in good order, and queued for counting. We never used to have to do that, but see “Republican shenanigans” above. I’m almost certainly being over-protective here in deep blue Massachusetts, but again I want to model correct behavior.

Two days later, the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s web site updated as shown here: ballot received as of October 9, found to be in good order, and ready for counting.

This means my vote is now locked in. I can stop worrying about fulfilling my personal responsibility, and begin worrying about everybody else fulfilling theirs!

The Massachusetts Ballot Initiatives

There were 9 ballot initiatives this time. I know that’s not very many by California standards, but it’s a lot for us. As I didn’t get the DSA guidance in time (again!), I just looked at the official summary and the pro/con statements by interest groups.

Here’s where I landed:

• Question 1: Expanding the public records law Basically, should more information be available to the public, or not? Hard to argue against that! Secrecy seems to bring out the worst in politicians and agencies. So that’s a YES.
• Question 2: Collective bargaining for CPCS Employees Should we make it utterly and completely clear that some judicial branch employees can form a union? Unions good. So that’s another clear YES.
• Question 3: State primary elections Somebody wants to replace party primaries with something like a “jungle primary”, in which everybody runs against everybody else regardless of parties, and the top 2 go to a runoff in the main election. It’s not quite rank preference voting, which I would love (but which was previously voted down). The argument against is 2-fold:
  • Minorities tend to vote in the Democratic primary, and their voices would be diluted by Republican votes, which sadly tend to be anti-minority. Not sure how I feel about this, but ok.
  • Most importantly to me, it is backed by billionaire bros. It has attracted so much of the powerful and monied folks that it has their stink about it. I don’t know exactly how they plan on screwing everybody else with this, but I’m reasonably certain that’s a major probability.

  So, based mostly on the support by very, very rich people, that’s a NO.

• Question 4: Election day registration Should people be able to register at the last minute? If they’re willing to sign the usual oath backed by felony penalties, sure. Impediments to voter registration or voting are almost always bad. So this one is a firm YES.
• Question 5: State revenue limit & rebate Should we put a cap on tax money flowing into the government, and force automatic rebates? C’mon… this is just stupid. We already have ways to lobby politicians to adjust taxes. A firm NO.
• Question 6: Natural Resource Conservation Fund Should we put some money in a fund to protect clean air & water, reduce pollution and the like? The only downside I can find is it is not new money, but a diversion of a small amount from funds that usually go to other agencies & towns. Well, if they’re not doing their job to preserve the health of our living spaces, then put the money where it will happen. That’s a YES.
• Question 7: Single family homes Should we, state-wide, require zoning laws to allow construction of small homes on small lots? Very many towns block this, because our local zoning laws are very, very zany. We need more housing, particularly “starter” homes. A firm YES.
• Question 8: Prohibit retail sale of adult recreational use of marijuana Should we undo legalization? No, let’s not go back to training people to seek it illegally, from unsafe sources, and learning contempt for law. I’m not happy about marijuana, but I see it about like alcohol: people will have this, one way or another, so we might as well make sure it’s safe, put in place some laws about intoxication, and collect some taxes. So that’s a NO.
• Question 9: Firearms regulation The legislature enacted a law regulating and tracking some kinds of firearms like ghost guns and assault weapons. Weirdly worded, a “yes” vote keeps the legislation, and a “no” vote repeals it. I hate guns. I want to see them limited to target shooting ranges or hunting, and pretty much nothing else. So this was a YES.

Perhaps the DSA will get around to mailing me their opinion sometime soon, so I can check my answers against theirs. (Note to DSA folk: Work faster! You’re useless if you don’t get your voter guides out in time.)

The Weekend Conclusion

Go thou and do likewise. No Republicans, not ever, not anywhere.

(Ceterum censeo, Trump incarceranda est!)

(Et ceterum censeo, index Epsteiniani divulganda est!)

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Notes & References

Nope.