The Voters Take Over

We're about 15 minutes from the polls opening. Finally, we have a say in the matter.

There will be some morning coverage at the Fitchburg Pride website this morning, then there will be continuously updated coverage there -- with analysis here -- in the evening. Boy, Election Day is great.

Obviously, don't forget to vote. Put your early observations from the polls here. More later.

Go vote.

UPDATE, 10:15 a.m. -- I'm going to update this post throughout the day, as events and random thoughts warrant.

First, there's a story and a few photos at the Fitchburg Pride website (link above). Enjoy.

Second, turnout, not surprisingly, is soft. After a small burst of activity at 8:01, things appeared to be a trickle by 8:15, and that's still when people are popping by on their way to work. Svens says in a comment that he was #85 or so at 9:40. That's about, roughly 50 people an hour. Over 12 hours, that's 600 people. Multiply by six wards, that's 3,600 people. But 50 people an hour won't be coming in at 10 or 11, or 2 or 3. Long-time observers, like Ward 1 Councilor Dave Clark, said it was quiet this morning.

Third, if you read the local blogs (honestly, my favorite is here), there's a lot of "anyone but DeSalvatore" talk in the last few days. There's also some good talk about creating change and moving the city forward through this election. We'll see what happens. As the Unicow said yesterday, he might be losing a lot of material if DeSalvatore loses today.

Anyway, if haven't already, go vote.


Update, 2:19 p.m. -- Two things:

First, Mrs. Save Fitchburg did her civic duty just after 12:30 today. Memorial School was a ghost town. Does anyone have any evidence of decent turnout? Anyone? Anyone at all?

Second, and I hate to bring this up now, but I was just talking about it in the office, and figure better late than never. During last Thursday's debate, DeSalvatore said "slumlords" house 75 percent of the city's criminals. Where, oh where, did that number come from? What is the definition of a "slumlord," and how does he know 75 percent of the city's law-breakers live in their housing? How? Again, all apologies for bringing this up at the last minute, and hopefully it's trivial enough to not change anyone's mind. I wrote it down Thursday night, forgot about it, and then was reminded when I watched the debate again late Sunday night with Mrs. SF, and then forgot about it again.


Update, 3:55 p.m. -- From all reports -- pretty much all anecdotal, but all pretty consistent -- turnout is going to be higher than a lot of folks previously thought. I'm hearing that before 3 p.m, almost 800 people had voted at Ward 3. Ward 3 is traditionally the biggest in the city, but I figured that number or so for the entire day down there. You gotta think a big turnout, if that's the case, will help Wong and DeSalvatore, with a motivated change vote coming out, you gotta figure. Lots of assumptions here based on anecdotal evidence -- but it seems like that mid-teens percentage might be going by the wayside.


Update, 5:50 p.m. -- If "polls" is correct (see comments), we're looking at over 5,000 voters today. Considering the expectations -- I don't know if anyone really thought more than 4,000 -- that's a pretty good number. But is it? Is 20-25 percent really good? In this case, I think so. It also speaks to how people are paying attention this time around. Interesting, I say.

Just so you know, after 8 p.m. we'll be putting this post to bed. I'll put up a new post, which will include numbers, running totals, and whatever other little tidbits come up. When a winner is announced, it will be at Fitchburg Pride. We'll have a story up there this evening with quotes and stuff from the candidates. Some analysis will be here, after the story. Enjoy.


Update, 7:30 p.m. -- If you haven't voted, now might be the time to get going. Good lord, from all accounts just about everyone else has. We'll see if those numbers hold up, but it appears as if turnout is way high. Obviously the winners are the story of the day, but this is a very good and very close second.

Before all hell breaks loose: Thanks for playing today. This space has been informative, fun and interesting, all day long. Also, we're going to smash whatever record this page has had for views in a day. The old record was around 930. At least check, about half-hour ago, we were at about 820. I woke up this morning and vaguely wondered if it was possible to hit four-figures today. I think that's likely. Amazing. So, thanks for checking in throughout the day, and over the last four months. It's been fun, and the good news is the fun is just starting. We get six more weeks starting in just a few hours, when we know the matchup. Throw at-large in the mix, and it's going to be a wild 42 day. Yippee.

So, thanks again. I'm off to tuck Spawn 2 into bed soon and get ready for the onslaught.