When Buckland Town Clerk Janice Purington opened the polls Tuesday morning at 7 a.m., a line of voters was already waiting. And before noon, almost half the town’s 1,196 active registered voters had already cast their ballots, she said.
But of that number, 217 Buckland residents had voted under the state’s new early voting program.
And 2,549 of Greenfield’s 11,981 voters — or 21 percent — voted before Nov. 8.
Massachusetts is now one of 37 states that allows no-excuse early voting within a designated period ahead of Election Day. For many, it has changed “Election Day” from the only day to vote to the “deadline” for voting in the state.
This bill was signed into law in 2014, and requires communities to let residents vote during a 10-day window immediately preceding Election Day during biennial statewide elections. This year is the first time the state held early voting.
According to the Boston Globe, at least a million of the state’s 4.36 million voters cast their ballots between Oct. 24 to Nov. 4.
In Deerfield, 1,148 out of 3,808 voters participated in early voting – roughly 30 percent. In Shelburne, 289 residents voted early – about 20 percent of the 1,424 voters. In Montague, 982 out of 6,301 voters (16 percent) voted early.
In Whately, 287 — nearly one-quarter — of its 1,215 voters participated in early voting.
“We had 290 people who voted early, out of 1,399 registered voters,” said Ashfield Town Clerk Bridget Rodrigue. “We did really well,” she said Monday, “and I’m expecting a lot on Tuesday.”
Monroe, which has only 73 voters, had the lowest percentage of early voting, with four early ballots cast.
Other town clerks who could be reached on election day or election eve reported the following early voting results: Charlemont 95 early voters out of 918 (10 percent); Leverett, 296 out of 1,525 (19 percent); Heath 95 early voters out of 529 (18 percent); Colrain 194 out of 1,216 (16 percent); Hawley 39 early voters out of 1,399 (13 percent); and Bernardston, 275 early voters about of 1,500 (18 percent).