When Boston Progressives Abandoned Diversity 

Boston voters may be forgiven for not noticing a conspicuous absence on their ballots in the municipal election this fall. Actually, it's been absent for over a century, a forgotten remnant of crooked logic from the first Progressive Era. Nowhere on the ballot lists any party affiliation associated with any candidate. Technically, legally and laughably, Boston municipal elections are "nonpartisan." Electoral diversity has been abandoned.

In 1909, Boston became the first large city in America to adopt nonpartisan elections. Certain public officials, spurred by the progressive Good Government Association (popularly called "Goo-Goos"), feared Boston was becoming a prey to the party system, and drew up and put into force a change in the city's charter. Designed to give "an ideal municipal ballot, entirely non-partisan in character," the new law additionally sought to "separate municipal elections from state and party issues." Ever since, Boston's City Charter states that "Ballots must be free of references to political parties." Candidates, nevertheless, may receive support and endorsements from their respective parties or affiliated organizations.