Any interesting local elections?

[oceanchild]

We had a proposal to create a library district, which would have added a new mill levy (property tax). It lost, which means they will close half of our public libraries, including the one closest to me.

Also what I thought were some unusual city council results, but I've only lived here for 5 months, so who knows.

How about you?

[DCJenn]

We only had state-wide constitutional amendments and Bexar County had only a 6% turnout which is utterly pathetic.

An amendment to create buffer zones around military bases passed (development is encroaching on Camp Bullis, here in SA. They train all of the military medics there- that's where they run the real-life drills). They passed an amendment to approve funding a VA hospital in the Valley- those Vets are driving into San Antonio for medical care which is just ridiculous.

All of the amendments passed.

jenn

[Sheherezade]

We failed to pass a bond issue for a new police station -- second time on the ballot with a reduced cost. I think nobody is up for any new tax or expense. Sorry about the libraries. We passed our library emergency funds here last election. Maybe it was the 2008 spirit o'change.

[oceanchild]

I think nobody is up for any new tax or expense.

Yeah, and I understand that. It just makes for a terrible time for municipal government. Aurora (where I live) was laying off 140 people before taking the libraries thing into account. I don't know how many rounds of layoffs this has been, but I know it isn't the first. And I'll be starting a job with the City and County of Denver two weeks after they laid off 170 people. I'm all for doing more with less, but sooner or later this stuff is going to have an impact. And in many cases it already has.

[NYCHoosier]

Yay, Bloomberg!! I love love love living in a city with a smart mayor, and I'm so glad we're keeping him!

It was a close race, much closer than expected, but it's not really because people dislike Bloomberg or the job he's done. Exit polls put him at 70% approval.

... Looking at the exit polling, however, I actually think the interpretation of this race is relatively straightforward. Voters in the exit poll approved of Bloomberg's performance 70-29, but a quarter of those who approved of Bloomberg voted against him anyway. Why? Because 58 percent of voters said that Bloomberg's decision to change the city's term limits law to enable him to seek a third term was a significant factor in their vote, and those voters broke against him 2:1.

The way I see it, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Everything was pretty predictable here. I'm really annoyed voters seemed to vote party-line for less-publicized elections (judges).

[Pollyanna]

We passed a bond election for our district. I am not happy with it at all! The continual whining about not having enough money yet they have now spent close to $750,000 on a consultant to change the grading system (which is the biggest piece of crap on the planet). I know too much about what goes on behind the scenes to ever vote for a budget override under this current superintendent.

[scarlett09]

No elections in my little state. None at all. I was looking forward to voting here too. I guess I will just wait until midterm elections next year.

They elected the first black District Attorney in Philly. He won by a large margin and is taking the place of a long-term DA, who used to be his boss. It should be interesting to see if he can have an effect on Philly's serious crime problem.

Other than keeping an eye on NJ gubernatorial election, nothing else exciting going on. I'm more intrigued by the fact that, during a transit strike in Philly, people crammed onto a regional rail line to get into the city, only to have the train catch fire (no one was injured). How ironic.

Well, we passed a little thing here in Ohio known as Issue 3, allowing casinos in the state. It's been a huge contraversial subject. I'm just glad its over with.

[SuzySunshine]

We didn't have a single thing to vote on here - they are hand counting ballots in Minneapolis for some reason, not sure that that is all about but it doesn't sound good.

[oceanchild]

We didn't have a single thing to vote on here - they are hand counting ballots in Minneapolis for some reason, not sure that that is all about but it doesn't sound good.

I was curious about this, so I looked it up. Interesting stuff! Recommended reading for my fellow political science nerds: http://www.startribune.com/politics/...tml?page=1&c=y

[scarlett09]

Julia, that was pretty interesting. A little confusing at first, but an interesting concept. I like it for things like city council, board of education, county freeholder races where multiple candidates are vying for multiple seats. Sometimes it's hard to choose just one for each spot. Thanks for sharing!

[oceanchild]

Yeah, the way they're implementing it sounds kind of confusing. I really like the idea of instant runoff voting, though, and am curious to see how it turns out.