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Election 2022: MA Ballot questions are a ‘driving force for voters,’ says secretary of state

Election 2022: MA Ballot questions are a ‘driving force for voters,’ says secretary of state. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) (Charles Krupa/AP)
(Charles Krupa/AP)

BOSTON — The secretary of state for Massachusetts is not expecting a record-breaking total turnout when voters head to the polls on Tuesday in the general election.

“It doesn’t seem, at this point, that there’s a tremendous enthusiasm for this election,” said Bill Galvin, who said ballot questions may be more of a “driving force for voters.”

“Voters are far more concerned about the ballot questions,” said Galvin in a pre-election briefing on Monday. Galvin is facing his own challenge in the election from Republican Rayla Campbell.

The secretary of state said about 1.1 million ballots were mailed to voters who asked for them.

“So far, we have received back 776,000 of those, which means there are 315,000 remaining out there,” said Galvin who said those with mail-in ballots should now think about dropping off those ballots in person, instead of relying on the US Postal Service, because it may not be received in time. The deadline for mail-in ballots - that are postmarked by November 8th - to make it to local elections offices is November 12th for them to be counted.

“The best choice, if you have a vote-by-mail ballot at this point, is to put it in a drop box,” said Galvin.

Galvin said his “best guess” for total turnout is 2.2 million voters, “but I hope I am wrong.”

There are 4,884,076 registered voters in Massachusetts, so that would put the turnout at about 45% of registered voters.

The largest bloc of voters in Massachusetts is made up of those who are “unenrolled,” or independent voters. There are 2,951,863 unenrolled voters in the state.

1,438,607 voters are registered as Democrats, while 437,211 people are registered as Republicans.

When it comes to ballot questions, Galvin referred to the dizzying amount of information about those initiatives and urged voters to rely on information in the state voter’s booklet and the one-sentence statement summary of what each question will do.

Polls in Massachusetts are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. statewide.

If you need information about where your polling place and where you should vote, click the link below:

FIND MY ELECTION INFORMATION

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