Damp, dreary, and slow was the day at several polling stations in Springfield as Super Tuesday got underway.
Throughout the early afternoon, a trickle of voters came and went from spots like the Forest Park Middle School.
Sitting outside with her two dogs in the back of her SUV, toting a Marianne Williamson sign, Deborah of Connecticut, who did not want to share her full name, told WAMC she had been making the rounds in both Springfield and Northampton to promote her candidate.
"I've been to several polling locations - more than several, I want to say about five different polling locations,” she said. “There has not been a huge turnout in any of those locations. Of course, we have some weather - the rain."
All of this on a day Secretary of State William Galvin says he expected "a reasonably good turnout."
Speaking with reporters in Boston Monday, Galvin indicated he expected at least 600,000 Democratic primary ballots to be cast, in addition to 400,000 ballots for the GOP primary.
Springfield City Clerk and Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola-Lopez spoke with WAMC after she made the rounds to several polling locations early Tuesday afternoon, saying low turnout was definitely a possibility after "brisk" early voting numbers.
"We prepare as if we're preparing for every single voter in the city to turn out,” Oyola-Lopez said. “But we're sitting there waiting, and we can see that it's not as eventful as past election. So, I'd say four years ago, it was higher numbers."
She says 7,000 ballots were mailed in while 500 were cast during early voting.
Oyola-Lopez also explained that work to make Tuesday's operations go as smoothly possible started as early as last year's mayoral election.
She and her team of 400 workers staff some 71 polling stations throughout the city. The biggest issue Tuesday appeared to be voter confusion on what door to use at some poll locations.
Getting the word out ahead of elections is also part of the job, with her team frequently performing outreach work, going to voters wherever they are, including registering high school students.
"I want every voter to come out and vote if they can,” she noted. “Unfortunately, it's not always the case."
It’s a drive that was shared by one voter who stopped to talk with WAMC after casting her ballot Tuesday.
Mary Ann Geary Maloney of Springfield says she cast her ballot just after leaving a wake for a friend.
“Voting is probably the most important thing we can do at this stage of our country, and of our world,” she said. “That’s a freedom that we have and we must take advantage of it and be a voter.”
Polls close in Massachusetts at 8 p.m.
