November 10, 2024

Here are the Lowell results from last Tuesday’s election:

President

Kamala Harris won statewide with 2,073,389 votes to 1,234,533 for Donald Trump. In Lowell, Harris won with 20,071 to Trump’s 12,313.

US Senator

Elizabeth Warren won statewide with 1,990,182 (59.6%) to John Deaton’s 1,347,732 (40.4%). In Lowell, Warren received 20,593 votes to 11,129 for Deaton.

US Representative

Lori Trahan won without opposition. In Lowell, she received 24,995 votes.

Governor’s Councillor

Eunice Delice Zeigler of Methuen will be Lowell’s new representative on the nine-member Governor’s Council, succeeding Eileen Duff who instead ran for and won the Essex South Register of Deeds office. Districtwide, Zeigler, a Democrat, received 178,441 votes to 154,914 for Republican Anne M. Manning-Martin and 45,210 for Independent Jody Elliott. In Lowell, Zeigler got 13,973 votes; Manning-Martin got 9,130; and Elliott got 4,889.

State Senate

Incumbent Democrat Edward Kennedy was reelected with 39,618 votes districtwide to 22,946 for Republican Karla Miller. In Lowell, Kennedy received 21,682 votes to 8,637 for Miller.

State Representative – 16th Middlesex

Incumbent Democrat Rodney Elliott won without opposition. In Lowell, he received 7,656 votes.

State Representative – 17th Middlesex

Incumbent Democrat Vanna Howard was reelected with 9,309 votes (8,231 from Lowell) to Pirate Party’s Joseph Onoroski’s 2,663 (with 2,274 in Lowell).

State Representative – 18th Middlesex

Democrat Tara Hong defeated unenrolled candidate Dave Ouellette with 7,316 votes for Hong to 2,005 for Ouellette.

Clerk of Courts

Incumbent Democrat Michael Sullivan won without opposition. In Lowell, he received 24,159 votes.

 Register of Deeds

Democrat Karen Cassella won without opposition. In Lowell, she received 25,060 votes.

Regional School Committee – Dracut

Incumbent Paul Morin was reelected as a Dracut representative to the Greater Lowell Vocational High School without opposition. He received 22,570 votes in Lowell.

Regional School Committee – Lowell

The two Lowell seats on the Vocational High School were filled by incumbents Lee Gitschier and Curtis LeMay who ran without opposition. In Lowell, Gitschier received 16,005 votes; LeMay received 15,021.

Question 1 – State Auditor can audit State Legislature

The YES side won overwhelmingly, receiving 2,277,677 votes statewide with 906,339 voting NO. In Lowell, 22,310 voted YES; 7,836 voted NO.

Question 2 – Eliminate MCAS as high school graduation requirement

The YES side won this question by a large margin receiving 1,960,915 votes statewide to 1,359,770 votes against eliminating it. In Lowell, 18,619 voted YES; 11,660 voted NO.

Question 3 – Permit Uber drivers to unionize

The YES side prevailed statewide with 1,727,273 voting YES and 1,482,302 voting NO. In Lowell, 17,899 voted YES and 11,287 voted NO.

Question 4 – Legalize certain psychedelics

This question lost statewide by a substantial margin although the vote in Lowell was closer. Statewide, the NO side got 1,868,539 votes to 1,409,314 voting YES. In Lowell, 15,819 voted NO and 15,236 voted YES.

Question 5 – Minimum wage for tipped workers

This question lost by a large margin statewide and by a smaller margin in Lowell. Statewide, the NO side got 2,107,340 votes to 1,168,745 voting NO. In Lowell, 16,494 voted NO and 15,009 voted YES.

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I’ll leave it to each of you to deal with the election of Donald Trump in your own way. In the meantime, to help gauge Trump’s relative popularity over time in this region, here are the presidential vote totals for Lowell and the surrounding towns in the past three elections:

Lowell

2024: Kamala Harris – 20,071; Donald Trump – 12,313
2020: Joe Biden – 25,544; Donald Trump – 12,346
2016: Hillary Clinton – 23,555; Donald Trump – 10,584

Billerica

2024: Kamala Harris – 11,646; Donald Trump – 11,048
2020: Joe Biden – 13,328; Donald Trump – 10,731
2016: Donald Trump – 10,319; Hillary Clinton – 10,100

Chelmsford

2024: Kamala Harris – 12,697; Donald Trump – 7,811
2020: Joe Biden – 13,901; Donald Trump – 7,823
2016: Hillary Clinton – 10,705; Donald Trump – 7,661

Dracut

2024: Donald Trump – 9,105; Kamala Harris – 7,787
2020: Donald Trump – 8,812; Joe Biden – 8,706
2016: Donald Trump – 8,319; Hillary Clinton – 6,645

Tewksbury

2024: Donald Trump – 8,984; Kamala Harris – 8,708
2020: Joe Biden – 9,954; Donald Trump – 8,783
2016: Donald Trump – 8,432; Hillary Clinton – 7,602

Tyngsborough

2024: Kamala Harris – 3,751; Donald Trump – 3,561
2020: Joe Biden – 4,034; Donald Trump – 3,375
2016: Donald Trump – 3,167; Hillary Clinton – 3,061

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Lowell’s turnout of 33,677 residents voting in Tuesday’s election seems like a commendable level of civic participation, especially when compared to the paltry turnout of 7,516 who voted in last year’s city election. But this year’s number is actually a bit low by recent presidential election standards:

Presidential Election Turnout in Lowell

2024 – 33,677
2020 – 38,982
2016 – 37,346
2012 – 34,226
2008 – 31,905

Presidential average – 35,227

Now compare Lowell turnout in presidential election years to turnout when the office of governor is on the ballot:

Gubernatorial Election Turnout in Lowell

2022 – 21,354
2018 – 27,024
2014 – 21,268
2010 – 22,520
2006 – 21,348

Gubernatorial average – 22,703

Finally, here are the turnout numbers for Lowell city elections:

City Election Turnout in Lowell

2023 – 7,516
2021 – 12,145
2019 – 11,051
2017 – 13,916
2015 – 10,714

City election average – 11,068

I’ve always said that the members of the Lowell City Council have a bigger impact on the everyday lives of Lowell residents than does the President of the United States. That’s because the council is ultimately responsible for things like drinking water, sewerage, public parks, streets and sidewalks, public safety, clearing snow, collecting garbage, and so much more – all things that have a big impact on your day-to-day life. So in terms of the relative importance of our elected officials in our lives, the number of people voting in city elections versus presidential elections should be reversed. Yet they are not. When the office of president is on the ballot, three times as many Lowell residents vote as do when it’s the city council and school committee on the ballot.

This past Tuesday, among all who voted, there were more than 26,000 people who voted for president who did not vote for city council a year ago (33,677 on Tuesday vs. 7,516 in the last city council race). These people are registered to vote; they know how to vote; they know where to vote; and they are able to vote on election day or through one of the alternative methods. In fact, it’s easier to vote now than it has ever been.

When I mention these statistics to people who do vote regularly in city elections, their response is often something like, “it’s too bad they don’t care enough to vote in city elections.” But I think that’s a misdiagnosis of the problem. Anytime I’ve encountered someone who does vote for president but skips city elections, their response is often that they don’t know anything about the candidates running for city council and so they don’t feel like they have the information needed to make a decision on who to vote for and so they opt not to vote.

It has not always been this way. In the 1960s and 1970s, with fewer residents and fewer people registered to vote, turnout in city elections routinely topped 30,000. Why the change?

There are many possible factors.

·         Fifty years ago, more of Lowell’s residents worked within the city so they were here all the time. Today, more people commute to jobs outside of Lowell, so when you hop in your car at sunup to drive to work elsewhere and only return home after sundown, there’s not much time left for local civic engagement.

·         With the internet, streaming, and social media, an individual has access to more information today than some governments had 50 years ago, yet that profusion of information sources also causes fragmentation. Back in the 1960s, almost everyone in Lowell subscribed to the Lowell Sun and listened to the two AM radio stations, WCAP and WLLH. While the Sun and WCAP still exist today and still cover city government, both the extent of the coverage and the reach of the outlets is greatly diminished. No outlet with equivalent reach exists today so it’s harder for the average person to get information about the workings of city government.

·         Modern methods of campaigning on the local level target those who already vote in the city election and make no effort to engage those who do not. When a candidate goes door-to-door, they don’t knock on every door; they don’t knock on the door of every registered voter; they only knock on the doors of those with a history of already voting in city elections. The same is true for who receives campaign mailings or phone calls. I don’t blame the candidates for this since it’s the most effective way to campaign, but there should be recognition that these candidate contacts exclude most city residents.

·         City government, primarily the city council, does little to engage those who do not already participate in the system. They have little motivation to do otherwise. After all, they have achieved success in the current system of extremely low voter participation. From their perspective, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

So that’s the problem as I see it. I wish I could offer a prescription to fix it. It’s something I’ve thought about for many years. I do think that as much as information technology has caused great fragmentation, it also offers opportunities, but that’s something I will get into in future editions of this newsletter.

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Happy Veterans Day to all who have served in the military. In recognition of Veterans Day, each day this week beginning on Tuesday on richardhowe.com I will post the names of those from Lowell who have died during war time while serving in the armed forces of the United States. Tuesday will be the Civil War; Wednesday will be the Spanish-American War and World War One; Thursday will be World War Two; and Friday will be Korea, Vietnam, and our recent conflicts. Please take a moment and read through the names and think about the sacrifice of these service members and their families.