Letter from the editor
Tell us: What do you care about most this election season?
We want to hear from voters and nonvoters alike about their priorities for the 2022 elections in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. You can tell us what you think in one of two ways:
Share your perspective in writing by filling out this Google Form.
Email us a voice memo at community@thepublicsradio.org with your name, city or town, party affiliation if any, and an answer to the following question: What issues matter most to you this election season, and why?
What you share may be aired on the radio or published online. We may also reach out to you for a story, or to participate in a voters panel discussion.
EN ESPAÑOL:
Díganos: ¿Qué le importa esta temporada de elecciones?
Queremos saber cuáles son los temas más importantes para las elecciones de 2022 en Rhode Island y el sureste de Massachusetts. Nos pueden decir en dos maneras:
Comparte su perspectiva en una manera escrita a través de este Google Form.
Mándenos un correo electrónico con un memo de voz a community@thepublicsradio.org. Debe incluir su nombre, ciudad o pueblo en que reside y su respuesta a esta pregunta: ¿Cuáles son los asuntos que le importan para estas elecciones y por qué?
Hay una posibilidad que publiquemos en línea o pongamos en la radio lo que comparte con nosotros. También es posible que nos comuniquemos con usted para un reportaje o para participar en una mesa redonda.
We hope to hear from you!
Sally Eisele, Chief Content Officer and Managing Editor
Barbara Gurgel, 31, professional writing & communications student at UMass-Dartmouth
“Unfortunately, it does seem like our democracy is being eroded out from under us at the current moment. Some action is better than zero action, but it’s not enough. And in order for politicians to pay attention, we have to hold them accountable, right? If this is a life threatening event that is looming over us, we need to make them care about it as much as we care about it. Because the politicians in general, the state, they’re not going to care about things until the public makes them care about things. No, frankly, I don’t think that young people are energized. They are disillusioned, and rightly so – I wish it weren’t the case. But I think a lot of them, a lot of young people see voting like brushing your teeth, right? It’s the least amount of thing that you can do. It’s the baseline thing, but it can’t be the only thing that you’re doing.”
About
Aidan Goddu, 22, history student at UMass-Dartmouth
“Where I’m from on the Cape – I’m from Upper Cape, the town of Mashpee – there is a military base, a very large air force base that is on the upper cape. And what’s been a recurring theme for over 20 years now has been essentially the runoff from fire retardants that the base uses. It’s not infrequent to see votes related towards kind of managing water and wastewater. And so I always try to tell people in my locality, you know, to pay attention to that. … I do think that this particular midterm election presents a very interesting opportunity to see if we can change young voter turnout with the recent presidential policy of student debt relief and the recent pardoning of many people who had convictions for marijuana possession. I think it presents an opportunity for young voters to prove that if you enact policies that we like, you will essentially be rewarded with increased voter interest in turnout.”
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Kelsey Wink, 18, pre-law student at UMass-Dartmouth
“Young voters today – most do not believe that the government cares about them, nor that the efforts will produce any meaningful change. Unlike older generations, who have always cared about what the government has to say and what it has to offer them. The young generations today, they don’t really have an awareness of how politics affect them. So at that point, it’s like, why should they care in the first place? However, I do hope that the young population will become very influential. Their voices can make a difference in any type of election, especially this upcoming midterm election, which could potentially surprise us in one way or another.”
About
Westin Place, 34, Westerly, candidate for State Senate
“We keep sending the same type of people up to the State House and to D.C. It’s the same lifelong politicians. It’s the same people who’ve been in power locally who just want to move up the ladder politically. I decided to run [for state Senate] because I’m a truck driver, so I’m ignored by most of the world, even though we do a pretty important job for the country. I’m from the north end of Westerly, which is kind of the poorer section of town. So if you want someone who’s the most ignored when it comes to politically, it’s a truck driver from the poorer side of Westerly.”
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Leslie Dunn, 30, Westerly, candidate for School Committee
“If you’re gonna speak out about injustices, and you’re going to talk about inequality, and you’re going to become an advocate, you have to put yourself out there. [You have to ] be willing to take the next steps to say, ‘I can write a letter. I can stand up at a town meeting. I can stand up at a school committee meeting. I can stand out in public places.’ You have to be willing to put yourself into that space where you can really impact change and be a part of the decision-making that moves our community forward. So for me, it was really about taking on that challenge [that inspired me to run for school committee].”
About
Danielle Beliveau, Westerly
“For me, in particular, what’s important is LGBTQ rights. Here in Westerly, we recently had a controversy with the high school not wanting to put [the book] Gender Queer on the library shelf. And that was pretty troubling to a lot of us at the bookstore [where I work], and I think a lot of us queer people in the community. … I think housing affordability is really, really important. If I didn’t receive disability compensation from the VA, I wouldn’t be able to live here. It’s only because I have that extra bit of income that I’m able to live in the town that I work. … I sincerely hope that [the overturning of Roe v. Wade] motivates people to get out and vote. I think it’s a scary time to be a person with a uterus right now, and I’m very grateful that I live in Rhode Island where that right is still protected.”
About
Madeline Labriola, Westerly
“You need to change people one at a time. And I don’t mean change because they’re bad, but change so that they’re more aware of the principles of non-violence. We have a culture that started with violence from our early history, from our revolution, to the genocide of the Native Americans, to the treatment of Black people. We were steeped in violence. So [we need] to change that mindset for people to realize that we cannot continue to go down that path. To me, it’s a mutually destructive path. So when I deal in politics–for instance, I’ve done phone calling, I’ve done rallies, I’ve written letters to the editor and op-eds about different issues in the political field and even campaigned for different people, and I’m still doing that now. And I do that because, to me, that’s what we have right now to bring about change.”
Dade Nunez, 62, Westerly
“The big [issue] that I’m concerned about is making sure that our country gets back on track and not so badly divided. I’d like to see some not-so-extreme left people in [office] and not-so-extreme right people in. I’d like to see us go down the middle of the road and get back to some type of normalcy, to where we are working our way through things compromised. … [I think political division could be lessened by people] being gentlemen about it and ladies, trying to take the time to listen to what the other people are trying to say. And try to find the common ground instead of acting like babies. And I could say that about the Congress. I’m not saying I’m disgruntled. But, come on – people can be a lot more mature about doing things.”
Kevin Lowther, 39, Westerly, candidate for Town Council
“For me, my top three [issues are]: Number one is affordable housing. The affordable housing crisis in this town is really leading us to real demographic shifts in this town to an aging community. We’re losing our school age population. We’re losing our families. And that is not a recipe for an economically vibrant Westerly in the future. We need to attract more young people, more families, and we need to give them a place to live. Number two [issue] is just governance, good governance in general. All those people [who are elected to the town council], we’re gonna have to learn how to work together. And we have to understand that our ideologies, our individual ideologies, cannot get in the way of the business being done and accomplished for the people of Westerly. And then the third thing is we have to value equity in this community in all kinds of ways, which means engaging people.”
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