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City Clerk Marilyn Gomeau goes over the ballot at a voter information session at MCLA's Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation.

MassPIRG Pushing to Increase Voter Turnout at MCLA

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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MCLA student Ari Battaini, MassPIRG coordinator, speaks with Mayor Thomas Bernard and college President Jamie Birge after the presentation.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — It's a given that young people don't vote. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is hoping to buck the trend. 
 
In one good sign, the nearly two dozen students and others attending a voter information session on Wednesday, at least those of voting age, raised their hands to indicate they were registered and would be voting on Tuesday. 
 
While turnout was low in the last mid-terms in 2014, only 16 percent, MCLA students turned out in numbers of 47 percent and 55 percent for the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016, respectively.
 
"From 2012 to 2016 was a fairly dramatic increase. In fact, one of the largest increases across the nation," said college President James Birge. "We outperformed national data in 2016."
 
Wednesday's Halloween-themed event was the culmination of a voter drive on campus by Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group to ensure that students knew about this year's mid-term and were ready to vote. Birge was joined by Mayor Thomas Bernard and City Clerk Marilyn Gomeau to talk about the importance of voting and how to do it.
 
"Eighteen to 29-year-olds are the largest and most potential voters alive," said Ari Battaini, a student and the MassPIRG campus organizer who has been coordinating the registration drive on campus. "So we're teaching the population the logistics of voting in hopes of a good turnout."
 
The millennials — those approaching their 40s — make up nearly a third of the voting population and the first wave of post-millennials came of age in time for the 2016 election. But their participation rates have lagged far behind the baby boomers and boomers' parents and children (Generation X).
 
"One of the defining characteristics of a democracy is people coming together to voice their interests, their concerns, their support for a variety of different issues," Birge said. "The outcome of that support is voting behavior."
 
The voting behavior of students seems to be high in presidential elections but even then, certain groups aren't taking advantage of the right to voice their concerns that previous Americans fought hard to obtain. In particular, African-American and Hispanic students had far lower rates of voting than white and Asian Americans at MCLA.
 
"How are we making sure that access to messages about electoral politics is broad-based and penetrating so that all students understand what their voting behavior can be?" Birge asked, adding, "It really is about engagement with important issues around us and then we do something with that we vote. That's the foundation of democracy."
 
Bernard said it was about making voting a habit and engaging to make choices that affect people's lives. 
 
"There are critical issues facing Massachusetts in next week's election," he said. "And that's true in every district in every state around the country. That's one of the reasons voting truly matters. It's about who represents us."
 
It's also about making decisions that have direct consequences, such as the three measures on Tuesday's ballot, he said.
 
One would set out very specific ratios for nurses to patients in hospitals across the state and set fines for violations; the second would create a citizens commission to begin an amendment process to overturn the controversial Citizens United Supreme Court ruling that increased unregulated funding of campaigns; and third is an attempt to rescind a law banning discrimination against transgender people in public accommodations.
 
Tuesday's election is also unique in that it features an incumbent mounting a write-in campaign. She also went over the logistics of how to vote by filling out the ovals next to people's names as well as how to write in a candidate.
 
"If you're going to write someone's name in make sure it's someone you really want. Don't write a fictitious name in because that wastes your vote," she told the students. "If there is someone you really feel would be a good person, write them in ... but we get people who write in Mickey Mouse. ...
 
"Really be serious about it when you go to vote."
 
Early voting ends Friday; the city clerk's office will be open for voting until 4 p.m., early voting ballots mailed out must be returned by 4:30. The voting is Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center for all five city wards.

Tags: election 2018,   masspirg,   MCLA,   voting,   


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Cost, Access to NBCTC High Among Concerns North Berkshire Residents

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

Adams Select Chair Christine Hoyt, NBCTC Executive Director David Fabiano and William Solomon, the attorney representing the four communities, talk after the session. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Public access channels should be supported and made more available to the public — and not be subject to a charge.
 
More than three dozen community members in-person and online attended the public hearing  Wednesday on public access and service from Spectrum/Charter Communications. The session at City Hall was held for residents in Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg and North Adams to express their concerns to Spectrum ahead of another 10-year contract that starts in October.
 
Listening via Zoom but not speaking was Jennifer Young, director state government affairs at Charter.
 
One speaker after another conveyed how critical local access television is to the community and emphasized the need for affordable and reliable services, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly. 
 
"I don't know if everybody else feels the same way but they have a monopoly," said Clarksburg resident David Emery. "They control everything we do because there's nobody else to go to. You're stuck with with them."
 
Public access television, like the 30-year-old Northern Berkshire Community Television, is funded by cable television companies through franchise fees, member fees, grants and contributions.
 
Spectrum is the only cable provider in the region and while residents can shift to satellite providers or streaming, Northern Berkshire Community Television is not available on those alternatives and they may not be easy for some to navigate. For instance, the Spectrum app is available on smart televisions but it doesn't include PEG, the public, educational and governmental channels provided by NBCTC. 
 
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