The Second Highest Paying Elected Office in the State?

There was very little drama in Massachusetts yesterday with the state going heavily to Kerry and most of the Democratic candidates for state office being swept into office. Without a doubt, the biggest electoral story in Central Massachusetts was the fact that Worcester County has a new sheriff for the first time in 18 years.

Why should you care about the job of Sheriff in Worcester County? Maybe because it is estimated to be the second highest paying elected office in Massachusetts (behind only the Governor).

Former State Senator Guy Glodis defeated the incumbent John “Mike” Flynn in the Democratic primary and yesterday was a foregone conclusion for Glodis who defeated Republican challenger Billy McCarthy pretty handily.

The job has a salary of about $110,000 but also includes a car, a house and the county pays the grocery bill for the sheriff. That’s a nice little package but not outrageous. Where the real money comes in for the sheriff is from summons. A number of law enforcement professionals have explained that for each summons delivered by the office of the Sheriff - the sheriff receives $4-5. That amount quickly adds up and may provide a total compensation package for the sheriff approaching $400,000.

Glodis has vowed to forego the house if elected. This property, which sits on the grounds of the Worcester County Jail, may now be used for other purposes.

Polls Are Closed, and Kerry Takes The State

I’m keeping an eye on the red state/blue state updates at the Boston Globe. The polls here in Massachusetts have been closed for just about 30 minutes, and it would appear — unsurprisingly — that Kerry has won this state.

Voter Turnout

The Boston Globe suggests that voter turn-out could top the 2.8 million who voted in 1992. They really don’t give any evidence to back up this claim and my guess is that actual turn-out will fall well short of the record. A good 68% of the 4.1 million registered voters would have to vote in order to break the record and there are no real close races to drive turnout.

1992 saw a voter turnout of 56% but there was also the three way Presidential race of Bill Clinton, George H. Bush and Ross Perot to motivate people to vote. A 56% turnout today would yield 2.3 million votes in the Bay State.

My Voting Observations

Well I voted. It was a no muss - no fuss affair. There were three people holding signs for local candidates outside the school where I am registered to vote. Two ladies checked me in by checking the rolls of registered voters for this Precinct (I didn’t have to show ID). I got my ballot, checked off my choices (including one write-in candidate for a lesser office), and passed in my ballot (there were three people there to receive my ballot who again cross checked me against the rolls of registered voters for this Precinct but again I didn’t have to show ID). There was a police officer on hand to make sure order was maintained (he was working on the day’s crossword puzzle).

I was in and out within 5 minutes. I spoke with the lady guarding the ballot machine (according to the machine I was the 382nd person to vote in this Precinct today and it was 9:40) and she said that this Precinct had about 1,900 registered voters and she was looking forward to a turn-out of about 1,000.

Later I went by another nearby Precinct where 4 people were holding signs and no waiting seemed the order of the day. It should be remarked upon that not a single sign for either Kerry or Bush was seen at either Precinct. It should also be remarked upon that during the Primary - the number of people holding signs was ten times the number that was out today. That’s the way it is in Massachusetts.

Getting Ready to Party

According to the Boston Globe, thousands are expected to pour into Copley Square tonight — whether that will be for John Kerry’s victory speech or his concession speech remains to be seen.

When I arrived in the Back Bay for work, fresh from voting*, workers were still completing the staging area for tonight’s Kerry rally, which will take place on the steps of one of my favorite Boston institutions: The Boston Public Library. Since this is essentially across the street from my office, I was able to get an ‘aerial’ view picture from the 44th floor of my building. Pardon the quality — I had to take the picture through a window, at an angle that made some reflection inevitable, but it should give you an idea of the physical scope of the event:

I doubt whether I will be able to get very close to the rally location after work tonight — the place is already swarming with security, and it’s going to be very, very crowded down here as the day progresses. But if I can, I’ll snap more photos and post them later this evening.

See also: The Boston Herald.

*Following Chris’s lead, you can find a copy of my ballot right here.

State House Action

Most of the a political action in Massachusetts today will deal with battles for seats in the State House. There are 28 contested state senate seats and 91 house seats up for grabs. The Boston Globe is trying to paint today’s contests as a battle of coattails between Governor Mitt Romney and Presidential hopeful John Kerry.

As far as the weather - its a fairly pleasant New England day (we’ll be lucky to see 50 degrees) with some rain expected later in the day.

Red Sox Parade vs. Voter Turnout

Boston Mayor Tom Menino’s office estimated that 3.2 million people turned out last Saturday to watch the Boston Red Sox victory parade. Those numbers have been challenged but even if you take a more conservative estimate of 2.0 million parade watchers - the parade is still likely to be a bigger event in Massachusetts than tomorrow’s election.

If you accept Menino’s numbers - then it will take a voter turnout of 78% to equal the parade or a 48.8% turnout if you accept the lower 2 million number.

The Fate of Third Party Status

The Boston Globe is reporting today that two parties — the Libertarian party as well as the Green-Rainbow party — will lose their status as official political parties on Massachusetts ballots if they fail to garner at least 3 percent of votes statewide. According to the article:

If the parties fail to earn 3 percent of the vote, they would become political designations. So voters could still register as a Libertarian or Green-Rainbow, but they would not be able to vote in primaries because there would not be party primaries.

Currently, Libertarians account for 0.58 percent of registered voters statewide, while the Green-Rainbow party accounts for 0.23 percent.

The Boston Herald also weighs in.

Congressional Races

I mentioned earlier that Massachusetts has 10 Congressional Districts but only SIX of those are being contested - Richard Neal in the 2nd, Michael Capuano of the 8th and Stephen Lynch (no relation) of the 9th are all running unopposed. EDIT: John Olver in the 1st is also running unopposed.

To get an idea of how much of a fight the remaining 7 Democratic incumbents will get from their Republican challengers - consider that OpenSecrets.org shows the incumbent Democrats raising about $9.6 million compared to just $531,082 for the challengers.

One sided races haven’t stopped the incumbents from airing plenty of ads though. Some are positioning themselves for possible runs at higher office (like Ed Markey who may try for the Senate or Governor’s office in 2 years) or just increasing name recognition in newly reorganized congressional districts (like Jim McGovern who has spent about $1 million even though he’ll win his race easily).

Massachusetts Politics

Election day in Massachusetts may be a bit boring. There are no Senate seats up for grabs and the Governor does not run for re-election for another 2 years. We do have 10 Congressional Districts but because Massachusetts is such a heavily Democratic state - there will probably be very little in the way of surprises.

John Kerry is expected to carry Massachusetts easily and the only drama may be in how close the Bush / Cheney ticket can make it. Massachusetts has about 4,100,000 registered voters and the Democrats outnumber the Republicans by and almost 3-1 ratio (1,526,711 to 532,319). Interestingly - over 2 million have registered as Independent (full disclosure - that would be me too).

Here is a copy of what my ballot will look like in the morning.