Jamaica Plain Election Info: Candidates, Ballot Questions, Where to Vote and More

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Tuesday's Election Day is going to be extremely tame, at least in Massachusetts, compared to the fireworks of September's primaries, which already decided all of the major races.

Ayanna Pressley

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Races Already Decided

Jamaica Plain encompasses two congressional districts and there is only one candidate in the final of each. At-Large Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley is headed to Washington, DC after defeating 10-time incumbent Michael Capuano in the Democratic primary for the 7th District. Incumbent Democrat Stephen Lynch, 8th-MA, is headed back to DC, after easily winning in the primary.

JP's state rep races are also already decided. Nika Elugardo upset Jeffrey Sanchez in the Democratic Party to win the 15th Suffolk District seat. State Rep. Liz Malia will return to the State House after defeating two challengers in the Democratic primary in September.

JP's state Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, D-2nd Suffolk, is also unopposed. Jamaica Plain's Christopher Iannella, a Democrat for the Governor's Councilor 4th District, is also unopposed.

Suffolk County Races: Who Will Be The Next District Attorney?

Democrat Rachael Rollins is expected to handily win the Suffolk County District Attorney race against independent candidate Michael Maloney.

Maloney has said he's an independent candidate, but candidates are allowed to choose what they want to be listed as their party designation/description on the ballot and Maloney chose "Independent Reformer." Not sure if it's intentional or not, but there was an Independent Reform Party -- in the 1870s. According to Wikipedia, "The Independent Reform Party, sometimes also known as the Anti-Monopoly Party, was a short-lived political party in Illinois, in the United States. Arising out of the disorder created by the fracturing of the Republican Party in 1872, when the Liberal Republican Party had been created, it was organized on June 10, 1874, in a convention at Springfield. It fielded candidates in that year's elections but disappeared thereafter." So that's interesting.

Current Suffolk County Register of Deeds, Democrat Stephen Murphy, is expected to defeat "unenrolled" Gabriela Mendoza.

Sometimes you get your ballot and you're like, "Hey, what's this position? Who should I vote for?" Well, the following three not-so-well-known Suffolk County races only have one candidate, all Democrats, so you've got three options: vote for them, do a write-in candidate or blank it. Jamaica Plain's Maura Hennigan is the only candidate for the Suffolk County Clerk for Criminal Business Court, Michael Joseph Donovan is the only candidate for the Suffolk County Clerk for Civil Business Court and Maura Doyle is the only candidate for the Suffolk County Clerk for the Supreme Judicial Court.

Statewide Races are Competitive with Multiple Candidates

State Auditor and Democrat Suzanne Bump has three opponents, Republican Helen Brady, Libertarian Daniel Fishman and the Green-Rainbow Party's Edward Stamas. Bump is expected to win.

State Treasurer and Democrat Deborah Goldberg has two opponents in Republica Keiko Orrall and the Green-Rainbow Party's Jamie Guerin.

Secretary of State and Democrat William Galvin is expected to defeat Republican Anthony Amore and the Green-Rainbow Party's Juan Sanchez.

Massachusetts' Attorney General and Democrat Maura Healey is expected to defeat Republican James McMahon.

Republican Governor Charlie Baker and Republican Lt. Gov. Karen Polito are expected to defeat Democrats Jay Gonzalez and Quentin Palfrey.

One of the more heated elections has been for the U.S. Senate in which Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Warren is expected to defeat Republican candidate and Trump supporter Geoff Diehl and independent candidate Shiva Ayyadurai.

Ballot Question 1: How Many Patients Can Be Assigned to a Registered Nurse?

There sure have been a lot of advertisements about this ballot question regarding nurses.

The amount of patients a nurse could see depends upon the facility. For example, a nurse in a psychiatric or rehab unit could be assigned up to five patients. For units with post-anesthesia care or operating rooms, a registered nurse could see one patient under anesthesia and two post-anesthesia patients per nurse.

There is a lot of fine print in this proposed law. Each medical facility would have to write a patient acuity tool for each unit to evaluate the condition of each patient, which would determine whether patient limits should be lower than the limits of the proposed law at anytime. The state Health Policy Commission could report violations to the attorney general, who could file a suit to obtain $25,000 per violation, and $25,000 for each day a violation continued after the commission informed the facility of its violation.

Ballot Question 2: Should a Citizens Commission be Created to Recommend Potential Amendments to the U.S. Constitution?

A Yes vote on this question would definitely fly in the face of recent U.S. Supreme Court  rulings that made it easier for "dark money" and super political action committees to donate to candidates. It would also establish that corporations do not have the same rights as human beings.

The proposed 15-member commission would not be compensated and would be appointed by the governor, state secretary of state, the state attorney general, speaker of the state House of Representatives, and state Senate president. Each would appoint three members.

Ballot Question 3: Let's Keep a Law in Place Prohibiting Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity in Public Places 

Let's put it simple. A Yes vote would keep the current law in place and a No vote means it would repeal the law.

Click here for more information about the three ballot questions.

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