Early voting trends
Some interesting trends are emerging in Halifax’s municipal election advance voting, according to report released by HRM Returning Officer Cathy Mellett …
The people in your neighbourhood—Halifax’s new electoral districts
By admin | Jul 18, 2012Tags: election, electoral districts, Halifax, HRM
To coincide with the launch of OpenFile’s 2012 HRM Election coverage next week, OpenFile and Halifax Magazine will co-host a series of Twitter forums, or “chats,” about each of HRM’s new electoral districts.
We want to discuss stuff like: what issues do the citizens care about in the new district? What challenges will face this district in the next five or ten years? How do the neighbourhoods and communities contained in each district fit into the bigger picture of HRM? And we want to find out the answers by talking about it with readers.
The forums will all happen live on Twitter at specific times. The first two will happen on Monday, July 23: we’ll chat about District 1 (Waverley-Fall River-Musquodoboit Valley) at 10 a.m. and District 2 (Preston-Porters Lake-Eastern Shore) at 2 p.m. The full schedule* is subject to change, but so far we’re planning to do odd-numbered districts in the a.m. and even numbers in the afternoon.
Each forum will cover different topics and a have different hashtag. All you have to do to participate is: be on Twitter at the right time and use that right hashtag. The moderators will develop questions specific to each district and we’ll release them on this blog at least a day before each forum. Please suggest topics that you’d like to see discussed about your district in the comments here or by Tweeting us: @OpenFileHFX and @HalifaxMagazine.
The forums will be opportunities for citizens to talk about what the election issues in their neighbourhoods are—or what they should be. Candidates running for election have replied to our invitation to participate, and so far the following candidates have confirmed they’ll attend a forum: Steve Streatch, Will Gilligan, Bill Zebedee, Kate Watson, Jim Smith, Russell Walker, Waye Mason, Trent Peacock, Jennifer Watts, Richard MacLean, John Thibeau, Peter Grabowski and Bruce Smith, and more are adding themselves every day. (Curious who your candidates are? Check our list)
Some candidates were so interested in the idea of the forum, they even set up a Twitter account just to be able to participate (even ones who in the past have been dead-set against the idea).
Mayoral candidates were also invited, and so far Mike Savage and Tom Martin have confirmed they’ll attend at least one of the Twitter forums.
For those who are unfamiliar with a Twitter chat or forum, check out what this one looked like: #OFChat “Has Twitter changed the way we follow local politics?”
And, curious about which district you live in? Check out this map by Metro Halifax:
View Halifax Votes 2012 in a larger map
District 1: July 23 at 10 am
District 2: July 23 at 2 pm
District 3 (Woodside-Dartmouth South-Eastern Passage): July 24 at 10 am
District 4 (Cole Harbour-Westphal): July 24 at 2 pm
District 5 (Dartmouth Centre): July 25 at 10 am
District 6 (Harbourview-Burnside-Dartmouth East): July 25 at 2 pm
District 7 (Peninsula South-Downtown): July 26 at 10 am
District 8 (Peninsula North): July 26 at 2 pm
District 9 (Peninsula West-Armdale): July 27 at 10 am
District 10 (Birch Cove-Rockingham-Fairview): July 27 at 2 pm
District 11 (Spryfield-Sambro-Prospect Road): July 30 at 10 am
District 12 (Timberlea-Beechville-Clayton Park West): July 30 at 2 pm
District 13 (Hammonds Plains-St. Margaret’s): July 31 at 10 am
District 14 (Upper/Middle Sackville-Beaver Bank): July 31 at 2 pm
District 15 (Lower Sackville): Aug. 1 at 10 am
District 16 (Bedford-Wentworth): Aug. 1 at 2 pm
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