Could anyone possibly find a good excuse NOT to vote today? It’s not like it isn’t one of the most beautiful days in weeks. It’s not like there aren’t choices among the refreshingly credible slew of candidates. There are new theories to test and new points to be made in just about every ward. There’ve been energetic battles up until the last minute. There are signs galore pointing you towards the polling places, and plenty of volunteers willing to drive you there if you can’t handle the stroll.

For those who live outside New Haven, even just in one of its suburbs, it’s hard to fathom how important our city’s primary elections can be. This city votes (and registers) overwhelmingly Democrat. Republicans are rarely a threat and the Green party is the only “third” party that’s placed anyone in an elected office in decades.

So today isn’t just Primary day. It’s Finality day as well, the day when just about everything gets decided, or easily forecast. After we vote today, barring any unforeseen deaths or freak acts of nature, we’ll know who our aldermen are likely to be, who our mayor is likely to be, and who their cronies are likely to be.

My own family spent some time this summer canvassing for Frank Douglass, who’s running for Alderman in Ward 2. It was hard to explain to neighborhood newcomers the importance of registering Democrat and voting now, rather than maintaining their dubious “Independent” status and sounding off when the major races have been decided.

I moved to town with “Independent” leanings myself, a quarter century ago, and learned within weeks that if I switched I’d get to vote more often. That’s not an incentive for those who see voting as a chore, granted. But voting is one of my favorite sports, and for those that love to vote, this is the day to do it.

The New Haven Register’s list of city polling places is here.

A wonderful New Haven Independent piece by Paul Bass about the historical context of this year’s mayoral race is here. I worked alongside Paul at the New Haven Advocate for many years, and miss the sort of opinionated, history-based long-form writing he used to do regularly for that paper. This is a wonderful example of that sort of thing.