State Rep. Dylan Fernandes, D-Falmouth, has a dilemma. He needs to gather 150 signatures by the end of the month to get his name on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Under normal circumstances, that’s a fairly easy proposition. Meeting constituents outside a post office, shaking hands, and having conversations with them. With COVID-19 lurking and guidelines about social distancing, that’s not possible.
In an email blast to supporters, Fernandes told them his plan: “So tomorrow, April 7th, from 11 am – 4 pm we are leaving nomination papers out on the open air, sunny front porch of 23 High Street in Woods Hole and we ask that you come by and write your name and address on them,” he wrote. “We are also leaving out papers for state senate candidate Su Moran, and county commissioner candidates Mark Forest and Cheryl Andrews who are challenging Ron Beaty.”
Fernandes is urging constituents to bring their own pen, only go on the porch after someone else has signed and left, maintaining 6 feet of distance, and to cover their mouth and nose. (He even shared a photo in the email of his makeshift face mask.)
For those who don’t want to travel, Fernandes wrote that he’s willing to take the nomination papers to them and wait in the car while they’re signed.
Fernandes told The Times that he generally likes to get 300 to 500 signatures, noting some signatures get tossed because the person’s not a registered voter or because they’re not in his coverage area and are ineligible. Fernandes represents Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and precincts 1, 2, 5 and 6 in Falmouth.
“It’s tough. I have some signatures. We’ll see how this goes. I’m genuinely curious,” Fernandes said.
In this day and age why couldn’t this be done digitally with either an online signature system or by use of a service like docusign?
We should all be ashamed we elected this dope.
@BS- True.
True