Tuesday, Nov 3: Election Talk

WBSM presents The Barry Richards Show, streaming live on WBSM.com and the WBSM app. Call 508-996-0500. Text us using AppChat on the WBSM app. Now, The Barry Richards Show. All righty, welcome to the program on this November 3rd. It is a Tuesday. It is Election Day, a day many of us have been waiting for. And the polls are open. Polls are open. Minor problems being reported in the city of New Bedford today so far. So far, everything that I know about is a minor situation. Tim gathered up the information, Tim Weissberg, and put it all together for us on WBSM.com and on our Facebook page. You can check it out. He says minor issues with election machines that appear to be worked out as of this point. According to the mayor's office, there were issues reported at four different precincts this morning, and they're blaming the size of the ballot. The ballot is wider than normal, and that is to accommodate the ballot questions. There are nine ballot questions. And I know when I voted in Dartmouth this morning, the ballot kept getting stuck. On the wire that hangs down the head, you know, took a couple of seconds, but actually it's two ballots. You get two ballots to fill out. And so the size of the ballot was an issue in at least three different precincts here in New Bedford, Tabor Mill Community, which is 3D, Bayberry Apartments, which is 3F, and the New Life South Coast Church, which is 6F. And according to the... According to City Hall, an internal wire in the machines at these locations was found to be physically interfering with the port on the machine where ballots are fed. Again, the size of the ballot, 17 inches instead of the more typical 14 inches. May have been the problem. Precinct 5F, Buttonwood Park Warming House, there was a problem with the tray in the machine. And that knocked the machine out for 40 to 45 minutes. Uh, ballots there were placed in the secure tray at the bottom of the machine and will be hand counted on location before the polls close or actually when the polls close. So that's what we know about at this point. If you have had any issues, uh, where you vote, let us know what's the turnout been like where you vote. You know, it may be deceiving. Um, again, I voted in Dartmouth this morning and voted the, uh, the Dartmouth Bible church. Near Target and actually waited in line to vote. And I asked one of the attendants what's it been like. He said busy. I think the line probably had more to do with the time people are spending on the ballots. If you have not voted yet, just take a quick look at the ballot questions again and jot down how you plan to vote on them. So, you know, when you get in there again, it's two ballots, both sides. And I think that may be part of the reason why some of the lines might be long. But busy is good. We need busy. We need everybody to get out and vote today. Just jot down on a little sheet of paper what you want to do in terms of the ballot questions. You can just, you know, copy and paste, right, onto your ballot. But get out there. Just get out there. No excuses. The weather is gorgeous. We need a huge turnout today. If we want to get rid of Maura Healey, you want to get rid of Maura Healey? You want to get rid of Ed Markey? Do you want people to look at southeastern Massachusetts and say, wow, New Bedford, Fall River decided these races? That gives us power. That gives us respect that we've never had before. We need every one of you to get up and go out and vote today. It's that important. The future of our commonwealth is that important. That everybody has to vote. And I'm speaking to the groups that tend not to vote very often. Women outvote men by a huge number. Men, get off your asses and get out and vote. Gun owners, another group that doesn't vote. You have so much on the line today. You have an anti-Second Amendment governor. You have an anti-Second Amendment congressman. You have an anti-Second Amendment U.S. senator. And if there has ever been a time when we need folks to be armed, it's now. We need to go out and vote. You have to fight and defend your Second Amendment rights. You can't sit home and, you know, put your nose in the air and I'm not going to get involved. It's that important. You have to get out and vote. We have to get out in huge numbers today. We have to set records for voter turnout throughout the Commonwealth. Throughout New Bedford, throughout Fall River, throughout the surrounding towns, we have to get out to vote today. There are so many important races. Most of the seats in Bristol County are competitive races. We've never seen anything like this before. Not in my lifetime, anyway. You know, as of the 7 o'clock whistle this morning, when the polls began to open, there had already been 1.17 million people had already voted. Here in Massachusetts, I suspect that's the other side because they are very active with that stuff. Early voting, mail-in voting. So if you are on the side of change, already 1.17 million ballots had been cast this morning by 7 o'clock. That's a 22.3% turnout rate for early in-person and mail-in voting. Secretary of State Bill Galvin's office said... 1.168% 1,168,590 ballots had been submitted early. That's 821,244 of them by mail, which is 70%, and 347,346 in person. That's almost 30%. Galvin said he noticed a dramatic increase in early in-person voting this year. While voting by mail was about the same as it was in 2022, early in-person voting in the 2022 midterm elections accounted for about 7.5% of all votes cast. Early voting was not so intense in many of the Massachusetts cities. While it was pretty big in some of the towns, Needham, for example, 36%. This is early voting. Falmouth, 35.6%, Lexington, 35.5%, Arlington, 34.5%, Melrose, 32.7%. Not so much in the cities, though. Among communities with 20,000 voters or more, Springfield had the lowest turnout during the early voting period, 8.3%, compared to the statewide 22.3%. Lawrence had 8.5%, New Bedford, 9.8%, Lowell, 10.9%. Chelsea and Fall River, both 11.3%. That's the early voting, whether it be a mail-in or in person. Got to boost those numbers, people. Got to get those numbers up. We've got to get out, and we've got to vote today. Mike Minogue will hold his election night party with Republican supporters. And that will be, let's see, 7 o'clock tonight at the Boston Marriott Burlington, 1 Burlington Mall Road in Burlington. Democrat election night party, Governor Healey, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll, Ed Markey, Presley, Campbell, Goldberg. Steve Kerrigan's throwing a party. Oh, gee, I hope he's not driving afterwards. I hope somebody's taking Kerrigan's keys. Kerrigan had a little drunk driving accident of his own back in June this year. At least a drunk driving arrest. I think he did hit something, though. Um... Credentialed press. It's going at six tonight. A speaking program begins at 8:20. This is at the Fairmont Copley Plaza on James Avenue in Boston. Members of the media must RSVP. And I'm not sure. There may be some restrictions for folks that are looking to, you know, just go to the thing, to attend the thing. I'm not sure. There might be some restrictions. Pardon me. I'm doing a couple of things at once here. I've lost my computer, and I'm trying to get my computer up while we're talking here. Big races locally. Not only is the governor's race on the ballot. Let's hope that the governor's race is going to draw out a lot of voters, a lot of people, because we've got some folks very worthy of your vote. Some candidates on the ballot very, very worthy of your vote. But you're getting out of doubt. There we go. I think I got it working. OK, sorry about that. OK, so, yeah, a lot of local races, very important local races, probably the most competitive area in the entire state. And this is part of the reason why this is going to be so big down here. What happens here is going to affect the entire state. So there's a lot of local races that should draw you out to the polls. If the Healy-Minogue race doesn't draw you to the polls, the local races should. And you've got to take advantage of them. Third Bristol District out in Taunton. Rematch between incumbent Democrat Lisa Field and Republican Larry Quintil. Really close race last time. Quintil needs your help out there in Taunton. Fifth Bristol District, Republican Justin Thurber is looking to fend off a challenge from Democrat Jamison Souza. Fall River Democrat Carol Fiola is facing a challenge from Republican Robert Anktill. 6th Bristol District Republican Talos Farris, challenging incumbent Democrat, 7th Bristol District State Rep Alan Sylvia. All of these races are contested, you know, you guys always say, well, there's no competition, nobody running, nobody to vote for. Well, now you've got plenty of options, and there's no excuses. 8th Bristol District incumbent Democrat Steve Ouellette, facing Republican Jesse St. Gilles, great guy, great candidate. In the 9th, you've got Republican Chester Tam and Democrat Ed Pacheco vying for an open seat. In the 10th district, Democrat Mark Sylvia, one term Democrat Mark Sylvia, trying to defend his seat from a challenge by Republican Brenda Lee Smith. He's talking about change. People want change, right? You're not happy with the status quo. The way you make change is you put new people into place. You know, I've said this a million times, you know, again, in the open seat, Ed Pacheco might be a nice guy. He looks like it. I've never met him, but, you know, his picture on his poster looks like he's a nice guy. But we don't we don't need to fill an open seat with another liberal progressive Democrat. We've already got enough of them up in Boston. Chester Tam has some new ideas. Let's give Chester Tam a chance. I did. I voted for Chester Tam this morning when I voted, as a matter of fact. Mark Sylvia Fairhaven, just just another. Progressive, liberal, Democrat, give Brenda Lee Smith a chance, see what she can do. Something that's not the same old, same old, same old. We need to get out of the mess that we're in in this state. We're not gonna get out of the mess that we're in if we just continue to send more soldiers to Ron Mariano, the Speaker of the House. If we just keep sending him more foot soldiers, we're gonna just keep getting the same garbage out of Boston. We need to send people that can go and, you know, work with Kelly Dooner and the other, you know, Republican members of the legislature. There aren't many of them. We need to increase those numbers. In the second Bristol and Plymouth District, Democrat State Senator Mark Montigny is challenged by Republican Robert McConnell of Fairhaven. So you've got plenty of seats that are opposed, plenty of options. Not all of them are competitive races. Tony Cabral is going to be reelected tonight. Chris Hendricks will be re-elected tonight. But the majority of the seats in our general listening area here are competitive races tonight. But you got to get out and vote. How many times have I said, I've said that at least as many times as Maury Healy said Trump in the debate, right? You got to get out and vote. We need big numbers. There's nothing to worry about, nothing to panic about if we all just go out and vote. I voted proudly this morning. First thing I did, I got up. Had my coffee, checked my headlines, took my shower, made my lunch, got in my car, and drove straight to the polls. Always a good feeling to go and vote. It's easy. Go on your lunch break. Go right after work. If you live in the neighborhood with your polling place, walk there tonight. It'd be a nice evening to get out. If you're home today, if you need a ride to the polls, you know there's a chance that your candidate is offering a ride. If not, give me a call, put it on the air, and we'll see if we can't get you a ride. But everybody's going to do their part. We are at a critical juncture, not just here in Massachusetts, but all across the country. The makeup of the Congress, makeup of the Congress, set for grabs tonight. The Senate going to go to the Socialists? The House? AOC going to be in charge of the House now? It's one way to help stop that. You can vote out Bill Keating tonight. That's one less vote for AOC for House Speaker and put Tyler McAllister in. Did anybody hear my interview with Tyler McAllister the other day on Friday? Oh, my God. I have never spoken to anybody so qualified for the 9th Congressional District in my life. This guy is inside the fishing industry. He'd been fighting for the New Bedford fishing industry and the American fishing industry in general for years. And he's very involved in all of the latest efforts to promote fishing, fishing industry, the catching and the selling and marketing of our industry, processing. I mean, this guy would be such a huge, such a huge lift for the city of New Bedford if we were to get Tyler McAllister in there. Don't waste an opportunity like this. These opportunities come along once, sometimes in a generation. To get somebody that talented, that committed to our number one industry here in New Bedford. One of the biggest money-making industries in the entire Commonwealth. Certainly the number one fishing port in terms of dollars and cents in the entire country. This guy is tuned in, plugged in, and involved. When was the last time that Bill Keating, Charity. Committee meeting, even, on the fishing industry. Bill Keating supported Barack Obama and Joe Biden, two presidents who shut down and put limits on our fishing capabilities. The Democrats, controlled by the environmentalists, have tried to shut down our fishing industry. McAllister is a champion for the fishing industry. We need Tyler McAllister. Not only do we need him for our fishing industry and for our economy, but we've got to get Bill Keating out of there. Because if the House does go to the Democrats tonight, one less vote for AOC, for Speaker. We can do this. Massachusetts can emerge the big news story of the day tomorrow. Can you imagine if Maury Healy gets kicked out? If Ed Markey gets kicked out? Bill Keating gets kicked out? Can you only imagine the news tomorrow? It's within our power to do it, but we have to turn out. We've got to turn out in huge numbers today. 508-996-0500, thanks for hanging on. You're next in WBSM. Hey, Barry. I agree with you. The people need to get out there now. And this election is really a referendum on intelligence and common sense. Because people who have common sense intelligence knows you're not going to stick an airhead from New York as the Speaker of the House, who has the intelligence of a parking meter. And if you look at both parties, If you have common sense, are you really going to elect a Muslim Brotherhood stooge in Michigan? Are you going to elect someone in Texas, a kid, who's a known liar, who spent two weeks in a mental institution and is lying about it? You have a Democrat congressman running for office in Iowa who, on video at a town hall meeting, tells people straight to their faces, we're going to bring in one million illegals for, quote, work. And the same exists in Massachusetts here. How many people in this state are getting sick and tired of paying higher income taxes, paying this, they wanna issue a mileage tax on you. And all these Democrat politicians, they've been doing this to you not just the last four years. Democrats have been sticking it to Massachusetts taxpayers for decades, and you're kind of waiting for that moment that the people in this state get enough is enough, and they finally run these dinosaurs out of office. And Ed Markey, you're one of them. And Haley, Haley Driscoll, I can name name after name, Viola Rodericks, okay, who have been there for years and have done nothing to benefit any taxpayer in this state. That's right. If we get to Boomer Amaral running against Mike Rodericks, he would have fell in love. Yes. Yeah. Yes. You know, to me, it's about intelligence and common sense because if you have common sense, it's got nothing to do with Donald Trump. I'm so sick of the Trump, Trump, Trump stuff. It's got nothing to do with Donald Trump. Trump's gone in two years. This is about now and the next two years and 28. Well, not only is Trump gone in two years, but Trump wasn't here during Maura Healey's first two years. You know, Maura Healey was all alone, Trump-free, with Joe Biden at the helm for two years. So, you know, how do you now turn around and say, well, everything that's wrong in Massachusetts is Trump's fault when you had Joe Biden as president and Maura Healey as governor for the first two years? Yeah, I always ask these people who yell vote blue. I said, do you really think they're going to lower your food prices, lower your gas prices, bring your energy costs down? They created this. And let me give you before I go. I'll give you one thing. Abigail Spanberger, when she ran for office in Virginia, she said the same things that Maura Healey said. And all these Democrats are telling you they want to make it affordable for families. They want to uproot the law. She gets elected on that, on a lie, the first month in office. She gives her and the Democratic legislature, you know, they all give themselves pay raises. She levies three new taxes on the taxpayers in the state of Virginia. She goes and completely replaces the parole board in that state. And she's already let out 11 murderers and eight sex offenders, and half of them have already committed the same crime again. So this is what the Democrats are. They're literally lying to all these fools that they're going to somehow give them universal health care and make it affordable for them to live when you and I both know that's a complete lie. They're only concerned about one thing, getting rid of Donald Trump. Thank you, my friend. Appreciate it. 508-996-0500. Your calls are important, and they're next in WBSN. This portion of programming on WBSN is brought to you by Dee's Hot Dogs in New Bedford, where you can get two hot dogs, chips, and a soda for just six bucks. Back to Barry Richard on WBSM. Call 508-996-0500. All righty, welcome back. 12.46 on this election day. Just got a text from a listener. 61 ballots at Alma Del Mar. Charter school had no problem putting my ballots in. And the staff said at 10 past 12, 60 ballots was great for the area. So that's good to hear. Let's make it 120 ballots in the next hour. You know, I had a question. I meant to ask the guy at the polling place this morning, and I forgot. Because there are two ballots, does that inflate the number? For example, I'm hearing 61 ballots when this gentleman voted at Alma Del Mar Charter School. Is that actually 30 ballots because you've got two, each person gets two ballots? Or does it skip and just count, does it count every two as one? Yeah. Well, if he says 61, then that would have to be the case unless somebody only filed one of their ballots. But I hope so. I hope that's the case. But we need more than that. We need a lot more than that. We've got to get a lot of folks out there. We've got to get people excited about this if they want change. You know, none of this, you know, staying home and saying, oh, gee, I got. You know, I got the voting day blues, and I'm not going to go, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You got to get out there. 508-996-0500. We'll go right here, and you're next on WBSN. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hi. How are you doing? Good. How are you? Good. I just left 1E. That's up to Norton. Norton Apartments was 510, so you take half of that, so it's 250, whatever, because that's where they counted. They count one ballot, but they're giving you two. But they said they go by the, when you put the two ballots in, that's up to 500. It'd be 250. All right, so each ballot counts as one. Right. That's what I was just asking, so I'm glad you told me that, because that's what I was wanting. I meant to ask the guy where I voted in Dartmouth this morning, and I totally forgot. Yeah. So is 250 good? I mean, is that good for that precinct? Yeah, very good. Plus, there's a lot of people voting. He said, the guy told me, I know the guy from years already, and he said, oh, yeah, it's heavy. It's under 100, you know what I mean? And we just left there about... Yeah, well, that's good. I mean, I think a lot of people are interested in the governor's race. And I think here in Bristol County, we are blessed to have so many contested local races. We want changes. People want changes. Got to get Minogue in there. I'm sorry. Yeah, you have to. We can't have another four years of this lady. That's for sure. No. And we got to think about the federal delegation, too. We can't just think about local. We got to think about, you know, Marky. We got to get his butt out of there. Keating. Well, you know, we got to get these guys gone and we got to get some different ideas. That's for sure. It's going to happen. People, I think, are getting fed up already with all the baloney going on. Thank you, my friend. Appreciate it. Thanks for checking in. 508-996-0500. What's it like where you're voting? You're next on WBSN. Good afternoon. Hello? Hi. Hey, how are we doing, Barry? Good. I went to the polls around 11.30, the same one that you go to. And my ballot counted at number 6.32. 6.32. And they said I was pretty busy. Yep. So that's cut that in half. You know, it's 3.16. Okay. Is that good for that time of day? Do you know? I have no idea. But the guy said they were pretty busy. Yeah, I did ask the guy, you know, when I'm on my way out, I asked him, I said, you know, what's it like? And he said, it's been very busy. So, yeah, 1130 was busy. There were there were quite a few people behind me waiting to get in. And there's quite a few people voting at that same time. Awesome. So what about ballot? Did your ballots get stuck going in? It took a couple of times to push my ballot before it finally went in because it was so wide. Not mine. It went in nice and easy. Awesome. Good. And we got it. We got it counting. Excellent. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. All right, 508-996-0500 is the number. You are next in WBSN. Hi, Barry. Hi. It's library, 11 o'clock, 268. 268 at 11 o'clock? Yeah. So that would be then, what, 134, I guess, because there were two ballots. Yeah. Wilkes Library, that's near Brookline Park. I don't know if that was... Well, somebody said they had a good turnout so far. Yeah. I'm wondering, do a lot of seniors vote by mail and do early voting? Where I live, they probably voted by mail. Seniors and, you know, where I live. Yeah. You sound discouraged. No, no, I'm not discouraged. Over here, yeah, well, over here, I don't know. Maybe a lot of them voted Democrat. They don't want to change, you know. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, you get... You know, you get what you vote for, right? That's right. You know, just all you seniors that are out there listening, and I know there's a lot of them that listen. Thanks, Jason. You know, this governor tried to put a tax on your prescriptions. The only reason that it didn't happen is because the legislature kind of looked at her and laughed at her. And, you know, they wanted to, she wanted to put a tax on your prescription. She wanted to close down specialty hospitals for seniors, home health care, all of those things. She was trying to close them down and cut them up so that she can give money to illegal immigrants. So, you know, hey, if that's who you want, you know. It's hard to... It's hard to understand some people. A lot of them are afraid to walk in Riverside Park, but yet they don't want no change. Yeah, you'd rather have a defund the police candidate, right? Instead, you're going to vote for that. And then no cooperation with ICE. I voted all Republican. I'm not a Republican, but I'm one of those persons who want to change. Not some people say, well, I want to change, but yet they go vote Democrat. I voted for Democrat Diana DiZaglio for auditor. Oh, yes, that's the only one I voted for. Yeah, I made sure I gave her my vote because, you know, she has probably done more for us than anybody in statewide office right now that I can think of. And she's been out there fighting all by herself. And so, yeah, I want her around for another term, definitely, to keep fighting for me. Yeah, I didn't vote for Montigny. And the rest of them, they're off. I just left a lot of those things blank, the county seats and all that. You know, I mean, it's just, it's garbage in, garbage out. So I just didn't even waste my time. Thank you. But, yeah, I voted Minogue, Oliver, and, you know, I voted for Walsh. You know, it wasn't my favorite choice, but I'd rather have Walsh than Andrea Campbell. I voted for John Deaton, believe it or not. As much as I railed and said I wouldn't, I did. I voted for John Deaton. Oh, yeah, I remember that. You said you wasn't going to vote. Yeah, I did because, you know, I would rather have John Deaton. I'd rather have somebody else, but I would much rather have John Deaton than Ed Markey, that's for sure. And give the guy a chance. I can't sit here and lecture, you know, and tell everybody, give him a chance, give him a chance, if I'm not going to give John Deaton a chance. So, um, Well, there's no excuse not to vote today because the weather's... Very nice. There's no excuse for us not to vote for some of these great state rep candidates that we have. And, you know, we've got Chester Tam. We've got, you know, Jesse St. Gilles. We've got, you know, even the Senate. We've got Boomer. We've got Bob McConnell's running. We've got Tyler McAllister. How can we not vote for talent like that? They would actually go to Washington already. He's already up to his neck in working with the fishing industry and everything. This guy would jump right in there, and automatically the New Bedford area would benefit just by having him there. How can we not get rid of that deadwood Bill Keating and give Tyler McAllister a chance? I just, you know, I don't see how that could possibly happen. That's right. That's right. Alright, my friend, got to hold you there. Appreciate it. 508-996-0500 is our phone number. And let me see if I can squeeze one more in before the next break. You're next on WBSM. Good afternoon. Nope, guess not. That's a sign. I got to get the next break. We'll come back. The sun shining, birds are singing, and all feels right in the world. Until the season changes and suddenly everything seems darker, less lively, and you lose your motivation to get out of bed. If you struggle with depression, you're not alone. In fact, one in five people experience some form of depression. And no matter the time of year, it may affect your behavioral or physical ability to live a happy life. At the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, we understand what you're going through, and we're here to help. Our vision is to build a mentally healthy nation for all, because we want you to live your best life and be your best you all year round. We work every day to eliminate stigma, combat mental illness and substance use disorders, and advance mental wellness. If you or someone you love needs help, you are not alone. Please visit MentallyHealthyNation.org to learn more. Broadcasting live from the Carefree Homes studios, this is WBSM. Carefree Homes, your home improvement experts. Roofing, siding, windows, and more. Get a free quote at CarefreeHomesCompany.com. Carefree Homes, trusted, local, family. All right, 1258, let's grab one more to close out this hour. You're next in WBSM. Good afternoon. Yeah, hi, is that me? Yep. Jesse St. Gilles is running a state representative. Yes. Now, shouldn't he be on the ballot? Was he arriving? What was the question again? I think we lost you. You're all broken up on your phone. All right, hold on. Hold on. All right, I'm sorry. I didn't get the question at all. Yes, Jesse St. Gilles is on the ballot, and he is a candidate for state rep. Against Democrat Stephen Ouellette, that's in the 8th Bristol District. That's like the Westport and parts of Dartmouth and so on and so forth. So if you're outside of that area, you can't find him on the ballot because that's... I think that with the gerrymandering that went on, some of these lines are pretty wild. So I can't say off the top of my head the exact boundaries. of the 8th District. But I know it's centered mostly around the Westport area. It gets into Dartmouth, maybe even a part of, yeah, I think it does get into a part of the north end of New Bedford. That was, what was his name? The cow farmer there. How's... How, gee, how.