Voters in Massachusetts looking to cast their ballots early for the state primaries can do so starting Saturday through Aug. 30th. That’s the message the Secretary of State Bill Galvin took on the road this week, with a stop in Springfield.
Setting up shop outside of Springfield City Hall Wednesday, Galvin stood beside a sign reading “Vote Early Aug. 24th-30th,” calling on locals to take advantage of early, in-person voting.
“The reason I started the effort here, to make this announcement statewide, is that Western Mass actually has more local activity in the upcoming Sept. 3 primary than most parts of the state,” he told reporters. “You have local legislative races, both here in Springfield, Hampden County, and you also have them in the Berkshires, with open seats.”
Several candidates are vying for the 3rd Berkshire District House seat, making for a crowded Democratic primary to replace the outgoing Smitty Pignatelli.
Meanwhile, the Springfield area is home to both a Democratic primary for the 11th Hampden House seat and another for the 1st Hampden Senate district.
As Galvin’s office states, all cities and towns are required to give residents a chance to vote early over the weekend, with most having polling locations open Saturday – which is also the last day to register to vote or change parties for the primaries.
All the while, Galvin says, voting by mail is being taken advantage of as well.
“I’m delighted to tell you that the vote by mail effort that has been underway for a while has been phenomenally successful, so far,” he said. “We turned out almost a million ballots to requesters, and in fact, we’ve received back over 300,000 people who’ve actually participated. Over 270,000 of those are Democrats, but even among Republican balloters, where there’s a U.S. Senate primary, there has been a significant uptick in participation.”
According to City Clerk Gladys Oyola-Lopez, at least 11,000 of those requests came from voters in Springfield.
“Right now, we're standing at a little over 11,000 ballots requested,” she told WAMC. “So that means Springfield voters, 11,000 of them, have expressed interest. We've mailed out those ballots - probably about half of those have come in as of yesterday.”
Springfield is one of a number of cities that will have in-person voting locations open throughout the early voting period – with City Hall open every day.
Other early voting sites vary, including the Greenleaf Community Center on Parker Street Saturday and the Ray Jordan Senior Center on Roosevelt Street Tuesday.
Galvin’s office is also reminding voters that those who applied to vote by mail but haven’t returned a ballot can still opt for voting in-person.
Those who have already returned their mail-in ballot will be marked off from voting lists and will be unable to vote again.
“We know school is coming very soon - I'm sure to the delight of many parents - and so, they're probably busy, preparing to go back to school, so maybe voting in the Sept. 3 primary isn't at the top of their list,” Galvin added. “But it is important, and we want people to make sure they have that opportunity. And we want to get people ready for November.
Officials also say those who have not yet registered have until Saturday evening to do so for the state primaries. According to Galvin, local election offices will “offer in-person voter registration sessions” until 5 p.m. Saturday, while online voter registrations must be submitted by 11:59 p.m.
As for early voting turnout this year, Galvin told reporters Wednesday that he expects a decent turnout, especially on the western side of the state.
“Springfield has over 4,000 people who have already voted by mail, which is a remarkably high number … that’s very encouraging,” he said. “And last time, in the state primary… 45 percent of people voted early, either by mail or early in-person, so I think it’s going to be high. I think even voters who might have been more casual about participating - when it's so easy to do it, they do it, and so, it's probably going to drive up turnout a little bit.”
