Historically, Lawrence has distinguished itself by the little enthusiasm that its citizens show when they give their vote. Every four years, on the occasion of electing or re-electing a president, we show a little more enthusiasm. It seems that we care more about who is going to lead our nation than who is going to run our city.
What happened in the preliminary elections of this year 2019, we believe is a sign of what we are saying, even if we could be wrong. Since Rumbo began to circulate on May 15, 1996, there had been no case of preliminary elections where only the voters of a single district went to the polls: C. The reason for this was because that district had 3 candidates, while the remaining A, B, D, E, and F only carried 2 candidates each and they all will be going to the November elections.
Unfortunately, for these voters who are always lost on Election Day, Rumbo published FREE, for two consecutive weeks, September 8 and 15, a notice from the Elections Department informing what we just reported in the previous paragraph. Too bad they didn’t read it.
On November 5th, there will be elections again, this time the finals; this time with two candidates for each district, although if the voter is an observer, he will notice that there are three districts, B, C and F that do not have candidates for the School Committee for Lawrence.
In the case of the Lawrence School Committee, some potential candidates argue that, because the School Department is governed by the state, it is not necessary to be part of a committee that has no authority.
The point is valid although it would be more convenient if the 6 positions were covered and in that way, not only learn how the system works, but discuss and denounce what they believe is not correct and put pressure for schools to be returned to the city. As things stand right now, there’s total secrecy about the school system’s operations since nothing is ever communicated to the public.
In this country, to change the things we don’t like, we use the elections, not weapons. This next November 5, we have that opportunity. Let’s not waste it.
