The Keene school district website says, “The election is set for March 8, 2011 at the polls, which are open from 7:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. Wards 1, 2 & 3 vote at the Keene Recreation Center, 312 Washington Street, and Wards 4 & 5 vote at the First Baptist Church, 105 Maple Avenue. Same day registration is available.”
This is a chance to have a slightly more effective influence over school board decisions, as opposed to holding signs in front of the middle school.
Update: more information on this thread. Thanks, Keith.
A bill that would require college students to vote in their home towns, rather than in their college towns, has been generating a lot of controversy lately. A public hearing will be held tomorrow at the statehouse.
The debate surrounding the bill has been predictable: bill supporters – all of them Republicans, as far as I know – have argued that students are depriving college towns of their political self-determination. (Laughably false, given students’ low turnout.) Hyper-partisan Democrats have responded by loudly proclaiming that Republicans are trying to deprive students of their right to vote. (Just plain not true.)
It seems that the only people talking sense are the students themselves. (more…)
Dave Ridley reports from a city committee meeting where he again encounters Keene “mayor” Dale Pregent and is AGAIN completely ignored. This is amazing behaviour from a politician whom one would normally expect to pander to the press. I bet if it were WMUR asking him for an interview, he’d hop right to it. Many other Keene bureaucrats are very friendly. This guy, especially as an elected position, is unbelievable:
In a letter that can be found in this Free Keene Forum thread, Nick Ryder asks the City Council to address multiple legal and moral concerns regarding Keene’s ban on parking on a city street after 1am between November 1 and May 1.
On October 31, parking on a city street past 1am is just fine – but the very next day, whether there is snow on the ground or not, it results in a $15 fine. Ryder asked the City Council to consider a more lenient approach to what seems to be little more than a revenue source for the city and police, at least when no snow removal attempts are in progress.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfBGwY7cgzo(Thanks to Kager for camera operating)
Results: The committee claims that the City is already reviewing this ordinance, and will not take any action outside of the previously scheduled review.
Since I was unable to attend the hearing for HB240 on Tuesday, I instead asked bill co-sponsor Seth Cohn about events there.
According to Cohn, the hearing didn’t go as well as he had hoped.
Secretary of State William Gardner, who oversees New Hampshire elections, spoke against the bill, arguing that New Hampshire should not be the first state to try this out, in case there are unintended consequences. (Gardner has apparently been NH Secretary of State since 1976. I don’t know how or why.)
Although he thinks passing the bill will be a struggle, Cohn added that bill supporters intend to “fight the good fight” on the House floor regardless of how the House Election Law committee votes.
Added: Approval voting advocate “Clay Doe”, in the comments, wants me to promote his informative page about HB240. It’s awesome, so I will. The Center for Election Science, HB240.
