Early voting has come and gone around the region, and after today, so will Campaign 2020. 

All cities and towns reported brisk participation in early voting. It went out with a bang Friday in Lynn, the final day for all communities in Massachusetts, said City Clerk and Elections Chief Janet Rowe.

Despite a late-fall snowstorm that slowed things down considerably last Friday, Rowe said the two-week early-voting session ended with furious activity. 

“(There were) lots of people for the last hurrah,” she said. “It’s another record-breaking day.” 

Late Friday afternoon, Rowe said people were still coming out in droves to cast their ballots, even with rain and snow throughout the day. On Friday alone, 515 residents voted early, which brought the total ballots over the early voting period to 6,532, Rowe said, noting that those numbers don’t include mail-in ballots.

However, she said, this year’s total still falls short of 2016, the last presidential election year, when 7,000 people voted early in Lynn. 

However, many residents have opted to take advantage of mail-in voting instead, which is available to all Massachusetts voters for the first time thanks to new voting law enacted because of the pandemic. Voters could also cast their ballot by mail for the September primary. 

As of Monday, 13,395 residents had voted by mail, which accounts for approximately 23.9 percent of the 56,041 registered voters in Lynn. When combined with in-person early voting ballots, the city already has a 35.5 percent voter turnout. 

Of the 15,384 mail-in ballots requested in Lynn, 1,989 have not yet been returned. Voters have until Tuesday to return their mail-in ballots, said Rowe, who noted the drop-in ballot box outside City Hall on Johnson Street will be checked every two hours on Election Day. 

Although many people have chosen to vote early, Rowe still expects a steady flow of voters at the polls on Election Day. She anticipates the city will exceed its voter turnout in 2016, which was 65 percent based on 35,000 votes. 

“We are prepared and want voters to know we are adhering to all of the guidelines laid out by the state and our Public Health Director Michele Desmarais, so there may be lines and a wait to vote,” said Rowe. “We hope to exceed the 2016 election totals so if we end up with 20,000 early/mail/absentee ballots, that would mean at least 15,000 people will show up to vote.  

“Again, we hope it is more, as this is a very important election year. Many people have indicated to me that they want and enjoy voting in person.” 

LYNNFIELD

Between early voting and mail-in-voting, voters in Lynnfield have turned out in droves to cast their ballots. 

Town Clerk Linda Emerson said that, as of early Sunday night, approximately 59 percent, or 5,743 of the 9,742 registered voters in Lynnfield, had cast their ballots, either by mail-in ballot or in-person voting at Town Hall. 

“That’s just an amazing number,” Emerson said. “Fourteen days of in-person early voting and it was steady. If there was a lull at any point, it didn’t last too long. While at our busiest, I don’t think anyone waited too long for anyone to work their way down the hall to the Maney Room to vote. Many voters expressed their thanks and appreciation for what we are doing. That makes the long hours all worthwhile.”

All told, 3,861 Lynnfield voters requested to vote by mail in the November election.

Emerson said her office was still in the process of tallying incoming votes on Monday and she expected her office would still be busy counting them on Election Day.

The message on Emerson’s Town Hall business line says it all: “Due to a volume of outgoing and incoming ballots, this office is extremely busy.”

Emerson gave a special shout out to the town’s election workers.

“I’m proud of their professionalism and dedication,” she said. “They are amazing, Now it’s on to Tuesday!”

MARBLEHEAD 

The town did not have numbers available from the last two weeks, as Town Clerk Robin Michaud and her staff were busy setting up polling places for today’s voting.

However, an employee at the office said that the early voting went well, and that a lot of people voted.

NAHANT 

As of Friday morning,  Nahant residents had returned 1,548 ballots, which Town Clerk Diane Dunfee reported as being 54.5 percent of the town’s registered voters. This number includes ballots returned by mail and in-person, as well as early voting at Nahant Town Hall. 

Although final numbers are not expected until later this week,  Dunfee said. Nahant has also already surpassed the number of residents who voted in September’s primary. 

Dunfee said the town has sent out approximately 1,200 early-voting and absentee-voting kits, and the town will not have a final vote count until after the election. 

“Right now we’re focusing all our efforts on making sure the election runs smoothly and that the voting area is COVID-compliant for the safety of all our residents,” Dunfee said.

PEABODY

Four out of 10 registered voters in Peabody opted for mail and in-person early voting, said City Clerk Allyson M. Danforth. With almost 40,000 city residents registered to vote, mail in voting accounted for 10,845 ballots and early voters cast 5,321 ballots. 

Danforth said that as of last Thursday evening, 2,430 ballots remained unreturned. 

“Early voting was obviously a success with the large number of mail-in ballots and early-voting attendees. I think many voters will also turn out (on Tuesday.) It will be cold and blustery, and we are enforcing social distancing in our lines so hopefully voters wear a warm coat and bring their patience. My staff and I are looking forward to the end of this unprecedented election season,” Danforth said.

Peabody voters today should take note of polling place changes made to conform with COVID-19 precautions.

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.  Voters unsure of ward and/or precinct, please contact the City Clerk, 978-538-5756. 

REVERE 

Diane Colella from the election commission said the two weeks of early voting in Revere went “amazingly well.”

Colella said 4,601 out of the city’s 30,433 registered voters cast ballots from Oct. 17-30, and on nine of those days, more than 300 voters took part.

“It went well,” she said. “We had a great crew. There was more than enough personal-protective equipment available, and there was great social distancing, and we had people washing down booths after every use.” 

SALEM

The turnout for early voting in Salem included nearly half of all registered voters in the city. Out of 32,398, a total of 15,314 voted early — around 49 percent — while votes are still coming in on Monday and Tuesday said City Clerk Ilene Simons.

Early voter turnout was much larger than in the primaries with 5,363 people voting in person compared to around 750 in the primary elections in August. 

“Most cities knew that we would get a lot more early voters in October,” Simons said. “We knew we weren’t going to get the 2.5 percent that showed up in August and were prepared for the 60.5 percent in October.”

Early voting was held consistently at the city center, but it was the rotation of weekend options at Salem High and late nights on Thursdays that Simons believed people were most excited about.

“People enjoyed the two weekend dates at the high school,” Simons said. A total of 1,656 early voters came out on the weekends offered at Salem High. On the last Sunday of early voting, 337 people voted at the high school while 93 voted downtown. When it came to late-night voting this past Thursday, 620 people cast ballots.

SAUGUS 

Through Thursday, Town Clerk Ellen Schena reported the town had already seen 3,494 in-person early voters. 

She also reported that the Town Hall mailed out 5,814 early voting/absentee ballots and had since accepted 4,504 of those returned ballots. There are 20,297 registered voters in Saugus.

The total number of early ballots cast in Saugus as of Thursday night totaled 7,997. 

Schena added that although the town had seen frequent lines for in-person early voting, “nobody has complained whatsoever about the wait times.”

SWAMPSCOTT 

Early voting was very steady in Swampscott throughout the period, said Town Clerk Susan Duplin. 

“We were very busy,” said Duplin. “It’s been pretty steady even though the weather has been bad out (last week).” 

As of Thursday, 3,161 residents had voted in-person early in Swampscott — final numbers were not made available on Monday. 

Duplin said many residents have chosen to vote by mail instead of in-person this year. As of Thursday, 3,562 mail-in ballots had been returned out of the 4,240 that had been requested, which means that 675 were still outstanding.  

Between mail-in ballots and residents who had voted in-person early, as of Thursday, voter turnout was already 56.97 percent with 6,723 of the town’s 11,800 registered voters casting ballots. 

Duplin still expects many people will head to the polls on Election Day. She anticipates voter turnout will be about 85 percent, which would exceed the last presidential election year in 2016, when voter turnout was 82 percent. 

“There’s a lot of options for people to vote prior to the polls, which I think is going to increase turnout,” said Duplin. “I think those die-hard people who always go to the polls will still go. The polls will be busy, but not as busy for a presidential election as they usually are.”