Governor’s race is the draw, city and town clerks say By JOHN ZAREMBA The Patriot Ledger
Absentee ballots have been flowing into town and city clerks’ offices at unusually high rates, leading election officials to believe Tuesday will be a busy day at the polls.
Many town and city clerks consider absentee ballots a reliable means of predicting voter turnout, and judging from the level of activity they have seen so far, some are predicting that at least half - and in some cases upward of 60 percent - of their communities’ registered voters will take part in the election.
Steadily over the past few weeks, those who work in the town clerks’ offices have taken note of all the snowbirds, college students and out-of-town businesspeople who have mailed in their ballots or come in person to vote early.
‘‘I have stacks of them. I bet there are at least 100,’’ Pembroke Town Clerk Donna Pratt said. ‘‘It’s higher for a state election that isn’t a presidential year.’’
She and other election officers say the race for governor is no doubt the reason people are making sure to vote in advance if they cannot go to the polls Tuesday.
But in Rockland, for example, where voters will consider three requests for tax increases, local issues are contributing to the spike in voter participation.
Several days before the election, nearly 300 of Rockland’s 10,265 registered voters had cast their ballots early. The number is of presidential-election proportions.
‘‘Absentees are ... oh my God, we were inundated with them at first,’’ Rockland Town Clerk Mary Pat Kaszanek said. ‘‘I’m delighted. I really like it that we have this activity. You get that kind of activity with a presidential election.’’
The 2004 election was especially busy in Marshfield, when 13,500 of 15,400 registered voters went to the polls.
In the 2002 election for governor, more than 10,000 of the town’s 13,000 registered voters at the time voted.
Today, with more than 600 absentee ballots already cast, Town Clerk Patti Picco is predicting a similarly busy Election Day; she believes 10,000 or more of Marshfield’s 17,239 registered voters will participate.
‘‘This is going to be a busy race,’’ she said.
Quincy City Clerk Joseph Shea has made a more conservative prediction, saying 45 to 50 percent of city voters will turn out Tuesday.
Nearly 1,200 people have voted early, leading Nicole Crispo, a principal clerk in the city’s election office, to the following conclusion:
‘‘Looks like it’s going to be a fight to the finish for the governor.’’
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