BELLINGHAM, Mass. — It came with plexiglass and sanitized pens and promises to maintain social distance. But the point is, Election Day 2020 came -- despite the COVID-19 pandemic. And in parts of Massachusetts, it brought in record numbers of in-person voters -- many surprised at how easily they moved through polling places fettered with hygienic precautions.
“It was fantastic. We really expected to be in a long line out here,” said one voter at Bellingham High School. “We dressed for it and we got right in.”
“Really quick, nobody in line,” said Waltham voter Betty Stockwood after casting her ballot at the Kennedy Middle School. “They made sure once you left they sanitized everything. And I had no problem.”
Part of the reason for no lines: About half of Massachusetts voters took advantage of early voting options -- either by mail or in-person during the past two weeks.
“Approximately 6,000 people voted early-vote-by-mail and early-vote-in-person prior to today,” said Bellingham City Clerk Larry Sposato.
That’s about 2/3 the number of voters who cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election, won by President Donald Trump by just 26 votes.
In Waltham, the number who voted early -- either by mail or in-person -- exceeded the 2016 vote total of Hillary Clinton, who defeated Trump in the city by about 9,500 votes. Assistant City Clerk Joseph Vizard said those 18,000+ early votes, combined with more than 6,000 Election Day votes had, by 2 PM, pushed turnout to 69 percent.
In 2016, 75% of Waltham voters cast ballots. Vizard expected 80 percent or more to vote when all is said and done -- a record-setting number of city participants in an election.
“It’s been a lot of work,” Vizard said of the mail-in and early-voting efforts. “It’s been sort of the past month of our lives has been this election. So we’re gonna be happy when we’re done tonight. They’ll be some post election work over the weekend. But we’ll be very happy tonight when we get most of the votes in.”
Voters who did wait until today to cast a ballot gave two primary reasons for holding out. First -- tradition. Waltham Voter Michael Bontempo said this is how he’s always voted -- and he was pleasantly surprised how easy it was.
“No different at all," said Bontempo. "Had no problems. Short lines.”
Others had a mistrust of mailing ballots in.
“I physically wanted to see myself voting,” one Waltham voter said. “I do not prefer to see somebody else take my ballots through the mail... I just prefer that I physically did it and handed it... saw that it was processed and cast.”
Waltham Voter Dana Sinerate felt the same way -- and took it as a bonus that on top of getting to cast her ballot live... she did so with ease.
“There was a lot of talk of 'Go early, it’s going to be so crowded,” Sinerate said. “And now I’m like, looks like I made the right choice to wait it out. But yeah everyone was a little panicked as to how crazy it was going to be but everything in there was very well run, organized.”
Voter Resources
- View My Ballot
- Massachusetts Ballot Questions
- Am I Registered to Vote?
- Where Do I Vote?
- Find My Drop Box
- Track My Ballot
- Mail-in Registration Form
- Automatic Voter Registration
- Massachusetts Districts