LYNN — The usual door knocking and hosting of large events to acquire signatures to run for a political seat will not be in the lineup for this year’s election season, as COVID-19 limits the personal interactions among candidates and the Lynn community.
Councilor-at-Large Brian Field hosted fellow incumbents and new candidates on Monday night in the parking lot of Solimine Funeral Home, where he is a funeral director, to offer a safe, outdoor space for Lynn residents to come and sign nomination papers.
Field said he organized the signing event because it has been harder to get signatures this year and he wants community members to see that the candidates are real people, not just figures online and behind a screen.
“We’ll do what people want to do,” Field said. “Everybody who wants to be on the ballot deserves the right to be.”
School Committee member Lorraine Gately said it has been tough getting signatures because candidates cannot have the meet and greets that they usually have.
“People have offered to take our papers and go out and talk to their families,” she said. “Everybody seems to be working together to make sure that everyone can get on the ballot and it makes my heart feel good.”
Lynn residents Derek and Lisa White came to sign papers on Monday night and said they felt comfortable coming to the funeral home set-up, where they were able to be outside and stay safe.
“If you make it a little easier, then more people will participate,” Lisa said, noting that the event was convenient and allowed her to sign for multiple people at one time.
Councilor-at-Large Brian LaPierre said it’s so important to meet people where they’re at in terms of the pandemic.
“We want people to feel safe and also supportive,” he said. “I’ve been creative in how I’ve been going about getting signatures this year, but it has been challenging nonetheless because it’s a year like no other.”
He said he has had successful signing visits outside of supermarkets and also outside the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute vaccination site.
Ward 1 Councilor Wayne Lozzi said there is a completely new way to go about campaigning this year.
“We have to find ways to make the city become more productive. Given what’s happening, it’s very difficult,” he said. “We’ve been hindered by COVID and we have to start moving forward and finding ways to become productive once again.”
Many candidates have said they will revert to virtual campaigning and hosting outdoor events. Mayoral candidate Jared Nicholson, who currently sits on the School Committee, said a lot of people prefer to engage virtually now, after resorting to that method over the past year. He said it will be nice to have virtual events as an option for people who are not comfortable attending anything in-person.
“We need to campaign in a responsible way,” he said. “We’ll do what we can outside, so the warmer weather will be helpful with that, and it’s also thinking about creative ways to respond. We’ve moved a lot of communication virtually out of a necessity … so that’s a way a lot of people prefer to engage.”
His fellow mayoral candidate, Michael Satterwhite, who also sits on the School Committee, said he is excited to incorporate virtual aspects in his campaign, saying he will be able to reach a broader audience that way.
“I’m respectful of the fact that every family has their own comfort level, and knocking on their door, I don’t know what their comfort level is,” he said.
Satterwhite said he is planning to host a virtual campaign kickoff, which is something he would have never thought of doing before the pandemic.
Eric Dugan, who is running for School Committee, also plans to “build the buzz” through social media, hoping to turn it into votes.
As a new candidate, Dugan said he hasn’t experienced going door-to-door, but knows the changes in the ways of getting all the necessary signatures and fundraising will put candidates at a disadvantage.
“I think it’s going to be interesting to see how I get my signatures,” he said.
Tiffany Magnolia, who is also running for School Committee, said she knocked on about 1,800 doors when she ran for the same position two years ago, but will not be knocking on any this year.
“It’s for candidates like me who aren’t incumbents and don’t have big war chests. That’s the way you do it, you knock on doors,” she said. “You don’t have the money for lawn signs or mailing or things like that, so we’re hamstrung because we don’t have the money.”
She said she will be limiting her contact with people until her 8-year-old daughter can be vaccinated.
“If there are candidate forums, I am not even comfortable being in a room with a whole bunch of people. I need to Zoom in,” she said.
School Committee candidate Sandra Lopez said she will also be cautious during the election process because she had a bad experience when she got sick with COVID-19.
“It’s going to be very difficult because we cannot go and knock on the door and we have to social distance,” she said. “We need to be working extremely hard to get those signatures in the safest way.”
Many candidates are posting dates and times on their social media informing followers when they will be leaving nomination papers, pens, sanitizers and wipes in front of their homes or places of work. Candidates said that carrying around sanitizer and wipes is something they were not expecting to be doing a year ago, but that this is a safe and successful new method that will carry on into the campaign season.
Allysha Dunnigan can be reached at [email protected].
