Town clerks and politically active Franklin County residents are applauding a change in primary ballot colors that will take effect with the Sept. 1 primary.
Because the color of Massachusetts’ primary ballots existed long before the general public began to associate political parties with certain colors, the ballot colors have previously been the opposite of what is associated with the United States’ two major political parties, with the ballots for Republicans being shades of blue and the ballots for Democrats being shades of red. Massachusetts General Law Chapter 53, Section 33, which requires that state primary ballots be different colors, was adopted back in 1921.
“The public’s association of red with the Republican Party and blue for the Democratic Party has led many election officials and members of the public to request that the colors be updated,” Secretary of State William Galvin wrote in a letter to the Elections Division. “It is my hope that making this change will mitigate any confusion and reduce errors that may occur when primary ballots are being provided to voters.”
“The whole way it was before was a little counterintuitive,” Shelburne Town Clerk Joe Judd said. “Election workers in Massachusetts are smart, well-trained people. [When I told them about the change in colors], they were like, ‘Wow, finally!'”
According to Judd, town clerks across the state have “been telling the [Secretary of State’s Office] for years” about the primary ballot colors.
“It’s much better … to have the color of the party,” Judd said. “It’s another way to keep election deniers from saying, ‘Hey, there’s too many errors’ with the colors.”
In Charlemont, Town Clerk Thorne Palmer said he doesn’t think a whole lot will change during the primaries.
“We’ve always done it backwards, so I don’t think anyone will notice,” Palmer said. “I bet we’ll have five people who will notice.”
Poll worker Doug Wilkins, who had previously been chair of the Heath Democratic Committee, said the color switch is a welcome change, and something he noticed while working at the polls during the last state primary.
“It was odd that the colors didn’t match beforehand,” Wilkins said. “They had the ballots in Heath that were the different colors and I said, ‘That’s odd.'”
A similar sentiment was expressed by Northfield Town Clerk Amanda Hall, who said that, considering most people associate blue with Democrats and red with Republicans, the switch in ballot colors makes sense.
“I’ve been letting our voters know about the change, and they’re pretty happy,” Hall said.
Greenfield Republican Town Committee member David Lewis agreed that the change is a logical one.
“They should [change it], because it’s confusing,” Lewis said. “The press refers to us as the red party and the Democrats as the blue party.
“Only problem is I know some people that are colorblind,” he added. “Probably won’t make much of a difference to them.”
Residents who are not currently registered to vote in the upcoming Sept. 1 primary can register online through the Secretary of State’s Office at sec.state.ma.us/ovr.
