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

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…