Boston was about half as likely to vote early compared with the rest of Massachusetts
This year was the first time the state offered early voting.
More than one in 10 registered Boston voters partook in Massachusetts’s first early voting period, the city announced Monday.
According to voting data released by Boston officials, 47,909 ballots were cast during the two-week period, representing 11.5 percent of the 415,536 registered voters in the city.
The percentage of Boston voters who voted early was nearly doubled by the statewide voting rate.
Massachusetts Secretary of State Willian Galvin announced at the end of last week that more than 21 percent of the electorate voted early. According to Galvin, more than 1 million of the 4.5 million registered Bay State voters participated in early voting.
Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Galvin’s office, said he did not have an explanation for the lower rate in Boston.
In 2012, Suffolk Country, which includes Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, had 66 percent of registered voters cast ballots on Election Day, compared with a statewide clip of about 73 percent—which was a turnout record for Massachusetts.
Despite mostly positive reviews for the state’s first early voting period, there were multiple reports of lines at early voting polling locations in Boston and Cambridge.
Galvin told The Boston Globe last week that he was “very pleased” with how early voting went.
“Most people who participated were pleased, and all the anecdotal evidence I’ve received from talking to people has been satisfactory,” Galvin said.
McNiff said the secretary of state’s office had no estimate yet on how many state residents will have cast votes upon Tuesday’s conclusion. In 2008 and 2012, more than 3 million Bay Staters voted on Election Day.
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