‘A self-fulfilling cycle’: Why Gateway Cities consistently have lower voter turnout
Cities like Worcester have turnout rates that fall far behind state and county levels, even though they are some of the most impacted by policy decisions
Cities like Worcester — where the poverty rate is twice as high as the state’s — may have trouble getting people to the polls this November. The state’s most disadvantaged and diverse urban communities often have some of the lowest voter turnout rates. In the last midterm election year, nine of the 10 municipalities with the lowest voter turnout were Gateway Cities.
THE CODCAST
Where organized labor hits the ballot
Organized labor has been out in force on ballot measures — recently literally trying to secure bargaining power through the ballot — and that means manpower, mobilization, and money funneling toward a set of policy measures that the Legislature has waved away. This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith looks at unions and direct democracy with two guests.
Nick Juravich, associate professor of history and labor studies and associate director of the Labor Resource Center at UMass Boston, breaks down where we sit in the history of unions and ballot efforts. Then Chrissy Lynch, head of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, explains how the unions themselves pick their targets.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Commonwealth in depth
The Dean of Massachusetts mayors
Leominster bills itself as ‘a city on the move,’ but it hasn’t elected a new mayor in more than three decades
BY THE NUMBERS
Massachusetts political parties stand by as their membership rolls evaporate
Voters are not rejecting parties. They just don’t have a chance to join.
From the Archives
On Heritage Road
In the heart of suburbia, anxieties about the new economy
