In the hours before Bostonians elect one of them as Mayor Tom Menino’s successor, City Councilor John Connolly and State Representative Marty Walsh are rounding up their voting bases in a final push to get out the vote.
The Boston Globe reports that Boston mom’s will meet the City’s labor horde on the field of battle tomorrow – a.k.a. polling stations across the city – representing Connolly and Walsh, respectively.
“I will take the moms any day of the week over the machine,” Connolly said to a crowd of supporters over the weekend.
Irked at the suggestion that Walsh volunteers are merely labor foot soldiers, the state Rep.’s field director, Joe Rull, told the Globe, “It’s actually firing up the volunteers to go out and make a second or third pass,” adding that the majority of the 2,200 people who knocked on doors over the weekend for Walsh were nonunion.
Connolly said that more than 1,000 volunteers will be out on his behalf tomorrow, working out of 14 staging areas. Walsh, meanwhile, could have more than 3,5000 volunteers in the streets on Election Day, Rull said, across 14 staging locations.
While it appears Connolly’s army will be outnumbered, he has reportedly embraced a “brains-over-brawn” theory, touting his volunteers’ ability to outsmart the competition.
“[Walsh] is too beholden to a narrow set of interests to be able to make the changes Boston needs,” Connolly said, referencing his supporters desire for a mayor not afraid to take on “entrenched” cultures.
Walsh, however, believes that the swing in momentum his way since the Sept. 24 preliminary election will serve him well at the polls. “We have a great organization throughout the city, and since the primary we’ve picked up so many more people, with the integration of Charlotte Golar Richie’s and John Barros’s and Felix Arroyo’s campaigns, and all the other elected officials that came on board.”
Walsh topped Connolly in September by less than 2 percent – about 1,400 votes – thanks in large part to hometown support from Dorchester. Connolly received 20 percent of his hometown’s (West Roxbury) vote and polled well across the city.
Just how much can hometown love affect tomorrow’s election, you ask?
Potentially, quite a lot: According the City of Boston Election Department’s WARD and Precinct voter breakdown, WARD 20 – comprised of West Roxbury and Roslindale – has 26,314 registered voters. Dorchester, however, comprised of WARDs 13, 15, 16 and 17, has 49,080 registered voters. Combined, registered voters from those WARDs represent about 15 percent of all registered voters in Boston.
On Sept. 24, about 113,000 ballots were cast – roughly 34 percent of Boston’s registered voting population. If history repeats itself and 5,000 more voters turn out tomorrow for the general election – as was the case in 1993 – those votes have the potential to swing the election Walsh’s or Connolly’s way; if Connolly receives about 75 percent of a potential 5,000 extra voters, he could make up the difference that earned Walsh a preliminary victory.
By no means would this secure a Connolly victory. It would, however, stress the importance of citywide voting.
According to WBUR, Connolly hopes Walsh’s get-out-the-vote effort will be minimized by a high voter turnout. If turnout is low, however, it would suggest Walsh could have the upper hand, thanks to his ability to mobilize his supporters.
Last week’s most recent UMass Amherst poll showed Walsh holding a 7 percent lead – 47 to 40 – over Connolly, with more of the 600 registered voters surveyed saying they had been contacted by Walsh’s campaign.
Polls open at 7 a.m. tomorrow and close at 8 p.m. Remember, tomorrow provides Bostonians an important opportunity to decide the future of Boston. So #FlockTheVote for either Walsh or Connolly. And remember the basics: Participate and fill in the oval completely.
Image from WBUR
