Midway through early voting, election workers in the region say turnout has been strong.
By the middle of the day Wednesday, nearly 900 people had voted in Sandwich over the first four-and-half days of voting. Plus, a couple of thousand people had voted by mail, in a town of 17,550 registered voters, said poll worker Candy Thomson.
She was greeting voters at the Sandwich Center for Active Living, checking them in, and repeating the instructions: Don’t forget to look at both sides of the ballot. When you’re done, seal the envelope and sign it.
The envelopes used for early voting are the same as for voting by mail. Voters place the envelopes in a locked box — not the scanner used on Election Day. They will be scanned later.
Turnout was good in New Bedford, with up to eight people at a time voting, said poll worker Helen Craig. Both she and Thomson suggested the recent nice weather may be a factor in people getting out to the polls.
In New Bedford, early voting is taking place in the portrait-lined lecture room at the New Bedford Free Public Library.
Although people are glad to be voting, some arrive unfamiliar with the five statewide ballot questions, Craig said.
“I think some people probably don’t even know that there’s ballot questions until they get here and we tell them,” she said.
But poll workers had a stack of voter guides — the red-covered ones published by the secretary of the commonwealth — ready to offer anyone who wanted to read about the ballot questions on the spot.
Ballots in Barnstable County voters have a sixth question, regarding the powers of the Assembly of Delegates. Find more information on that and the other ballot questions here.
Early voting continues through November 1st.
Check locations — they may not be the same as your normal polling place.
