When Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle was casting her ballot for President-elect Joe Biden Monday afternoon along with 10 other Massachusetts electors, she was wearing a piece of jewelry that belonged to three generations of women in her family as a reminder to herself how far women in this country have come in the past century since gaining the right to vote.
“I wanted to stand on the shoulders of women in my family, but also all of the hundreds of thousands of women over the last 100 years that insisted that women should have the vote, in various forms,” she added. “And also, not just the vote — but having equity in our political process.”
LaChapelle was appointed an elector after campaigning with the Massachusetts Democratic Party for the position. She highlighted three points for her candidacy: representing western Massachusetts, running as a female elected mayor, and highlighting the 2020 presidential election taking place 100 years after the 19th Amendment was passed.
Initially, she said, she was a supporter of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign for president, but later became a supporter of Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
“It was clear that Vice President Biden was going to be able to not only bring some sort of pragmatic peace for the way forward for the country, but that he would use his boldness as well as his track record in government to pull together a dynamic team that truly represents all of America,” she said.
LaChapelle thinks President Donald Trump has “manipulated a disregard” for the U.S. Constitution after his electoral defeat with unsubstantiated claims of widespread voting fraud.
“I do think that on a large part what we’re seeing with Trump, but more importantly, the Republicans falling in line, will be tantamount to McCarthyism in the 1950s,” she added. “History will look back at this point and make a clear distinction of who stood for our country, democracy and our Constitution and who did not.”
A total of 11 Massachusetts electors cast their ballots Monday in Boston for Biden and Harris, according to the Associated Press. The remaining electors Kathleen Donaghue of Westborough, Joseph Kelly of Hingham, Thomas Larkin of Bedford, Robert Markel of Boston (who is also the interim Hampden town administrator and former Springfield mayor), Linda Monteiro of Boston, Jay Manuel Rivera of Lawrence, Norma Shulman of Framingham, Teresa Walsh of Medford and Wayne Yeh of Boston.
Just a week prior to the electoral vote, Ronald Valerio of Auburn passed away. Lesley Phillips of Cambridge filled his vacancy.
Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman Gus Bickford said Monday evening that he was struck by LaChapelle’s story and the symbolism of how far the United States has come in the past century.
“Now we’ve got a woman who’s been nominated to be our vice president,” he added. “And just the significance of all of that was just wonderful. It wasn’t just that she wore that (jewelry), but there are such incredible barriers that are being broken by this election.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Chris Goudreau can be reached at cgoudreau@gazettenet.com.