Voters in western Massachusetts wasted no time getting to the polls today, with lines forming in some spots before polling locations opened at 7 a.m.
A quiet, crisp November morning drew some 50 people in Northampton waiting to get into the senior center off Conz Street, with more residents arriving after the doors opened and voters started heading in.
One of eight polling locations in the Hampshire County city, it’s also part of the state’s 2nd congressional district, occupied by longtime Democrat Jim McGovern – who also occupied a piece of sidewalk across from the scene – holding signs for his re-election and chatting with constituents.
First elected in 1996, he’s facing a challenge in the form of independent candidate Cornelius Shea - a retired educator and former U.S. Marine living in Shrewsbury, next to Worcester.
McGovern says he’s hopeful about the race, just like he is about the chances of Democrat Kamala Harris winning and his party retaking the House.
“I feel really good, but I'm afraid to admit it because I don't want to appear overconfident, but I just feel that the wind is at our back,” he told WAMC. “I think people want to turn the page on all this chaos and trauma that the Republicans and Trump have brought on us over the last several years. So, I'm hopeful, and if we could take back the House, I'll be the chairman of the Rules Committee again.”
As he spoke, a steady stream of cars, bicycles and voters arriving on foot made their way into the senior center near the city’s downtown.
Speaking the day before at a press conference carried by NBC Boston, Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin signaled that this general election could beat the record turnout of 2020.
“I do believe we will exceed our record turnout of 2020 of 3.6 million, almost 3.7 million,” he said Monday. “We have now a significant number of new voters because of the registration changes that we've made. So, many voters find themselves on the rolls, having interacted with the Registry of Motor Vehicles or other state agencies. For all those reasons and the intensity of this election, I do think we will have a record turnout, as I've already mentioned.”
Among Tuesday’s voters were Frances Swift, a paraprofessional who told WAMC the presidential election looms large, but so do other matters on the ballot like Question 2 - Elimination of the MCAS test as a high school graduation requirement.
“I think state testing … in general, has reached maybe heights that aren't appropriate, I guess - they just keep going further and further with the state testing, and not everyone tests well,” she said. “I'm a person who doesn't test well. I do very poorly on standardized tests, and it doesn't speak to my intelligence, so I just think getting rid of that requirement to graduate is super important.”
Jennifer Scarlott says she’s a one-issue voter this general election, with the war in Gaza and Lebanon taking precedent.
Voicing concerns over how the current administration has provided military supplies to Israel and also how former Republican President Donald Trump would handle the conflict, she says she opted for writing in Dr. Cornel West.
“I think he represents, concerns that are uppermost in my mind - white supremacy, US Empire, US militarism around the world,” she said. “And the continued occupation of Palestine.”
According to Galvin’s office, just over 1.7 million ballots were cast in early voting – 33.8 percent of the state’s registered voters.
Jo Ella Tarbutton-Springfield says she was one of the many early voters, but still made the rounds outside of the senior center early in the morning – chatting with McGovern and other locals.
“I was like, ‘McGovern - come here! I want to meet with you now and give me that card, and we're going to talk about somethings and you're going to have to hear me - you better be prepared for what I have to say!’ because I have a lot of stuff that I talk about regarding housing, subsidizing public housing, and it's of great concern to me,” she said.
A board member of the Northampton Housing Authority and part of the Northampton Democratic City Committee, she tells WAMC that getting out to vote is critical, even if it comes down to writing in one’s own name for a race where neither candidate is preferred.
“It's really, really important, people. Please, I beg of you: vote!” she said. “I mean, come on. And when I think about voting, I think about how important it is … Abraham Lincoln said ‘If you don't vote today, don't complain tomorrow.’ Well, you see, I'm an activist - of course, I'm challenging and critiquing. So, of course, I'm voting.”
Polls close across Massachusetts at 8 p.m.
