Special Election Timing

Published Aug 26 2009, 12:13 PM by David S. Bernstein

According to current state law, the special election for the vacant Senate seat will be held in 145-160 days, which would mean either January 19, January 26, or February 2.

The party primaries for that election must be held six weeks earlier, which would be either December 8, 15, or 22.

I am getting informed speculation, however, that there may be a proposal to change the law -- aside from any change concerning a temporary appointment. The change would reduce the 145-160 days to something like 105-120 days.

This would allow the state to schedule the primary on November 3rd, the same day as the municipal elections that will be held all over the Commonwealth, including Boston. The general election for Senate would then fall six weeks later, on December 15.

The arguments for the change are as follows:

--The state and municipalities would save a truckload of money by combining the municipal and primary elections.

--The duration of Massachusetts lacking full representation (or represented by a temporary appointee) would be reduced by over a month.

--The newly elected Senator would be chosen and sworn in before the Senate resumes work after the New Year.

--The special election campaign would be over before the holidays, whereas under the current timetable the general-election campaign would take place over the XMas-New Year season, when people are not around or paying attention.

Obviously there can be much debating about which potential Senate candidates would benefit from this change. But it would definitely have an effect on the municipal elections, which presumably would see much, much higher turnout on November 3rd if the US Senate primary was also on the ballot that day.

Filed Under: Election09

New In The Phoenix -- After Ted

Edward M. Kennedy, 1932-2009

11 Comments

Michelle said:

I am in 100% agreement with the proposed changes. They are actually logical. It is tragic that we have to talk about this today, but I know that is what the Senator would have wanted. I think he is still working for us.

August 26, 2009 12:58 PM
tumble4ya said:

I second Michelle. This makes sense on a lot of levels.

August 26, 2009 1:08 PM
Jon said:

My biggest confusion about Kennedy's succession argument was one part that was overlooked. I thought I read once that the person who was appointed by the Governor, under Kennedy's plan, would not be eligible to run in the special election. Therefore, all of the talk of the benefits of an incumbent running would be moot points. Am I wrong in assuming this?

August 26, 2009 1:10 PM
bostongal86 said:

Make it the November 3rd election and save us all money!

August 26, 2009 1:11 PM
Neil said:

If you want to give the minority their best chance to win, hold the election on any day other than the first Tuesday of November.

If the Governor can appoint an interim Senator, I see no good coming from an expedited special election. Appoint an interim Senator and have ample time for a primary and campaign that culminates on the first Tuesday in November. Campaigns takes time. Don't allow the minority to exceed the majority by scheduling the election on other than Election Day.

August 26, 2009 2:00 PM
Mike said:

I agree that we should change the law to prevent a Republican from taking Ted's seat. We mustn't allow a technical law like this get in the way of much needed healthcare reform. We had the power to change the law last time. Let us use it again for the greater good.

August 26, 2009 6:46 PM
RobertWinters said:

That's quite a statement: "we should change the law to prevent a Republican from taking Ted's seat".

First, the likelihood of this happening is essentially zero. More importantly, is it really morally defensible to change a law in order to prevent someone from a particular party from being elected? This sounds not so different than the show trial now happening in Iran with the goal of outlawing opposition parties.

Let's just have a good law that we can all live with for a long time - one that's party neutral.

August 26, 2009 8:05 PM

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Special Election Timing

11 Comments

Michelle said:

tumble4ya said:

Jon said:

bostongal86 said:

Neil said:

Mike said:

RobertWinters said:

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