With millions of votes still to be counted in the presidential election between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, voter turnout across the United States is reportedly at its highest in recent history — and Franklin County is no exception.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Shutesbury, Leverett and Whately have seen the highest voter turnout in the county with 88.96 percent, 88.80 percent and 88.48 percent, respectively. In all three cases, turnout has surpassed that of the 2016 election, which included the race between Trump and former Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton.
In fact, based on available data for Franklin County, at least 18 communities currently had a turnout in this year’s election that matches or surpasses that of the 2016 election — and that’s with a number of mail-in ballots, which can be accepted through Friday at 5 p.m. if postmarked by Tuesday, still left to be counted.
Most notably, voter turnout in towns such as Buckland increased from 80.48 percent in 2016 to nearly 85.79 percent in 2020; in Ashfield, from 82.50 percent to 87.98 percent; and in Hawley, from 75.74 percent to 82.21 percent.
Charlemont, Heath, New Salem and Leyden were among the towns to see a decrease in turnout.
Overall, voter turnout in Franklin County for both elections was somewhere between 75 and 90 percent.
“I think it’s fantastic that so many people voted,” said Hawley Town Clerk Pamela Shrimpton. “It shows how important this election is to people.”
Shrimpton said the high voter turnout was likely tied to the “controversial” race between Trump and Biden.
“I think everybody just wanted to get their word in,” Shrimpton said.
In an election year unlike any other, Massachusetts voters had the option to vote in person on Nov. 3, early in person or — as many did — by mail, a method the state expanded access to in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Numbers provided by a handful of clerks between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning show that as few as 54 percent of residents as many as 86 percent of residents in a given community voted early — although in some cases the numbers provided included early in-person as well as mail-in ballots.
In Hawley, of the 231 ballots cast, 134 — or about 60 percent — were cast by mail. An additional four were cast in-person before Election Day, according to Shrimpton.
But even with the large number of early votes, Shrimpton said, the town had one of the busiest election days she has seen at its polling station in Hawley Town Hall.
“We had an awful lot of early voters,” she said. “But we also had a steady stream of people coming in.”
Likewise, Montague experienced a similar influx of early voting. Out of the 4,853 total ballots cast, 2,778 ballots were cast by mail, and 878 ballots were cast early in person, according to unofficial results provided by Town Clerk Debra Bourbeau.
In other words, about 75 percent of voters cast their ballots before Election Day.
Bourbeau noted the town will continue to count ballots postmarked Tuesday and received by 5 p.m. on Friday.
“People still have three days to get their ballots moved through the postal service,” she said Wednesday.
Bourbeau said she was neither surprised by the voter turnout nor the large percentage of people who opted for mail-in voting.
“Our country is not in a good place, and people have to vote … for what’s best for them,” Bourbeau said. “People certainly came out for it, and that’s a good thing.”
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne