This year’s primary election will be held on Tuesday, September 6th.
If you are not registered to vote, or if you are marked inactive (many people are), you should check the online voter registration portal to verify your registration status, or register to vote if you aren’t already. The deadline to register to vote in this year’s primary election is Monday, August 22nd.
There will also be early voting starting from August 27th. See Somerville’s election calendar for more info on what dates early voting will be held on. If you would like to vote by mail instead, anyone may request a mail-in ballot with no excuse required. If you haven’t received a vote by mail application, you can print out this form and mail it in yourself to be sent a ballot.
You can see what your ballot will look like by going to the online voter registration portal, click “Check Registration Information” and fill in your information, then click “My Democratic Ballot” under “View My Ballot”.
There are a few important state-wide races on the sample ballot, but the only competitive race specific to Somerville is the 27th Middlesex District race between incumbent State Representative Erika Uyterhoeven and Jason Mackey.
State Representative, 27th Middlesex District
| Representative, 27th Middlesex |  Jason Mackey (no response) |  Erika Uyterhoeven pdf of answers |
We sent out a short list of questions to both candidates. So far, we have only received a response from Erika Uyterhoeven. See her responses below:
Erika Uyterhoeven
- Somerville contains several environmental justice communities, with neighborhoods impacted by air and noise pollution from highways running through them. What would you do to ensure that transportation priorities, specifically bicycle infrastructure improvements, contribute to improving equity in Somerville?
Since taking office, I have had regular meetings with local advocacy groups and experts, including Somerville Transit Equity Partnership (STEP), Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets (SASS), Mystic River Watershed Association, and CAFEH Project Team on how we can improve the air quality, lower noise pollution, and improve bicycle, pedestrian and public transit infrastructure in Somerville. We have also had regular community strategy meetings with advocates, city electeds, city staff, and the entire Somerville state delegation to push the state administration, including MassDOT, DCR, and the MBTA to fulfill our transportation priorities. Specifically for bicycle infrastructure, this includes using state managed land and roadways to be used for improved bicycle infrastructure both within Somerville, such as better connection between Union Square and Assembly Square, and expanding the Community Path, and to better connect Somerville with neighboring municipalities and other established bicycle infrastructure, such as more bicycle lanes along the Mystic River and Malden River, building the Mystic River bridge and connecting it with bicycle infrastructure in Somerville and Everett, and more connections from extending the Community Path into Cambridge and Boston.
I will continue to work with advocates, my colleagues, and the city to ensure that anyone can walk, bike, commute, and play safely in our city.
- While almost all streets in Somerville are maintained by the city, several of our most dangerous roads (McGrath Highway, Alewife Brook Parkway) are under state jurisdiction. What have you done to improve safety on those roadways for people on bicycles and other vulnerable road users?
With respect to road safety, we have specifically advocated for and secured commitments from MassDOT for the following:
- Bicycle lanes with separators on McGrath Highway from Broadway in Somerville to Winter St. in Cambridge (with commitment from MassDOT to install in fall 2022),
- Pedestrian crosswalk on McGrath Highway at Blakeley Avenue (at Stop Shop), which is complete
- Raised ADA accessible crosswalks and more visible traffic signals at the Kensington Connector Crossing (beneath I-93), which is in progress
- Raised ADA accessible crosswalks and more visible traffic signals at the Route 28 / Route 38 intersection, which is in progress, and
- Removing one lane on McGrath southbound starting from I-93 to Broadway and reallocating that space to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
We have also been working with DCR which manages Alewife Brook Parkway to increase traffic calming and pedestrian safety. In partnership with the Somerville state delegation, secured $100,000 in funding to improve safety.
Finally the Somerville state delegation, in partnership with the city’s Transportation & Infrastructure department, have been working together to advocate for MassDOT to install sound walls along I-93 to protect our most vulnerable environmental justice communities. Following MassDOT’s announcement for the I-93 viaduct rehabilitation, we were able to get a commitment from MassDOT to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study for sound walls along I-93 in Somerville.
- Massachusetts is one of just a few states that does not provide clear definitions for electric bikes, meaning that everything from ebike share to ebike incentives are hard to implement. What would you do to change this?
I co-sponsored H.3457, An Act relative to electric bicycles, and I am ecstatic to share that this bill was voted favorably by the House in late July and am hopeful that the bill will progress forward and be signed into law by the Governor because it is not a controversial bill. This bill subjects class 1 and 2 e-bike users to the same rights, privileges, and duties as non-electric bike users as long as they are not operated on sidewalks. This will take two thirds of electric bikes out of the legal gray area in Massachusetts law which has both caused confusion and prevents municipalities from adequately putting in place protections and regulations. I will continue to advocate to legally defining Class 3 bikes, which were left out of this bill.
This bill would not only help make e-bike incentives easier to implement, but it would make them safer as well. More recently, I co-sponsored the e-bike incentive program in an amendment to H.4897, An Act relative to Massachusetts’s transportation resources and climate. This set up a rebate program of $500-$750 for purchasing an e-bike. This was included in the final version of the bill that passed out of the House.
- Both recent federal and state transportation funding provides opportunities for improving bicycle infrastructure or subsidizing bicycle purchases. If elected, what would you do to ensure that a greater share of transportation spending is directed toward safety for people on bicycles and other vulnerable road users?
I fully support leveraging federal and state transportation funding to improve bicycle infrastructure and subsidize bicycle purchases. We have done this by both pushing MassDOT and DCR to invest in bicycle infrastructure on roadways and land they manage, and I have been advocating for more Chapter 90 funding to municipalities to go towards improvements and investments in local bicycle infrastructure. In terms of subsidizing bicycle purchases, I advocated for the rebate program for e-bikes and I am in favor of larger rebates for low-income individuals as a way to equitably lower barriers to using e-bikes, and I am in favor of having rebates and deductions for regular bicycles as well. I believe both can help incentivize residents to use bicycles over cars.
Finally, I support heavily subsidizing bike share services through state funding. I believe BlueBikes is far too expensive for residents and should be free given that it provides such an easy way to start biking for anyone who has not yet made the investment in buying their own bike. Bike shares have all of the same benefits to the public as public transportation, similar to fare-free transit, we should have fare-free bike shares. This has the potential to greatly increase the number of bicycle journeys on the road, increase the number of people buying their own bike, and as such increase safety through numbers and through more advocacy for better bicycle infrastructure. I will continue to work with Somerville Bicycle Safety, MassBike, and Boston Cyclists Union to push for funding and advocacy in the Massachusetts State House.
- What have you achieved, or worked on, in your time in the House that demonstrates your record of working for bicycle safety, active transportation, or safety improvements for vulnerable road users?
In my first years as Representative, I have worked with city officials, our partners at the federal level, and my colleagues in the Somerville delegation to bring about real change to some of the most dangerous roads in our city. Along with community advocates, we were able to finally get improvements for bicycle and pedestrian safety and accessibility on Mcgrath Highway, Mystic Avenue, and Alewife Brook Parkway. There are also ongoing projects to improve the safety and infrastructure and we will continue to push to ensure that these commitments are kept on behalf of our community.
I am very responsive to my constituents’ needs on road safety. I used my platform last year to raise awareness and advocate for the unsafe HAWK signal at Beacon Street and Buckingham Street, and the need for traffic calming on Wyatt and Perry Street. Even though these are governed by the city, I believe it is still my role to advocate on behalf of and in partnership with my constituents. I worked with road safety advocates and city councilors to collect over 100 signatures of concerned neighbors for these issues. We brought the concerns to city officials and continue to try to find a way to improve road safety in that area.
I will continue to meet regularly with advocates and community members to hear their concerns and ideas on how the infrastructure around Somerville can be improved, and to act on them by working with all stakeholders including residents, advocates, legal and subject matter experts (such as CAFEH and the Conservation Law Foundation), city administration, city electeds, and my colleagues in the Somerville state delegation and in the region. I will use my platform to continue to uplift your concerns and solutions and how we can ensure all bicyclists and pedestrians are safe in our community.