Black Wizard
Pleb Hunter
What we're you voting for? Democrat Party presidential candidate primaries?
Let's try and get 1,000,000 replies to this post
- Thread starter The Ancient Mariner
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bearfan
Ancient Mariner
Nope, May (in Texas) is municipal elections (city council, mayor, school board, and local ballot issues .. usually charter amendments and bonds). Statewide, municipal office are non partisan, so they run them at different times than the partisan elections/primaries.
Candidates need to get 50% otherwise there is a runoff.
Early voting started last week, think actual election day is a week from Tuesday.
I believe there's a mayoral election coming up here very soon. I'm not a fan of directly elected mayors in the context of UK local government. It strikes me as a gimmick, yet another tier of government and a means to undermine the authority of councils.
bearfan
Ancient Mariner
Mayors here have really varying powers. Some mayors are pretty strong positions, but in quite a few places (and I think this is the majority) they have pretty limited powers. Where I live, for example, they cannot vote on issues before the council unless their is a tie (which is rare since the council has an odd number of seats) ... they are more of the town spokesman, preside over meetings, have some minor influence on the agenda, and have some minor authority of hiring people like town manager, fire chief, police chief, etc .. but those need to be approved by the council as well.
Black Wizard
Pleb Hunter
There are local elections across England, Wales and Northern Ireland next week. My ward in the council is voting and sadly the candidates are members of regular parties. I would rather vote for an independent councillor than a party member who may be looking to climb the ladder.
bearfan
Ancient Mariner
I do like local elections being non partisan, because really they mostly deal with very practical issues and very practical budgets compared to the states and certain the feds. In bigger cities, mayor can be a stepping stone for higher office and certainly places like Chicago, LA, New York, Houston, etc is a pretty high level job, but I think for the vast majority that is as far as they go (or want to go). In my town, there is a charter amendment to start paying the mayor and town council (right now they are unpaid positions). The proposal is $200/month and the only reason it was proposed was because of a court case that essentially said the city cannot defend volunteer positions in case of a lawsuit and the fear is that if anyone on the council or the mayor was sued they would have to pay out of pocket and that would be a disincentive for people to run for office if they could potentially face huge legal fees.
Black Wizard
Pleb Hunter
I didn't realize Iron Maiden catered so well to Russian tank commanders.
I always vote in local elections, that is the area of government that has the most power possible over my day-to-day.
The UK has so little government compared to Canada or the US that this always makes me laugh.
bearfan
Ancient Mariner
I wish we had much less and more local
The problem with the US government isn't too much or too little, but too much dysfunction.
Black Wizard
Pleb Hunter
Makes the US seem like a big state, socialist nation. #AOC2040
When it comes to elected government, it's true.
In Canada, I have...a city councilor, a mayor, a MPP, and an MP.
In the UK, you have a city councilor, sometimes a mayor, and an MP and MAYBE a MSP or something similar if you have a devolved parliament.
In the USA you have a city councillor, a mayor, a state representative, a state senator (unless you live in Nebraska, then it's just the rep), a governor, a US representative, a US senator, and a president.
In Canada, I have...a city councilor, a mayor, a MPP, and an MP.
In the UK, you have a city councilor, sometimes a mayor, and an MP and MAYBE a MSP or something similar if you have a devolved parliament.
In the USA you have a city councillor, a mayor, a state representative, a state senator (unless you live in Nebraska, then it's just the rep), a governor, a US representative, a US senator, and a president.
bearfan
Ancient Mariner
You skipped the county level government
Apologies, I wasn't aware counties had a say if you were in a city. Here, you either have town/city government or county government, not both.
bearfan
Ancient Mariner
And you see what I mean, then!We have both
I am fine with most government bureaucracy (I am drunk enough it took 6 tries to spell that). But too many elected officials is shit.
Travis The Dragon
AFTERGLOW!!!
Travis The Dragon
AFTERGLOW!!!
If you got a call from someone saying they were in a helicopter and wanted to test out their new hook and to do so, they were going to pick up a tree in your yard, would you believe them?