With state primary elections right around the corner, to be held Tuesday, Sept. 6, North Shore voters across the region are taking advantage of mail-in ballot voting and early voting this week.
In Lynn, those who wish to cast their ballots before Sept. 6 can vote early in the main lobby of City Hall from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. on Friday.
City Clerk and Chief of Elections Janet Rowe said that the voting table’s proximity to her office, room 202, makes it easy to assist voters with the process, or answer any questions voters might have. Rowe said that she’d like to remind Lynn residents that they cannot vote more than once, despite the availability of mail-in voting.
“Sometimes if people come in and they had requested an early ballot, and they decided that they actually wanted to vote in-person, then, we can take care of that while they’re here,” Rowe said. “You can only vote once. You can only get one ballot. I know sometimes people think ‘I got my mail-in ballot, I voted, now I’m going to go to the poll and vote,’ it’s not going to happen because as soon as we get your early vote here, it’s already marked in the book that you voted and we actually had the ballot there.”
Rowe said that compared to the popularity of mail-in ballots, in-person early voting in Lynn has not been well-utilized this election.
“The mail-in voting, I think is very successful…. In this primary, we’ve already had 5,576 mail-in requests that we’ve sent out. We’ve gotten back about 3,000 so far,” Rowe said. “The early voting for the primary is kind of tough, because right now, on Saturday, we had 44 people come in, and on Sunday we had 18 people come in. So, for the primary, it’s not really that big.”
Two Lynn voters who took advantage of the city’s in-person early voting on Saturday, poll workers Jerry Powers and Elisa Hockenhull, said that they came to City Hall informed and ready to cast their ballots.
“We’re pretty informed. We’ve taken part throughout the years in elections, backed specific candidates, worked for those candidates, and we’re pretty well aware of what’s happening and how I’m going to vote. So we just come in knowing who’s going to be on the list and how we’re going to vote for everybody and who we don’t want to vote for,” Hockenhull said. “we’re Lynners, we grew up and were brought up here — went to school here,” Powers said.
In Swampscott, early voters can cast their ballots in Town Hall this week from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, or from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. on Friday.
On Saturday, Swampscott resident and first-time voter Olivia King said that she believes everyone should exercise his or her right to vote.
“I think people should vote because we have a right to, and I think especially in this day and age, we should use that right and vote for what we believe in,” King said. “[It] isn’t difficult to do.”
In Saugus this week, voters can cast their ballots at the Taylor Street entrance of the Saugus Public Library on Wednesday from 8:15 a.m. until 4 p.m. or Thursday and Friday from 8:15 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Town Clerk Ellen Schena said that those with questions about voting can contact her at Town Hall during office hours.
In Peabody, City Clerk Allyson Danforth said mail-in ballots for the primary have been sent out to all residents who requested one.
Early voting is only available at City Hall. The following dates and times are when early voting will take place: Thursday, Sept. 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday, Sept. 2 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. There are ballot boxes at City Hall, 24 Lowell St. at the handicapped-accessible entrance and also in front of the Peabody West Branch Library.
Those who have not yet received their mail-in ballots are encouraged to contact the City Clerk’s Office at 978-538-5756. In-person absentee ballots will be accepted no later than Friday, Sept. 2 at 5 p.m.
In Marblehead, Town Clerk Robin Michaud said that in-person early voting has not been a very popular option so far.
“It’s been a very light turnout,” Michaud said. “We had 24 people on Saturday, and six of them were my workers.”
Those looking to cast their ballots early can do so at Abbott Hall in Marblehead Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Thursday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Any questions from the public regarding early voting should be sent to Michaud via email, she said.
In Lynnfield, early voting will be available at Town Hall during their standard office hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and 8 a.m. until 1 p.m on Friday.
Town Clerk Linda Emerson said that any questions or problems should be directed toward her.
“If there are any problems, come see me, or call me, and I will solve them. There’s always a reason, so I can certainly help anybody who has any questions. Whether they just missed a deadline for a ballot, or they sent back the card and they didn’t check off which elections they wanted, these things can be easily solved,” Emerson said.
Emerson added that in Lynnfield, 1,639 ballots were sent by mail as of Tuesday afternoon, with 664 sent back. In-person voting, she said, has been slow.
“It’s been very very slow. Our first day, we were here six hours, we had 12 voters,” Emerson said.
In Nahant, early voting will be held at the Town Clerk’s Office in Town Hall from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Wednesday, 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Thursday, and 9 a.m. until noon on Friday.
All questions and concerns should be directed toward Town Clerk Diane Dunfee at 781-581-0018, or [email protected].
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
Emma Fringuelli can be reached at [email protected].
Dorothy Irrera can be reached at [email protected].
