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About 47% of ballots mailed to voters had been returned as of 7 a.m. Tuesday when polls opened for in-person state primary voting in Massachusetts, with 5,054,539 people eligible to help decide the outcomes.
The 468,520 returned ballots account for the vast majority of ballots cast in this election, with 28,908 additional voters submitting their preferences through another still relatively new election reform, in-person early voting, according to Secretary William Galvin's office.
While there are pockets of excitement in the form of contested races, voters in district after district have few candidates to choose from due to the lack of interest across the state in seeking public offices. That is driving down turnout, which currently sits at 9.8%.
Last week, Galvin forecast turnout would hit 15%. If that is correct, it would mean that most of the voting has already occurred.
In a trend that favors incumbents, voters in 26 House districts and six Senate districts will see contested primary elections, even though all 160 House districts and 40 Senate districts are up for reelection every two years. The general election this year is Nov. 5.
Unenrolled voters are the largest bloc of voters in Massachusetts and in primary elections must choose between a Democrat, Republican or Libertarian ballot. So far, 407,052 Democrat ballots have been submitted, 87,209 Republican, and 3,167 Libertarian.
Democrats and Republicans remain the loudest voices in Massachusetts and national politics, but a growing number of Massachusetts voters do not identify through registration statistics as Democrat or Republican, and both major parties are losing members here.
Politics
In 2020, registered Democrats accounted for 32.14% of registered voters, with Republicans at 9.86% and voters not enrolled in a party at 56.69%. Heading into Tuesday's primary, the unenrolled segment has surged to 64.43%, or about 3.25 million voters, while 26.27% of Massachusetts voters are registered as Democrats and 8.29% are registered as Republicans.
Galvin's office reported Tuesday that 992,813 ballots were mailed to voters, and nearly 53% of those ballot were not returned.
When it comes to results, the polls close at 8 p.m. but Massachusetts does not have "official" election night reporting, so the secretary's office says results from local clerks and those gathered from clerks by Associated Press are the best sources for unofficial tallies.
Clerks in the state's 351 cities and towns have four days to certify and report official results and Galvin's office plans to post results on his elections website after the clerks certify them.
