Who's Runnin'?

June 25, 2018 6:52 AM

Are you a Mefite who's running for elected office this year? Come on in and talk about it!

Against my better judgment I'm running for a very insignificant non-partisan community board post in my tiny town in the Southern U.S., and it's got me wondering who else in this group is running in this election cycle. What are y'all running for? What is your platform? How's it going so far?

posted by saladin to MetaFilter-Related at 6:52 AM (21 comments total)

Whoops, guess I should have answered my own questions: I'm running for a seat on the Ports, Waterways and Beaches commission in St. Augustine, FL, my platform is JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THE SEA IS RISING UP TO KILL US WHY AREN'T WE DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT, and so far it's been a B+ experience at best.
posted by saladin at 6:55 AM on June 25, 2018 [46 favorites]

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THE SEA IS RISING UP TO KILL US WHY AREN'T WE DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT

do you have a newsletter?

And good luck!
posted by billiebee at 7:23 AM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

Good luck. Suggestion: Start building an ark. That may get their attention.
posted by terrapin at 8:37 AM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

Suggestion: Start building an ark. That may get their attention.

Historically that only gets negative attention. People will make fun of you, right up until you get in that ark and the flooding starts.
posted by Margalo Epps at 8:40 AM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Sounds like those people will leave the gene pool as they drown.
posted by terrapin at 12:32 PM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Lovely thread idea! I hope you win your race, saladin. (Somewhere, the quidnunc kid’s pulse quickens.)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:47 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

Good for you! Local electeds have a ton of power, you can really affect change where you live.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:48 PM on June 25, 2018

Good for you, Saladin! It’s all about that progressive pipeline.
posted by Grandysaur at 8:57 PM on June 25, 2018

Best of luck saladin! Super important issue for where you live, I'm glad you're taking action!
posted by carter at 5:59 AM on June 26, 2018

> Barack Spinoza:
"Somewhere, the quidnunc kid’s pulse quickens"

How did this vote quidnunc kid meme get started?
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 12:10 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

I hear quidnunc kid is running for #1.
posted by bologna on wry at 6:31 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

note to self: read the damn comments first. Fine, I vote #2 quidnunc kid.
posted by bologna on wry at 6:32 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]

I was at an election party tonight for a friend running for the state legislature. (It looks like she's going to win, yay!)

The friend in question currently holds elected office at the municipal level. At one point during the night, someone who's very plugged in to local politics took me aside and asked me if I was interested in running for the seat my friend is vacating.

I didn't even respond with words. I just sort of said "buhhhhhhhhrrrrrggghhh"

So I salute those of you with the fortitude for public service. Godspeed, and no thanks.
posted by duffell at 7:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]

How did this vote quidnunc kid meme get started?

Waaaay back on December 16, 2005, in the MeFi thread about the Leon County, FL election supervisor alleging fraud in the Bush/Gore election, the quidnunc kid succinctly wrote "VOTE #1 QUIDNUNC KID FOR BUMFUCK!

Then in the July 6, 2011 MetaTalk thread titled Be a beacon (just don't talk about what you're a beacon for), the quidnunc kid made the first lengthy post on why to vote #1 the quidnunc kid.

While you could dig through tqk's comments on who to vote for and why, just over 5 years ago scrump posted The canonical Quidnunc for your ease of review.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:45 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]

Thank you!
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 1:50 PM on June 27, 2018

And a word of warning to those who suggest to their neighbors and friends that they should be written into ballots where the positions have no opposition, be careful what you wish for, or you might end up with more positions than you can legally fill (link to Chrysostom's comment on getting elected as both Tax Collector and Judge of Elections, from a political megathread).
posted by filthy light thief at 1:50 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]

How common is it to have explicitly gendered seats? I've never heard of that before..
posted by mosst at 6:26 AM on June 29, 2018

I don't know what state TAVCS is from, but Michigan does it for these Democratic precinct committee slots.
posted by Etrigan at 6:45 AM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Same here in Florida. Each Democratic precinct committee sends one man and one woman to the state party meetings.
posted by saladin at 8:23 AM on June 29, 2018

Pennsylvania does male/female for Dem committee reps, too.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:29 AM on July 7, 2018

Also, I'm touched to be immortalized as a cautionary example.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:16 PM on July 7, 2018 [3 favorites]