Strong turnouts for State Primary in spite of pandemic

Sept. 8, 2020 | The Reminder Publishing News Staff
chrism@thereminder.com

Poll workers sit behind a clear partition at the check-in booth in Southampton during the Sept. 1 State Primary Election.
Reminder Publishing photo by Angelica J. Core

WESTERN MASS. – The coronavirus pandemic has changed the atmosphere surrounding voting but it did not get in the way of people casting their votes. Quite the contrary, in fact, according to local clerks.

In a Sept. 1 State Primary Election with high-profile races for the 1st Congressional District and U.S. Senate, Massachusetts saw one of the strongest turnouts for such an election in recent history and the story was no different locally.

Easthampton finished with 51 percent voter turnout, compared to the last three primaries which had between 11 to 17 percent turnout, according to the City Clerk’s Office.

City Clerk Barbara LaBombard, the city saw 4,111 early voting or absentee ballots. LaBombard said 445 ballots were hand-delivered to them on Monday and Tuesday at the polls while 406 people voted early in-person and the rest were mailed.

“That reduces the actual voters in person at the polls to 1,907,” LaBombard said.

Easthampton resident Lisa Darragh said she voted in-person because she did not receive her ballot and she also was nervous about voting by mail. She said figured the polls would not be too crowded.

Precinct 3 Constable Bob Daysh said there were about 30 people per hour for the first six hours the polls were open. He did not expect to see more people because he knew 33 percent of the voting people had already voted whether it was early voting or mail-in ballots.

Precinct 4 Warden Bill Demado said to ensure the safety of voters and workers, everyone is following the COVID-19 guidelines as far as spacing, mask and hand washing. Prior to voting hand sanitizer and face masks were made available to voters.

In Southampton, Town Clerk Luci Dalton shared that they had a total of 3,788 votes, including in-person and mail-in ballots. Dalton’s office received more than 1,600 mail-in ballots.

Four years ago when the town introduced early voting, they saw around 1,100 ballots, she said.

Dalton expressed her belief that people felt safe to come out and vote. To ensure the safety of everyone, they focused on social distancing, had hand sanitizer at every booth, extra masks were available for voters, and every time a voter left the booth and machine were wiped down.

“I think people are pretty nervous about just going out and being around people but we have a way that we are letting the voters in and they are coming out the other way so they are not crossing paths with each other,” said Dalton.

Westhampton reported 651 of its 1,276 registered voters – 51 percent – participated in the primary, a marked improvement over the 2018 State Primary in which 38.8 percent went to the polls, according to Town Clerk’s Office records. Of the 651, 319 ballots were cast early in addition to 11 absentee ballots. The turnout also exceeded that of the Presidential Primary in March, which drew 596 voters (46.3 percent).

Town Clerk Cheryl Provost indicated there were no issues with extended waits outside the voting location or in cars, though she did warn, “this could occur in November.”

In Southwick, election workers were behind their own plexiglass cubicles that were spread 6 feet apart to accommodate for social distancing. Once the voting stations were done being used, one of the workers went through and sanitized the station before the next voters came in.

As of the election’s unofficial results on Sept. 2, Southwick Town Clerk Michelle Hill said the voter turnout more than doubled from the previous primary in 2018.

“In 2018 we had 1,146 between Democrats and Republicans, and this year 2,468. Yesterday’s results are not final since I am in the review stage,” she said.

Along with the plexiglass separators, voters in Westfield had some additional guidelines as well.

“Decals were placed on the floor stopping people every 6 feet, arrows were placed on the floor to keep the flow of traffic in one direction, some voting booths to keep the voters 6 feet apart, each polling location was equipped with individual hand sanitizers, alcohol spray, gloves, masks, disinfectant wipes, and there was touchless hand sanitizer for the voters to use as they exit,” Westfield City Clerk Karen Fanion said.

As with Southwick, Westfield’s unofficial turnout totals more than doubled the previous primary in 2018 with 9,718 votes between both parties this year to 4,006 voters in 2018.

Before the election, Huntington Town Clerk Linda Hamlin warned voters of the possibility that they may be forced to wait in their cars or outside of the polling location due to coronoavirus regulations that restricted occupancy to 10 people. She told Reminder Publishing after the election that it was a non-issue this time around, but could still present a problem for the Presidential Election.

Hamlin said “just shy of 525” Huntington residents cast ballots. With an estimated 300 early voters and mail-in ballots submitted, she said that number was “probably 10 times what we normally get for absentee and early voters.”

“I suspect that COVID-19 had a huge impact on the prevalence of early voting and vote-by-mail,” she said. “I have only been clerk since October, but I do think that numbers were higher than usual for a State Primary and suspect that the vote-by-mail gave many people who might not have come to the polls because of COVID-19 took that opportunity to vote despite the virus.”

She added, “The flow on Election Day was very reasonable and fairly slow so folks did not have to wait in their cars or outside the polling location. However, I do expect at least double and up to triple the numbers for November.”

In Chester, 339 of the 885 registered voters submitted a ballot, according to Town Clerk Rosemary Dalesandro. Of those, 152 participated in early voting on the steps of Town Hall or sent in their ballot by mail. An additional 27 residents requested mail-in ballots but did not return them.

“The turnout is typically around 130. I think vote-by-mail certainly increased that,” Dalesandro said. “I think the older people in the community appreciated it and there are residents who work 12 hours a day who found it convenient. I think overall people liked it.”

Dalesandro added that there were no issues with voters accessing the polls or long waits and residents observed safety guidelines.

"I was very proud of the Chester residents. They stayed within marked areas and practiced social distancing,” she said. “Everyone was very, very considerate and no one complained.”

Dalesandro estimated the turnout in November could be close to 800 voters with 15 days of early voting available. She stressed the importance of verifying mailing addresses to ensure residents receive their mail-in ballot applications and advised everyone to check at mass.gov.

“People think just because they updated their address with the post office, they don’t need to update it with the state, but the post office doesn’t report to the state,” she said. “Correct ZIP codes, P.O. boxes instead of physical addresses, all of this stuff is critical and you have to make sure it is accurate or you won’t get your ballot.”

Blandford Town Clerk Doris Jemiolo did not return a request for comment, however the Town Clerk’s Office reported a turnout of 326 voters.

Results

Incumbent Congressman and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal defeated Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse in the Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District in a race that gained national media attention. There is no Republican challenger for the seat.

Neal met with the press and a handful of supporters at Union Station in Springfield, making his speech shortly after 10 p.m. on Sept. 1. He credited his win to “working class Democrats,” such as the men and women who worked on the restoration of Union Station from an abandoned building to a transportation center. He noted that through the CARES Act, which he co-wrote, $1.2 billion has come to the Commonwealth to assist in pandemic economic relief. He also spoke about his continued agenda. “We must address concentrated wealth and level the playing field for everyone,” he said. Neal pledged to continue to protect Social Security and said now is the time for greater investment in infrastructure. He mentioned the importance of establishing east-west passenger rail twice in his remarks.

While Neal garnered approximately 59 percent of the vote district-wide, Morse’s ability to capture roughly 41 percent was significant as it marked the tightest primary race in Neal’s tenure as the representative of the 1st Congressional District. Neal previously had easily handled challenges on the Democratic ticket by Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, who received 29.3 percent of the vote in 2018, and Andrea Nuciforo (24.7 percent) and Bill Shein (9.9 percent) in 2012.

Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” played at the start of Morse’s election night livestream and when addressing supporters, he said, “I just want to start off my congratulating Congressman Richard Neal on winning his reelection tonight, but I also want to make it very clear how incredibly proud I am of what we fought for over the last 14 months.”

Morse thanked his family for their support, and then explained that “this was a long campaign,” and “when you think about what this means that we were fighting for not just winning an election but winning a moment, and fighting for the working people of this country that have been left behind for decades.”

For Senate, incumbent Sen. Edward Markey defeated Congressman Joe Kennedy III on the Democratic ticket with roughly 55 percent of the vote. Kevin O’Connor topped Shiva Ayyadurai in the Republican primary for Senate with 60 percent of the vote.

Reminder Publishing Staff Writers Angelica J. Core and Dennis Hackett, Assistant Managing Editors Chris Maza and Payton North and Managing Editor G. Michael Dobbs contributed to this report.

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